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Brandon Rotary Announces New Officers

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By BARBARA ROUTEN

Tribune correspondent

Published: July 30, 2008

TAMPA - The Brandon Rotary Club's 47th anniversary installation banquet was held May 30 at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa.
Rotary District 6890 Gov. Doug Andrews officiated over the ceremony, at which Alan Feldman of Brandon, outgoing president, passed the torch to his successor, Jeff Reynolds, president for 2008-09.

Other officers installed were Chuck Colwill, vice president and president elect; Ken Foster II, secretary; Ron Marshall, treasurer; and Fred Schwabe, sergeant-at-arms. New directors are Joe Campoamor, Leslie Granich, Tom Odiorne, Kim Pontillo and Doug Hermansen.

Andrews complimented Feldman for his accomplishments, including forming the Rotary Presidents' Council with six other local clubs; starting the Rotary Friendship Committee, which counsels fellow Rotarians; developing an award-winning Web site for the club; and raising $70,000 to donate to local charities this year.

He also praised Feldman for starting Project Cure, for which local Rotary clubs collect medical items and equipment to send to developing countries.

Feldman gave George Simmons an award for improving Rotary's Camp Florida and donating kitchen equipment for the camp. Feldman gave the president's award to Ken Foster, a special president's award to Dan Dail and the leadership award to Jack Pickens.

The Rotary Club meets at noon Tuesdays at Center Place Fine Arts and Civic Association, 619 Vonderburg Drive., Brandon. Details about the club are available at www.brandonrotary.org.

Host Families Needed For Students

BRANDON - American Field Service, an international student exchange program that began in 1914 as a volunteer ambulance corps, is looking for families to host 11th-grade international exchange students for six to nine months while they attend area high schools during the upcoming school year.

The program also needs families to welcome and temporarily host students for a few weeks until homes are found for the full length or their stay. They will arrive between Aug. 15 and 19.

"Host families come in all shapes and sizes," said Lee Ann Ramsdell, whose family hosted Sophie Voggenberger of Austria from January through July. Voggenberger attended Newsome High School in Lithia.

Some host families have one parent, some two. Some have many kids, some none. Hosts need not speak foreign languages, nor must they provide the students with money. Each student needs his or her own bed, but not necessarily a separate room.

"All they have to provide is a loving home," Ramsdell said. Although potential host families are interviewed and subject to background checks, AFS takes care of all paperwork, visas and insurance.

Ramsdell said area high schools accept AFS students because the program is so well known.

In 1976, when she was a young girl, her family hosted an exchange student from Guatemala. "I am still close with my foreign-exchange sister from Guatemala, and her kids and mine are friends," Ramsdell said. "It was such a great experience that I always wanted to get involved as an adult."

She postponed that, however, until her husband, Gary, retired from the military and they settled in Lithia this year.

Two of the Ramsdells' five children live at home and have become close to all the exchange students who have visited the Tampa area this past year, she said. "Sophie has been such a perfect fit with our family, and my daughters really feel like they have another sister."

Operators of the exchange program welcome inquiries and applications from local students with good grades who are interested in studying overseas.

Ramsdell's daughter Jessica is fascinated by Japan, its culture and anime - a combination of computer graphics and animation popular in Japan and the United States. She will leave Aug. 20 for Kumamoto in south western Japan to attend school as an AFS exchange student. Her sister, Jennifer, who will be a Newsome High freshman this fall, wants to go to Russia or Korea when she is a junior.

For information about AFS, call Ramsdell at (813) 412-2257 or go to www.afs.org.

Marine Corps League Invites New Members

RIVERVIEW - The Riverview Detachment of the Marine Corps League, whose motto is "Marines taking care of Marines," will meet at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the American Legion Post 148, 7240 U.S. 301. S., Riverview.

Detachment activities include an annual picnic, which was recently held at the home of Fred and Retse Regenhard; and a car wash from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the last Saturday of each month at the post. Also popular is the group's annual poker run, in which participants ride motorcycles to check points to draw playing cards. The best hand wins. This year's poker run will take place Sept. 27.

Activities raise money for programs that help military veterans. For details about the poker run or to become a sponsor, go to the group's Web site, www.mclriverview.org, or call John Bain, past commandant, at (813) 967-3150.

"The detachment is always seeking new members - former and active-duty Marines and Navy Corpsmen who have served a tour with the Fleet Marine Force," said Commandant Jack Skelding.

Meetings are held the first Tuesday of each month. For information, call Skelding at (813) 672-1778.

Young Actors Invited For Three Productions

VALRICO - The educational Tampa Bay Family Theater will begin rehearsals for three fall productions beginning in August at Church Alive, 1603 Bloomingdale Ave., Valrico. Every child who registers will have a part to play on stage, although individual roles will be assigned based on a child's experience and skill. The registration fee, regardless of age or which show a student performs in, is $165 through Friday and $175 after that.

Children in kindergarten through third grade will participate in "Disney's Aristocats KIDS," a musical based on a 1970 animated Disney classic about the antics of a group of cats. Rehearsals will be from 5 to 6 p.m. Thursdays Aug. 21 through Nov. 13. The show will be presented at 7 p.m. Nov. 14.

Fourth- through sixth-grade students will rehearse the play "Jolly Roger and the Pirate Queen" from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursdays Aug. 21 through Oct. 30. Performances will take place at 2:30 and 7 p.m. Nov. 1.

The musical "Peter Pan" will be performed by students in grades seven through 12 at 2:30 and 7 p.m. Nov. 15. Rehearsals will be from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Thursdays Aug. 21 through Nov. 13.

For information, call directors Tyler or Amy Leavitt at (813) 571-3392. To register, send a check to Tampa Bay Family Theater, 1407 Peachfield Drive, Valrico FL 33596. Include the show title the child is interested in; his or her name, gender, grade and date of birth; and the parent's name, phone number, address and e-mail address.

Village Players Present 'Noises Off'

VALRICO - The Village Players will present Michael Frayne's comedy "Noises Off" at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and Aug. 8, 9, 15 and 16 at the James McCabe Theater, 506 Fifth St., Valrico.

An inept theatrical group tries to put on a racy show called "Nothing On," but the cast's personal and backstage bumbling and bungling threaten to ruin it. That is the plot of the play, not a commentary about the Village Players, a talented and experienced troupe who have been entertaining the greater Valrico community since the late 1970s.

Brendan Jacoby directs a cast that includes Cindy Miller-Ray as Dotty Otley/Mrs. Clackett; Greg Summerall as Lloyd Fellowes; Rick Faurote as Selsdon Mowbray/The Burglar; Kimberlee Sivret as Poppy Taylor; Mollie Anderson as Belinda Blair/Flavia Brent; Oliver Sprague as Tim Allgood; Thom Miller as Frederick Dallas/Philip Brent; Vince Natale as Garry Lejeune/Roger Tramplemain; and Jessica Siegler as Brooke Ashton/Vicki. A two-story set will rotate on stage.

Tickets are $12 per person and will be available 30 minutes before showtimes. Proceeds will benefit restoration of the James McCabe Theater in Valrico, which was built circa 1915.

For information, call the Village Players office at (813) 689-0044.

Kiwanis Clubs To 'Stuff The Bus'

SUN CITY CENTER - The Kiwanis clubs of Sun City Center and Brandon are collecting supplies for area schools through Aug. 7.

Drop-off bins are situated at local businesses, including the Sun City Center Chamber of Commerce, 1651 Sun City Center Plaza; the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce, 330 Pauls Dr., Suite 100, Brandon; Kmart, 1602 State Road 60, W., Brandon; Music Showcase, 402 Oakfield Dr., Brandon; and participating Beef O'Brady's restaurants.

The "Stuff the Bus" campaign includes notebook paper, pens, pencils, crayons, spiral notebooks, glue, scissors, protractors, pocket folders and backpacks for students. Copy paper, reward stickers, dry-erase markers and color pens are needed for classrooms. Monetary donations also are welcome.

"Parents usually need to spend approximately $100 per child on back-to-school supplies," said Seel Lundy, president of the Kiwanis Club of Sun City Center. "Teachers report that some students don't show up the first few days of school because they don't have the supplies expected of them."

Dustie Amatangelo, president of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Brandon and an advertising representative for the Tampa Tribune, said, "Providing these necessary school supplies will allow teachers to focus on teaching during the first few days of school, rather than trying to help the students find the basic supplies."

Once the bus is stuffed, the clubs will divide the items equally among Brandon and South Shore area schools. Each school will determine how to distribute the supplies.

For information about Kiwanis International, whose motto is "Serving the Children of the World," visit www.kiwanis.org. For information about the Kiwanis Club of Greater Brandon, go to www .brandonkiwanis.org.

Snippets

Congratulations to the Brandon Elks Lodge Elk of the Month for June, Tom Tennant, and the Brandon Ladies of the Elks Lady of Distinction for June, Diane League.

Send news and photos of community interest to Barbara Routen at The Tampa Tribune, 505 W. Robertson St., Brandon FL 33511, e-mail neighbors@tampabay .rr.com or call (813) 657-4531

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