HCBA MAKING A DIFFERENCE THROUGH THE COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE
Community Services Committee �������������������������������������������
The Community Services Committee( CSC) enjoyed another amazing year last year thanks to the support and generosity of our wonderful volunteers and donors. The CSC is looking forward to continuing where we ended last year, with your support, of course!
After the success of the Adopt-a- Veteran event last October( led by Mary Snyder and Tristan Wolbers of Tajer Wolbers PLLC and cochaired by Lara LaVoie of LaVoie & Kaizer, P. A. and Sacha Dyson of Thompson, Sizemore, Gonzalez & Hearing, P. A.) where volunteers gave their time and donations so generously to fulfill the wish lists of veterans in need, countless volunteers and donors stepped up once again to support the CSC’ s Elves for Elders event in December( led by Lisa Esposito of the Law Offices of Lisa Esposito P. A., in her thirteenth year chairing this event, and co-chaired by James Giardina of The Consumer Rights Law Group and Lara LaVoie) to help make the holidays brighter for these inspiring seniors. We were able to get every one of the 350 elders adopted and raised an additional $ 7,000!
In March, the CSC hosted Dining with Dignity Week( led by Amy Bandow of Cooley Law School and co-chaired by Jeff
Burns), where volunteers( including members of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit) spent quality time at Trinity Café serving sit-down, threecourse meals to Hillsborough County’ s homeless and working poor. It was a rewarding experience for all!
Our final event of the year took place in May at A Kid’ s Place in Brandon, which is an incredible nonprofit center for abused and abandoned children. To help these amazing children feel like kids for a day, the CSC threw them another Pirate Plunder Party this year. Once again, it was a resounding success thanks to all who donated or came out to help. We had some fun activities, and everyone had a blast— the kids and the CSC’ s volunteers included. We played pirate games and allowed every little scallywag to pick prizes out of our treasure chest. We dressed the little buccaneers as pirates and let them make their very own treasure chests. The generosity of BubbaQue’ s, the Law Offices of Lisa Esposito, P. A. and South Tampa Dermatology allowed everyone to enjoy some very tasty grub. The unbelievable desserts were made possible by Petite Madelyn’ s Bakery in Brandon( who supplied the delicious cupcakes); Nita Hospel( who donated yummy cookies) and Publix( who donated some lovely treats as well— thanks to the help of Tristan Wolbers). Due to the generosity of King of Bounce of Tampa, the kids were able to enjoy a pirate bounce house, snow cones,
“ How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”— Anne Frank popcorn, and their very own candy-making machine! Many heartfelt thanks go to Stingray Chevrolet and its manager John Whaley, and all of their employees as they again stepped up to the plate as one of our major sponsors, allowing the CSC to have thousands of toys in the prize chest. Panther Medical, Advanced Diagnostic Group, Maria Miranda of Miranda Insurance( State Farm), and Go Junk’ s incredible support allowed the CSC to provide every child with tickets to a movie and snacks at Goodrich Quality Theater in Riverview( due to its generous discount) and a full meal at DairyLand in Brandon( due to its generous discount).
At this year’ s Pirate Party, the kids were lucky enough to enjoy some awesome music and dancing and fun photo time thanks to the generosity of Paul Gigante( of Gigante Productions), who was kind enough to donate both an incredible photo booth and his time and DJ talent. The children were also able to enjoy their very own petting zoo, courtesy of James Giardina.
The CSC is truly humbled and overwhelmed by the amount of donations and volunteer support that we received for this event. The CSC would like to thank all of our volunteers, the Hillsborough County Bar Association, as well as the following donors: Stingray Chevrolet; Law Offices of Lisa
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