WORDS: Gabrielle Versmessen
Living in Manatee County, most of us are aware that there is an abundance of resources available at our fingertips. However, we might not always know precisely what organizations to look toward or who exactly to reach out to for help. One organization that’s helping people navigate and connect with these supports is the Women’s Resource Center.
Women’s Resource Center of Manatee was started in 1991 by …
WORDS: Gabrielle Versmessen
Helping to inspire people of all backgrounds and incomes to make a difference in our Manatee and Sarasota communities, the Louis and Gloria Flanzer Philanthropic Trust created a donation matching program in 2020 that has taken off a lot faster than they expected. In the first year, $4 million was donated to charities. In 2021, the second year, $8 million was distributed. And this year, they have …
WORDS: Gabrielle Versmessen
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
Early childhood education is an integral part of ensuring that students in our community are not only prepared for grade school but also excel in it. Our children begin learning at home, but all too soon, those little ones go off to child care, where their first experiences of a structured learning environment are formed.
Before becoming a mom, I thought child care was …
WORDS: Sheri Roca
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
Angel Ballesteros-Santillan has an amazing gift for visualizing and recreating forms in 3D. At just ten years old, his ability to sketch something and then build it three dimensionally has already earned him accolades, not just with his third-grade art teacher and his friends and family. His sculptures have even been exhibited at the Manatee County fair and the Bishop Museum in Bradenton.
According …
WORDS: Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading
Strong communities thrive in the face of adversity and work together to achieve shared aspirations. Our region is strong, and we are not alone. We are one of 390 Grade-Level Reading (GLR) communities embracing the journey to address common obstacles impacting a child’s reading ability.
Attendance Works, an ally helping the GLR Network jump the hurdle of chronic absenteeism, is helping communities like ours …
WORDS: Children’s Health
A new school year is the perfect time to get back into a healthy routine. Kara Gann, Clinical Dietitian at Children’s Health℠, shares simple ways to make sure students are fueling properly for the school day.
Make breakfast a priority
Eating a healthy breakfast is the best way to start the day for children and adults alike. To encourage your kids to eat a good breakfast before …
WORDS & PICTURES: Gabrielle Versmessen
Being known as “Pillars of the Community” and a “true philanthropic power couple” by the Manatee Community Foundation isn’t anything to be taken lightly. Yet, Joe and Barbara Najmy have rightfully earned those titles. This Manatee County husband and wife duo have been active in giving back to our community for as long as they’ve been residents here.
Barbara and Joe were born in New …
WORDS & PICTURES: Gabrielle Versmessen
A career in the Air Force, specializing in nuclear weapons, isn’t exactly the background you’d expect a prestigious hospital’s President and Chief Executive Officer to have. But it was precisely that background that made HCA Florida Blake Hospital’s Steve Nierman so passionate about serving others.
Originally from Indiana, Steve attended the Air Force Academy and went into active duty until 1997. From there, he went …
WORDS & PICTURES: Gabrielle Versmessen
While HOPE Family Services has been around since 1979, their new Children’s Counseling Center will bring about a new dimension to their counseling services. Hoping to have construction completed by the end of this year, the new space will have four counseling offices and a lobby with various children’s toys and be able to help children aged four to 18 years old.
According to Dr. …
WORDS & PICTURES: Gabrielle Versmessen
With humble beginnings just six years ago at only 76 students, 36 mentors, and one location, Dive Into Reading has grown to over 500 participants and six locations across Manatee, Sarasota, and DeSoto counties. Dive Into Reading is a five-week summer program that helps first, second, and third-grade students who are behind in their reading comprehension. Along with reading, the program incorporates sight words and …
WORDS & PICTURES: Gabrielle Versmessen
Standing in a plot of uncleared land off Ellenton-Gillette Road in Palmetto, Bobbie and Floyd Price envisioned a community where foster kids could live with their biological siblings in a safe, Christ-centered foster home. A place where healing and growth could occur for the children and the biological families on their path to reunification. Nine years later, that vision has become beyond immeasurably more of …
WORDS & PICTURES: Gabrielle Versmessen
Many good things can come from pairing a little wine and some good Italian food together. However, one of the better things to emerge must be the birth of Sisterhood for Good (SFG) at Angela Massaro-Fain’s home 11 years ago.
In 2011, Angela, President of SFG, had been a Board Member of Lakewood Ranch Community Fund (LWRCF) for five years. The LWRCF Board President spoke …
WORDS: Merab Favorite
PICTURES: Gabrielle Versmessen
Health education for high schoolers. Could there be a more frustrating topic? For parents, it invokes visions of awkward conversations filled with bad analogies like birds and bees, an egg sizzling in a frying pan, and of course, that oversimplified slogan, “Just Say No.”
For teens, it’s even worse. The gut wrench that comes when the teacher asks them to answer an embarrassing question. …
WORDS: Christa Hardin, MA
Not taking tech breaks is one surefire way that summer will come and go in the blink of an eye. This isn’t news to you, of course. We all KNOW we need them.
We’ve seen the stats as well. Too much screen time poses several potential negative consequences, including vision impairment, sleeplessness, anxiety, and even addiction to the device itself (regiscollege.edu).
And yet virtually everyone uses …
WORDS: Carlee Colonneso
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
Speak to Dr. Kristina DeWitt of SCF’s Education Department, and you will immediately recognize the commitment she has to helping those in Early Education. Whether mentoring aspiring teachers in the classroom, volunteering to promote literacy, or reaching out to the community, Dr. DeWitt’s love of learning is positively impacting Manatee County.
Long before Dr. DeWitt started working in education, she …
