Since I retired seven years ago, volunteering with new English learners has been my passion. I’ve participated in several international programs through Global Volunteers in Cuba, Romania, and Greece, practicing conversational English with students. And, until they closed their doors in December 2021, I had many great experiences volunteering with students from all over the world in ESOL classes for immigrants at the Tomlinson Adult Learning Center at Mirror Lake in St. Petersburg. 

After much research, I recently connected with Dr. Maya Lane, president and founder of NicerFL, Florida Newcomer Immigrant Educational Center, Inc. Dr. Lane manages programs in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Sarasota, and Manatee counties with the mission of “helping immigrants overcome personal, professional, and cultural challenges of integration through individual tutoring and mentoring.”… Read More

It is estimated that the number of people living with aphasia in Tampa Bay could populate the entire Old Northeast Neighborhood. “If you add all the family and friends, and other people impacted by the person they know who has aphasia, that would extend the number of people affected by aphasia to all the surrounding neighborhoods and then some,” says Debbie Yones, executive director of Voices of Hope for Aphasia in St. Petersburg.

Until celebrities like actor Bruce Willis and politician Gabby Giffords went public with their diagnoses of aphasia, perhaps few Americans outside of the aphasia community had even heard of the condition, much less knew about its impacts.… Read More

The holidays bring about a sense of community. In sunny St. Petersburg, we are fortunate to have just that: a local region of small businesses, the arts, and localized charities that allow residents to connect with one another. This is well exemplified by ShapeShifter Fish and Friends, a small business with ties to Coffee Pot Bayou. Maria Aller and Andrew Hill co-founded the organization in October 2020, a time when they felt the world needed more positivity.

“I lived in an apartment for five years, but fell in love with the neighborhood,” Aller says. “When I decided to buy a house, it took me one and a half years until I found the right one.… Read More

“Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.” 
– Robin Sharma

Giving is the best present we can give to ourselves. And, though the rewards are great, giving something as precious as time can be challenging. Personal wisdom gained over time, lessons that each of us had to take time to learn, is perhaps our most precious asset. Imagine then, the incredible wealth of knowledge in the possession of our senior citizens. 

A recently expanded program supported by Seniors in Service of Tampa Bay, called Senior Companion, aims to make good use of lifetimes of wisdom while easing the loneliness that sometimes comes with it.… Read More

For most of the year, Old Northeast resident Margaret Ann Burtchaell is hard at work in her commercial kitchen on 4th Street, where she and her team are busy creating everything from specialty cookies to gourmet comfort food. 

But in the summer, her kitchen is in a villa in Italy, where she teaches cooking classes to guests enjoying a week-long vacation in the Sabine hills just outside of Rome. The villa is part of a 150-acre estate that includes orchards full of cherry, fig, orange and lemon trees, olive groves, and rosemary bushes.

“It was one of those unexpected blessings in life that come along,” says Burtchaell.… Read More

On September 11th, the St. Petersburg Civitan Club celebrated its 100th year of services to the community. Although the club was officially chartered on April 12, 1921, like many other clubs and volunteer organizations, the recent pandemic delayed their centennial festivities from last spring until now. St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman issued a proclamation recognizing the Club’s centennial on its actual anniversary last April.

The first Civitan Club was formed in Birmingham, AL, in 1917, with St. Pete starting its own club four years later. The organization’s guiding principle is to build good citizenship through volunteering with an emphasis on helping people with developmental disabilities.… Read More

Even with all their complexities, families are a blessing of permanence that give children an advantage in life. But not everyone is given this opportunity, especially those in foster care. As program director of the Heart Gallery of Pinellas and Pasco, Patsy Stills is hoping to change that.

A program of Gulf Coast Jewish Family & Community Services, “the Heart Gallery of Pinellas and Pasco is dedicated to increasing the number of adoptions of local children in foster care,” said Patsy. Since it was established in 2006, the nonprofit organization has found forever homes for 390 children. But many more need help.… Read More

The US has long been a beacon of hope to people who wish to make new lives for themselves. But moving to and adjusting to a new country can be difficult without some friendly help. That’s where the Sew Much Hope Project, founded by a mother and daughter team – Janet Meyer, a resident of the Old Northeast, and her daughter Courtney Erickson – comes in.

Sew Much Hope Project is a collaborative social enterprise based in St. Pete that gives women who are legally settled refugees the chance to learn how to sew and earn supplemental income to help their families.… Read More

While the City of St. Petersburg was developing its reputation over the past two decades as a premiere arts destination in the southeast, a budding native-daughter poet was set on filling the literary cultural void. What began as an effort to design and promote reading and writing events blossomed less than a year later into a nonprofit supporting the literary arts through ongoing education and creative events. Keep St. Pete Lit celebrated its seventh anniversary this past August.

Maureen McDole, Keep St. Pete Lit’s founder and executive director, spearheaded the organization’s growth from its inception to the present where it is now regarded as one of Florida’s leading literary arts groups providing low-cost, high-quality writing classes to people of all ages – from elementary school on up to seniors – and all skill levels from beginners to professionals.… Read More

On August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment to the US Constitution passed, giving American women the right to vote. Now 100 years later, Linsey Grove, president of the League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg Area (LWVSPA), says the best way for women to celebrate this milestone is to exercise their own right to vote. She also points to the interesting similarities between this year’s election, which is taking place during the global COVID-19 pandemic, and what was happening during the women’s suffrage movement in the early 20th century.

Ratification of the 19th amendment followed two devastating world events: the 1918 flu and World War I, both of which severely reduced the population of young men and created a labor shortage in the US.… Read More