Local CEO’s Lead The Way At IOA Corporate 5K

(L to R): John Huges, Tom Scalise and Harris Rosen

(L to R): John Huges, Tom Scalise and Harris Rosen

Pride and confidence was the theme at the IOA Corporate 5k held last month as 16,400 runners and walkers surrounded Lake Eola in downtown Orlando to celebrate healthy living with co-workers, friends and family. Central Florida’s premiere night-time corporate run is among the largest in Florida and was one of the first road races to take place following the tragic incident that occurred during Boston marathon on April 15.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer’s participation on the City of Orlando ‘Team Orlando” was a visible sign of his confidence that downtown Orlando is a safe place to enjoy our quality of life with the people we live and work with.

The start of last month’s IOA Corporate 5K

The start of last month’s IOA Corporate 5K

Harris Rosen, President and CEO of Rosen Hotels and Resorts received The Tom Scalise Leadership Award. The Leader-ship Award recognizes a local CEO that champion’s workplace wellness. Over 19 nominations were received for this award. A $1000 Track Shack Foundation grant will be awarded to the Tangelo Park Community on Mr. Rosen’s behalf.

“We’re thrilled to see the level of engagement by these CEO’s and senior level executives who are participating side by side with their employees and also how they envision a healthier community by building healthy workplaces,” says Jon Hughes, Race Director and co-owner of Track Shack Events.

The top performing CEOs in the race, out of 258 registered, were Reagan Rick of Fifth Third Bank who won the Male CEO category in time of 20:03 and Melanie Fernandez, of Cross, Fernandez & Riley, LLP who continued her Corporate 5k winning streak as the first place Female CEO with a time of 25:20.

Proceeds benefit the Track Shack Foundation, a 501 organization whose mission is to promote youth health and fitness. Over 8000 food and supply items were donated by IOA Corporate 5k participants to the Christian Service Center. A portion of the proceeds will benefit The One Fund Boston, Inc. to help people most affected by the tragic events that occurred in Boston on April 15, 2013.


Sponsors included: Insurance Office of America, Track Shack, Florida Hospital, New Balance, Michelob Ultra, Campus Crusade for Christ, Mattamy Homes and TD Bank.

New Superintendent Of OCPS To Host Open Discussion

headerDr. Barbara Jenkins, the new superintendent of Orange County Public Schools, will discuss “Orange County Schools Today” at 7:30PM on Tuesday, May 21 at the University Club in Winter Park.   The lecture is open to the public. The Club is located at 841 N. Park Ave.  Phone is 407-644-6149.

Dr. Jenkins is the new superintendent for Orange County Public Schools in Orlando, Florida. As the former deputy superintendent she served as the superintendent’s designee and oversaw five area superintendents and the division of Teaching and Learning.  Previously as Chief of Staff she oversaw Human Resources, Public Relations, Labor Relations, Strategic Planning and served as the chief negotiator for the district.  As the superintendent’s designee she also coordinated executive functions for the district and provided support to the school board.

From 1998 through 2005 she was the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for the 120,000 student district, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (Charlotte, North Carolina), where she was responsible for Employee Relations, Licensure, Benefits, Information Systems, Compensation and Employment.  During her time in Charlotte, she was recognized for innovative strategies to increase equity among schools, including accelerated staffing strategies, teacher incentives, and use of a balanced scorecard.

She previously served as Senior Director for Elementary Education in Orange County, supervising principals and schools.  Dr. Jenkins has been a classroom teacher, staff developer and principal.  Her undergraduate and doctor of education degrees were received from the University of Central Florida.  She is a fellow of the nationally recognized Broad Urban Superintendents Academy.

For more information please visit ocps.net.

The 2013 “Super Scholars”

Graduation - The Park PressRecord number of students earn acceptance from top-20 colleges, universities and academies 

School board members at Orange County Public Schools honored 90 “Super Scholars” from the graduating class of 2013 at a recognition event May 16 at the Ronald Blocker Educational Leadership Center in Orlando. Every one of the students has been offered admission into one or more top-20 national or world universities, national liberal arts colleges or U.S. military academies, as ranked on three U.S. News and World Report annual lists.

The students were presented certificates in full size graduation covers and posed for photos with parents, board members, principals, high school classmates and fellow students from other high schools who will become their classmates at college starting this summer or fall.

 

Impressively, acceptance letters were received by OCPS seniors from 19 of the top-20 national universities. To highlight how selective these schools are, Harvard University, ranked #1 on the National University list, accepted less than six percent of their more than 35,000 applicants worldwide. That’s less than 2,100 students of which three are seniors in Orange County public schools.

This was the second year that Super Scholars were honored by the school board. Last year, 73 seniors were recognized for their academic success and pursuit of post-secondary education at the highest-rated schools in the world.

OCPS 2013 “Super Scholars”

Amherst Timothy Nguyen, Cypress Creek HS
Bowdoin Agustin Chacin, Cypress Creek HS
Joulia Likhanskaia, Winter Park HS
Timothy Nguyen, Cypress Creek HS
Brown Celia Ford, Timber Creek HS
Steffani Gomez, Freedom HS
Aaron Kennon, Winter Park HS
Pau Kim, Edgewater HS
Cal Tech Mary Hwang, Winter Park HS
Chicago Nathan Einhorn, Winter Park HS
Colgate Nathanial Obinwa, Olympia HS
Columbia E Q Son, Colonial HS
Yhan Colon, Cypress Creek HS
Aaron Kennon, Winter Park HS
David Neitzel, Edgewater HS
Pakwesi Taylor, Cypress Creek HS
Cornell Bianca Cousin, Dr. Phillips HS
Madhu Elias, University HS
Mason Montgomery, Winter Park HS
Martin Murillo, Timber Creek HS
Akash Nadan, Cypress Creek HS
Dartmouth Kamil Fadel, Cypress Creek HS
Gic-Owens Fiestan, University HS
Timothy Nguyen, Cypress Creek HS
Blake Orvis, Boone HS
Devan Spear, Boone HS
Davidson Rebecca Reichert, Timber Creek HS
Robert (Jake) Sidwell, Olympia HS
Megan Tracy, Boone HS
Duke Tess Bianchi, West Orange HS
Gic-Owens Fiestan, University HS
Julien Ham-Ying, Dr. Phillips HS
Madeleine Hill, Winter Park HS
ZaKerra Lance, Lake Nona HS
Demetrie Luke, Winter Park HS
Bianca Martin, Cypress Creek HS
Rebecca Reichert, Timber Creek HS
Emory Sean Chew, Cypress Creek HS
Rocco English, Winter Park HS
Vanessa Hamann, Cypress Creek HS
Gwendolyn Johnson, Edgewater HS
Jessica Kast, Winter Park HS
Josephine Liwang, Evans HS
Rebecca Reichert, Timber Creek HS
Nicholas Sumter, Timber Creek HS
Phi Trac, Cypress Creek HS
Arjun Watane, Cypress Creek HS
Harvard Trevor Byrne, Winter Park HS
Jillian Dukes, Winter Park HS
Sebastian Beltrame, Olympia HS
Johns Hopkins Garrett Spek, Apopka HS
Matthew Brown, West Orange HS
Arjun Watane, Cypress Creek HS
Ye N Wong, Timber Creek HS
Mass Institute of Technology Yhan Colon, Cypress Creek HS
Adrian Mora, Ocoee HS
Mary Hwang, Winter Park HS
Christopher Womack, Dr. Phillips HS
Middlebury College Matthew Domescek, Winter Park HS
Madeleine Hill, Winter Park HS
William Stone, Boone HS
Michigan Alan Liou, Timber Creek HS
Matthew Brown, West Orange HS
Stephanie Bugge, Olympia HS
Dana Demsky, Dr. Phillips HS
Daniel Kim, Cypress Creek HS
Alisa Le, Dr. Phillips HS
Northwestern Vaishali Mehta, Winter Park HS
Agustin Chacin, Cypress Creek HS
Eve Miller, Dr. Phillips HS
Mason Montgomery, Winter Park HS
Notre Dame Sean Cavanaugh, Dr. Phillips HS
Matthew Cartier, Timber Creek HS
Matthew Millay, Dr. Phillips HS
William Stone, Boone HS
Anvi Ton, Wekiva HS
Miracle Townsend, Jones HS
Princeton Rohan Hylton, Ocoee HS
Rice Celia Ford, Timber Creek HS
  ZaKerra Lance, Lake Nona HS
John Lindsey, Winter Park HS
Demetrie Luke, Winter Park HS
Timothy Nguyen, Cypress Creek HS
Raul Rondon, Cypress Creek HS
Smith ZaKerra Lance, Lake Nona HS
  Megan Tracy, Boone HS
Sylvie Wise, Winter Park HS
Stanford Christine Cavallo, Olympia HS
  Robert Schuyler Rimmer, Boone HS
Gerardo Sanz, Olympia HS
Swarthmore Timothy Nguyen, Cypress Creek HS
U.S. Air Force Academy Andrew Barto, Timber Creek HS
  Rhea McFarland, West Orange HS
U.S. Coast Guard Academy Clinton Lavardera, Timber Creek HS
U.S. Military Academy – West Point Hunter Chadwick, Winter Park HS
  Jared Holmgren, West Orange HS
Samuel Lampman, Boone HS
Saverio Macrina, Apopka HS
Kyle Muth, Timber Creek HS
U.S. Naval Academy Everett Hamilton, Winter Park HS
  Winston Chastang, West Orange HS
Nathanial Ozdemir, West Orange HS
Ryan Le, Timber Creek HS
Miranda Rossum, Dr. Phillips HS
University of Pennsylvania Julien Ham-Ying, Dr. Phillips HS
  Madeleine Hill, Winter Park HS
Devan Spear, Boone HS
Harrison Thayer, Winter Park HS
Samuel Ward, Winter Park HS
Vanderbilt Demetrie Luke, Winter Park HS
  Kamil Fadel, Cypress Creek HS
Mason Montgomery, Winter Park HS
Devan Spear, Boone HS
Alicia Tarver, Winter Park HS
J. Brandon Ward, Winter Park HS
Vassar Celia Ford, Timber Creek HS
  Julio Monge, Cypress Creek HS
Andrea Orejarena, Freedom HS
Wellesley ZaKerra Lance, Lake Nona HS
  Megan Tracy, Boone HS
Williams Julio Monge, Cypress Creek HS
  Timothy Nguyen, Cypress Creek HS
Yale Julien Ham-Ying, Dr. Phillips HS

 

32nd Annual National Convocation Of Jail And Prison Ministry

St. Vincent de Paul logo“Building Bridges, Not Walls” is the theme for the 32nd Annual National Convocation of Jail and Prison Ministry. This year’s Convocation is sponsored by St. Vincent de Paul Orlando.

The three-day event is set for May 19-21, 2013 at the Drury Inn and Suites, located at 7301 West Sand Lake Road in Orlando.

All are invited to join us and hear the stories of individuals who have touched the lives of incarcerated individuals – or who themselves have felt a profound impact due to the kindness of others.

Featured speakers include Desmond Meade; Dale and Susan Recinella; Jack and Jean Canatsey; Jim Liske and Travis Vining. Our keynote speaker is Sister Helen Prejean, whose book, “Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty” was the inspiration for the major motion picture “Dead Man Walking.” (Note: Sister Prejean’s speech is FREE and OPEN to the PUBLIC and will be held on Tuesday, May 21 at 7 pm, at Holy Family Catholic Church (5125 S Apopka Vineland Rd, Orlando, FL 32819)

For more information on the Convocation or to register, please go to www.svdporlando.org and click on “2013 Convention.” You may also register via phone by calling 407.814.3869.

Smartphone Adventure Race Calling All Brave Hearts

LondonSaturday, May 18, from 2 to 5:30 p.m., the chance for great prizes and cheap eternal glory await all brave hearts who enter the Audubon Park Garden District‘s British Isles Adventure Race. Participants are encouraged to bring their Sherlock Holmes skills for the challenges that await as they use their wits and smartphones to solve clues throughout the Audubon Park Garden District. Race registration includes free craft beer, fine wine or cane sugar soda, as well as the chance to compete for prizes.

This smartphone adventure race is designed for teams of 2-3 people and is themed around all things relevant to the British Isles. Teams will receive a clue sheet at the start of the race and try to locate all of the race points throughout the Audubon Park Garden District. Each race point will either be a challenge activity or a photo stop. Teams may solve the clues and complete the challenges in any order they choose. Participants will need to have their clue sheets signed and show their photos when the reach the finish line to prove they have successfully completed the race. All are encouraged to wear costumes.

Redlight Redlight will host an after party for all the racers, where the results will be tallied, winners notified and all ticket holders can relax with free beer, wine or soda. All proceeds from race entry fees will go directly back to the Audubon Park Garden District.

A phone is required so that participants can use the internet and call friends to help them solve clues and then navigate their way to each of them. Everyone should bring a phone, a digital camera (can be a smart phone), and a pen to help solve clues. The area is roughly 2 miles in width, so challengers will be on foot. Themed costumes and traditional outfits of British, Scottish, Irish or Welsh culture are strongly encouraged. There will be a costume competition at the start of the race and the winner will receive time off of their finish line time.

Some challenges will be themed physical activities, other will test players’ knowledge of history or pop culture, and some stops will require teams photograph an item. Some stops will require only one representative and others will be a team effort. The challenges are designed with a wide audience in mind. All of the challenges are being produced by great local community partners and are designed to be fun.

In addition to eternal glory as champions of the Inaugural British Isles Adventure Race, the winning team will receive four Ticket Prize Packs for Orlando City Soccer, tickets to the 2014 Scottish Highland Games, a $25 gift card to Liam Fitzpatrick’s, a gift card to Sci-Fi City, a Men in Kilts calendar, a Garden District gift basket filled with prizes, two tickets to Lady Raven’s Cotillion in October (a $200 value) and much more.

This is a rain or shine event.

Sponsors of this event include Orlando City Soccer, the UCF Quidditch Team, Orlando Rugby, the Scottish-American Society of Central Florida, Liam Fitzpatricks, New World Celts, Sci Fi City, Park Ave CDs, and Lady Raven’s Cotillion.

Healthy Central Florida Will Award $25,000 In Grants

WalkingDay_smallLocal moms who developed a walk to school program are one example of how a small grant can inspire big change 

Healthy Central Florida recently announced that it will be awarding up to $25,000 total in grants for innovative ideas to get the local community walking, biking and being more active. Serving as an example and inspiration, three Maitland moms previously received a similar small grant to help grow their walk and bike to school program “Walk and Roll.” The Healthy Central Florida grant is designed to inspire and reward similar innovative ideas that can result in big changes in health and well-being for children and adults.

GroupShot_small“The Walk and Roll program was created to encourage students to use their own energy to commute to school. It’s healthy for the student and their environment. Students have fun biking, skateboarding and walking to school, arriving better able to focus and learn,” said Michelle Sartor, one of the moms who founded Walk and Roll. “Since we launched five years ago, we have seen tremendous growth in the number of kids participating and our efforts have attracted nearly $400,000 in local and federal grants. We are thrilled that Healthy Central Florida wants to offer a new round of community grants to help train and inspire others about effective ways to get our community to be more active.”

Walking and biking to school is one of the best ways to get kids active and burning excess calories. Forty years ago, nearly 50 percent of children walked or biked to school. Today, only 13 percent of kids are engaging in this activity. This decrease in walking or biking to school coincides with a sharp increase in the obesity rate for children, which has more than quadrupled in the past four decades for children ages six to 11, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

HCF logo“In order to inspire public participation and improve health, Healthy Central Florida is offering up to $25,000 total in grants to individuals or organizations who have innovative ideas on how to increase active living in Eatonville, Maitland and Winter Park,” said Jill Hamilton Buss, executive director of Healthy Central Florida. “The work that Walk and Roll is doing is a great example of how a few concerned citizens, with small seed funding and huge commitment to helping children be healthy, created a community movement that’s fun and that will result in life-long healthy habits.”

To educate the community about evidence-based strategies for creating change and to help residents through the grant process, Healthy Central Florida hosted its first ever health innovations grant workshop where over 100 participants gathered to find out how they can bring their ideas to fruition. The workshop was led by nationally renowned community design and environmental change expert and former host of the PBS series America’s Walking, Mark Fenton.

Letter Carriers Helped Stamp Out Hunger For The 21st Year

delivering_hopeNation’s Largest single-day food drive collected more than 271,000 pounds of food in Central Florida

On Saturday, May 11, Central Florida letter carriers helped Stamp Out Hunger! across both Central Florida and America. Now in its 21st year, the Stamp Out Hunger! food drive has become the nation’s largest single-day food drive. In 2012, generous Americans donated more than 70 million pounds of food, which marked the ninth consecutive year that at least 70 million pounds were collected by letter carriers.

This year’s food drive supporters include the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, Campbell Soup Company, Valpak, U.S. Postal Service, United Way, AFL-CIO, Feeding America, Uncle Bob’s Storage, AARP, GLS, Source Direct Plastics, Publix and Valassis.

To help Stamp Out Hunger! this year, we called on Central Florida residents to leave a sturdy bag containing non-perishable foods – such as canned soup, canned vegetables, pasta, rice or cereal - next to their mailbox prior to the time of regular mail delivery on May 11. Local letter carriers collected these food donations as they delivered the mail and took them to Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

“This year we collected more than 271,000 pounds of non-perishable foods for Central Floridians,” said Dave Krepcho, President/CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank. “This product will make a major difference in the lives of Central Florida families this summer. For the past two decades, the letter carriers have gone above and beyond to help the communities they serve. It’s really inspiring and we’re proud to work with them each year!”

According to Second Harvest, more than 350,000 Central Floridians are at the poverty level and are living on the brink of hunger; and, throughout the nation more than 35 million people are food insecure, hungry or at risk of hunger. Approximately one in four people in a soup kitchen line is a child.

To learn more about the efforts of Second Harvest Food Bank please www.FeedHopeNow.org.

Florida Impact Applauds Senator Bill Nelson For Protecting Food Assistance

Senator Bill Nelson

Senator Bill Nelson

Florida Impact recently praised Senator Bill Nelson for signing a letter supporting full funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the upcoming Farm Bill.

“We applaud the leadership of Senator Nelson in recognizing the importance of SNAP to struggling Floridians and urging their fellow Senators to make no cuts to SNAP in any Farm Bill negotiations,” said Debra Susie, executive director of Florida Impact. “With the economy slowly recovering, SNAP is the first line of defense for households struggling to put food on the table.  Any cut to SNAP would remove food from the refrigerator, harming our most vulnerable populations, including children, seniors, individuals with disabilities, and low-wage earners.”

According to a recent report by the Food Research and Action Center, more than one in five households in Florida reported inability to afford enough food in 2012.

“In addition to providing temporary support to guard against hunger in times of need, every SNAP dollar spent generates an estimated $1.79 in local economic activity.  Cutting SNAP simply doesn’t make sense, and would have a detrimental effect to individuals and businesses in Florida and across the country,” said Susie.

In his federal budget released in April, President Barack Obama also protected SNAP and proposed to further strengthen the program.

The letter, circulated by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) was signed by 33 Senators. Visit www.frac.org for the letter and full list of signers.

Susan Johnson – Walking A Path Of Love & Light

Holding Hands - The Park PressSusan Johnson, wife of Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team Manager, Davey Johnson, is one of Lighthouse Central Florida’s most committed advocates.  Her passion for the organization stems back to her first son, Jake.  Jake was born both deaf and blind, after Susan contracted Rubella while pregnant with Jake.  Jake was affected by congenital rubella syndrome, something that neither Susan nor Jake could have avoided, despite advances in medicine. As a young mother with a special needs child, Susan felt lost and alone, and at times did not know where or when she would find the strength to move forward. Each passing day was a challenge to reach the next.

The journey was long and hard, but rewarding for Susan and Jake. In her darkest hour, she found help at Lighthouse Central Florida.  Here, she discovered strength, patience, wisdom and unique ways to introduce a quality of life for her son despite his deafness and blindness. Each day, the Lighthouse was there for her, visiting her at her home to work with young Jake. Teaching both of them how to live and learn in the world around them. Through Jake’s life, Susan would seek the help and expertise of organizations specializing in working with children and young adults – organizations such as Helen Keller National Center and Lighthouse Central Florida – and they both grew, and they both thrived.

Jake was a lion of a human being, inspiring everybody he met. And he inspired his mother’s life for 34 years until is passing in 2011. His obituary read, “Although life was extremely difficult for Jake many times, he had a fighting spirit that will be remembered by everyone who had contact with him. Jake was an intriguing person, and his understanding of his world was amazing. He was a rare character, who never tired of the world that he was born into. We are all humbled to have grown up with such a strong individual.”

During his lifetime, Susan felt the need to give back to a community that helped her get through each and every day. Her commitment to local charities reaches the highest echelons of giving, and comes from the deepest love in her heart. Today, Susan remains a strong advocate for the blind and visually impaired, and a source of strength for families facing a lifetime of caring for, and loving, a child with special needs. Her countless efforts to raise awareness and funding for projects and organizations dedicated to helping children like Jake, inspires her hometown community of Orlando, FL to get involved in ways she never dreamed.

Thanks to Susan’s dedication to the many charities and advocacy projects she heralds in the name of her son, Jake’s memory will never fade.  Jake’s fighting spirit to overcome life’s challenges charted Susan’s path of giving, caring and pure, unconditional love.

Susan Johnson is teaming up with Lighthouse Central Florida, and a dedicated committee of creative women, to present a three day pop up designer consignment store – Fabulous Fashion with a Focus.  All proceeds will support babies and children with low vision or blindness being served through the Early Intervention program at Lighthouse Central Florida.

“Fabulous Fashion with a Focus” is being held at Winter Park 330, 330 Fairbanks Ave, Winter Park, FL.  May 17th 11am – 6pm, May 18th 8am – 6pm, and May 19th 10am – 6pm.  For more information please visit www.lighthousecentralflorida.com.

Community Invited To “Bob-Voyage” Open House

Bob Melanson then (1987) and Now (2013)

Bob Melanson then (1987) and Now (2013)

The Winter Park Public Library invites the Winter Park community to a “Bob-Voyage” Open House Tuesday, May 14 from 3 – 5:30 p.m. in the Library’s Community Room. Guests can enjoy cake and punch and take the opportunity to give their well wishes to retiring Library Director Bob Melanson on his last full day of work after 25 years.

Beginning work in 1987, Melanson was hired at a time when the library’s collection was searched by flipping through thousands of cards stored in wooden drawers and books were checked out with stamps and date due cards. Today the collection is searched by patrons wirelessly via smartphones and tablets and checked out using the latest in RFID technology. His key achievements are: overseeing the construction of the library’s third floor in 1995; establishing the Young Adult area and hiring a librarian to program specifically for the age group; actively acquiring new collections for the library’s Winter Park History & Archives; providing support and space for the formation of the New Leaf Bookstore; and establishing the library’s Lifelong Learning Institute. In addition, he worked with the Library Board of Trustees to grow the library’s endowments from $800,000 in 1987 to $5,000,000 today.

Melanson will be succeeded by Shawn Shaffer, a highly experienced library director from Elmwood Park, Illinois. She was hired by the Library Board of Trustees after an exhaustive nation-wide search.

For more information about the WPPL, visit www.wppl.org or call 407-623-3300.