After retiring in January, I began looking at my bucket list of travel ideas and plans. Immediately after retiring, I participated in a wonderful ten-day trip to Cuba as a volunteer (see article in May/June 2017 issue). I have trips to Greece and Poland on my list for later this year and next year. Although it’s my passion, like most of us,  I can’t travel all of the time!

Back home, I set out to find a meaningful way to contribute to my community. Could I find something here in St. Petersburg that might be tied to my interest in other cultures/countries while helping in some way?… Read More

In our great city, you don’t need to look very far to find great things being done by great people. In fact, we have so many active do-good events that  sometimes  they are  overlooked. One of the world’s auto-racing greats, Sébastien Bourdais, lives in the Shore Acres area, and has quietly worked with a growing group of volunteers to create an amazing charitable event which has grown exponentially each year since beginning in 2012. Benefitting Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, the Kart 4 Kids Pro/Am Kart Race is an awesomely unusual opportunity to race 12hp competition karts against internationally known professional race car drivers.… Read More

The Knights of Columbus organization puts an emphasis on serving one’s church, community, and family with virtue. That is exactly what is going on at their chapter 10157 at St. Raphael Church on Snell Isle.

Father Kevin Mackin visited Pinellas Hope and saw the sad state that the tent shelters were in. They leaked when it rained despite being covered with tarps, and they offered little in the way of comfort and safety. At a fundraiser dinner for Pinellas Hope held at St. Raphael parish on Snell Isle, Father Kevin approached The Knights of Columbus chapter with the idea to find a better option for sheltering people at the facility.… Read More

It all started with a post by Wendy Lewis on the Nextdoor Old Northeast website:

“My amazing husband is celebrating 20 years of active duty in the United States Marine Corps this Sunday [May 29]. The kids and I have made some posters to place in our yard to thank him for being a great husband, marine, and father – and I thought… well, maybe other people might want to thank him, too. If you’d like to contribute to the yard art, or just stop by and say hi, my address is… I’ll be waking up early on Sunday to set it all up, but you’re welcome to come by anytime!… Read More

For two years now, Ardith Rutland has taken up the mantle of caring for the beloved ‘Pete’s Park’ located in the heart of the Coffee Pot Riviera neighborhood, on Snell Isle. When asked why, Ardith says, “From my kitchen window I can see the park, and for years the beds were overgrown and unsightly. I felt sorry for the lonely griffin statue in the corner of the park across the street from my house. The griffin was dirty and the flower bed was overgrown with weeds. I just got tired of looking at it! I decided something needed to be done, so I just started taking care of it.”… Read More

Grown men in nothing but tighty whities and tube socks. Lovely ladies braving the Valentine’s Day chill in lingerie and knit beanies. Trotting along the waterfront, down to the Dali and back up to the raucous bars on Central Avenue, the first annual St. Petersburg Cupid’s Undie Run was truly a sight to behold.

And thanks to a charmingly persuasive race director – Eden Isle resident Katherine Zehr – the fun and  festive event raised a whopping $65,000 for the Children’s Tumor Foundation, an organization dedicated to finding a cure for NF (neurofibromatosis). Though still relatively low profile, the tumor-generating genetic disorder is more common than muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis combined.… Read More

One Woman’s Mission to Raise Awareness in Our Community

When Beth Vivio thinks about people in our community going to bed hungry each night it makes her sad. “We see food everywhere we look: restaurants, specialty food stores, advertisements and TV food shows.” Yet as many as 17% of residents in the Tampa Bay area go to sleep with empty stomachs.

Beth and her husband are originally from Ohio, but moved here in 2011 from Texas with their two sons. Beth works as a full-time volunteer and got involved at the boys’ new school, Shorecrest Preparatory, right away.  Beth is on the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay, the All Children’s Hospital Foundation board, as well as the Shorecrest board of trustees.… Read More

Do you remember a time when your local mom-and-pop corner store was clean, had something for everyone, and employed a warm and friendly staff who cared about its customers and community? These attributes for the recently opened BP Old Northeast General Store were the dream for owner Steve May. His dream has been realized.

Steve grew up in rural Ohio where the local general store played a huge role. Steve recalls, “It’s where we bought our bottles of Coke and penny candies. And where people were friends and neighbors before they were customers, and where a sense of community was supported.… Read More

Water. Bruce Denson grew up on it (in the form of a family lake house in Ocala National Forest). He currently has a bunch of it in his Snell Isle backyard (in the form of a brightly tiled swimming pool and shimmers-in-the-sun Smacks Bayou). And he’s found a way to weave it into the lives of the troubled individuals he encounters in his role as a criminal defense and DUI attorney (in the form of… well, we’re about to get to that).

Bruce is so all about H20, in fact, that he even created a red-hot stand-up paddleboarding event, the Florida Cup, that’s winning raves along the Gulf Coast and far beyond.… Read More

Finally the season had changed in Florida! It was crisp, sunny day in early November and I was outside enjoying the fresh air while building a new shed in my backyard. My neighbor, Donna Carpenter, was also out in her backyard and she came to the fence to admire the large plastic shed I was finishing up. We began chatting and she told me that she would like to get a plastic shed. Her old aluminum shed was damaged in a storm last year and had to be taken down. The contents of said shed were piled on her pool deck and in her dining room.… Read More