Davis Islands Today

The Florida Kinship Center at USF Celebrates 10th Anniversary by Holding Its First Annual Tailgate Pep Rally and Fundraiser

The nationally recognized Florida Kinship Center at the University of South Florida is celebrating its 10th anniversary by throwing its first Tail Gate Party and Pep Rally on Sunday, November 23.

Proceeds from the fundraiser will raise money and awareness about Kinship Caregivers and the assistance that the Center offers them in terms of support and advocacy. The tailgate buffet includes cocktails, entertainment, raffle and more and will be held at the home of Sandy and Jim Murman from 4:30-7:00 pm. Immediately following the pep rally, guests will join USF football fans at Raymond James Stadium to cheer the Bulls at the University of South Florida’s last home game vs. Uconn. The game begins at 8:00 pm. Tickets to the game are included in the Pep Rally.

Caregivers, who are raising their relative’s (or kin’s) children, strive to keep their families together rather than placing the children into the foster care system. Eighty percent of kinship caregivers are grandparents and many of these are single grandmothers.

Sponsorship categories are: Touchdown Sponsor $6,000, Field Goal Sponsor $3,000, Extra Point Sponsor $1,000, First Down Sponsor $500, and Individual Ticket $100.

For more information, contact Carroll Gossage at the Florida Kinship Center by calling 813-974-4921.

Whether you call them farmers’ markets or fresh markets, downtown markets are great gathering spots that attract a diverse collection of people into one location looking for fresh produce, cut flowers, homemade baked goods, organic products and more. The Tampa Bay area is blessed to have several markets in communities like Sarasota, St. Petersburg, Ybor City and Dunedin to name a few. Now it’s time to add downtown Tampa to the list.

In October the Tampa Downtown Partnership launched the Tampa Downtown Market. Open on Fridays from 10am to 2pm, the market is set for Lykes Gaslight Square using the Franklin Street quadrant for the initial launch. This location offers downtown workers easy access to the high quality vendors offering an array of specialty items.

Tiffany Ferrecchia will be running the weekly market. Ferrecchia is an accomplished organic caterer and executive chef who has been working the past several months on securing vendors, coordinating with the City of Tampa on details relating to site location and organizing special market events, such as arranging for WMNF 88.5 to provide music during the market hours.

The focus is simple… bring to downtown Tampa the best products and produce available in the region while at the same time creating an economic development tool to encourage more people to explore all the downtown has to offer.

The market hopes to serve as a community-gathering place where local farmers, producers, and artisans can offer fresh agricultural and related products to generate a sense of local pride and further the economic development of Downtown Tampa.

With a strong focus on sustainability, the Tampa Downtown Market intends to provide a vehicle to educate the community on the importance of good health as they create more business opportunities and residential benefits.

Long term goals include expanding the market to a second day – Sundays – in order to drive more downtown residents and people in the surrounding communities to downtown Tampa.

For more details about the Tampa Downtown Market make sure to log onto its Web site, www.tampadowntownmarket.com. There you will find a list of vendors, directions to the site and event details.

The Tampa Downtown Market is sponsored by the St. Petersburg Times, TBT Tampa Bay , WMNF 88.5, Trickey Jennus, the City of Tampa and the Tampa Downtown Partnership.

Support RMHC while enjoying your favorite McDonald’s foods. On November 20, McDonald’s will donate $1 for every Beef or Chicken Extra Value Meal© and Chicken McNuggets sold.

In addition, from November 10-20 customers can donate $1 towards RMHC by purchasing a helping “Hand” that will be displayed in-store during the event.

Take the night off from cooking and support RMHC this November.