VIN'S PEOPLE: More than 5,000 children receive boost from Service Club of Manatee County

Vin Mannix
·2 min read
Vin Mannix
Vin Mannix

Service Club of Manatee County president Natalie Thrasher and grants chairperson Lisa Sokos recently awarded more than $132,000 to 32 nonprofits during a reception at the Manatee Performing Arts Center. The funds, raised at the Service Club’s annual “Boots & Bling” gala will benefit the lives of more than 5,000 children.

Some of the nonprofits were ArtCenter Manatee, Beds for Kids, Centerstone of Florida, Easterseals Southwest Florida, Foundation for Dreams, Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida, Healthy Teens, Just for Girls, Lighthouse Vision Loss Education Center, Manatee Wildcats Youth Sports, One More Child, Pace Center for Girls Manatee, Stillpoint Mission, Take Stock in Children and Young Life among others.

· Volunteers are still needed for Dive Into Reading, the award-winning summer program for kids started by John and Amanda Horne. Please visit oysterbar.net/reading for details.

· School’s out, but all the best to these assistant principals at their new assignments around the Manatee School District: Shelby Bench, Barbara Harvey Elementary; Denise Brigg, Manatee High; Dr. Minetha Brown, Lincoln Middle; Mary Cooke, Prine Elementary; Ashley Dohme, Parrish Community High; Susan Ebbesmeyer, Palmetto Elementary; Scott Flynn, Daughtrey Elementary; Dr. Linda Francis, Southeast High; Bethany Gerber, Haile Middle; Danielle McClellan, Dr. Mona Jain Middle; Heather Rivero, Johnson K-8 School; Jacob Sponsel, Nolan Middle; and Angela Young, Samoset Elementary.

· Uh, oh! Francesca Ricciardo is one year shy of the Big 3-0!

· Good luck to Southeast’s Jacob Mruk and Dominic Schoonover. Their film, “Dealing  With Loss,” placed at the Jim Harbin Student Media Festival and moves onto the state finals at the Florida Association for Media in Education conference this fall.

· A bow to Blake Medical Center Registered Nurse Tanya Bitel, the 2023 Clinical Nurse Education Award winner from the Galen College of Nursing, honoring her as the teacher of the year in the West Florida Division.

· Helen Dolbec is 39. Again.

· So is Maribeth Phillips.

· Leslie Wells, too.

· And a special welcome home to Linda and Joe Kinnan, who just returned from a vacation tour in England, Scotland and Ireland.

Linda and Joe Kinnan's vacation tour in England, Scotland and Ireland included a stop in Sligo and the gravesite of Irish poet William Butler Yeats.
Linda and Joe Kinnan's vacation tour in England, Scotland and Ireland included a stop in Sligo and the gravesite of Irish poet William Butler Yeats.

Among their Irish stops was the town of Boyle, where Joe’s cousin resides. They also visited Sligo, where my mother Eileen’s family hails from, and Benbulben mountain, where Sherri and I got engaged and we spread Mom’s ashes 14 years ago. The Kinnans also visited the nearby gravesite of sainted Irish poet William Butler Yeats, whose headstone bears his famous epitaph: “Cast a cold Eye On Life, on Death. Horseman, pass by.”

Vin’s People runs Sundays. Email Vin Mannix at vinspeople@gmail.com. Or call 941-962-5944. Twitter: @vinmannix.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: VIN MANNIX: Service Club of Manatee County awards more than $132,000