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Summer Ending With Gospel, Jazz Festival

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By BARBARA ROUTEN

Tribune correspondent

Published: August 12, 2008

Updated:

RUSKIN - St. John the Divine Episcopal Church, 705 Ninth Ave. S.W., will play host to a gospel and jazz festival featuring the church's Redemption Band at 4 p.m. Aug. 24.

The concert will feature all the musicians who have served the congregation through the summer. Rick Barfield, Redemption Band member and guitarist who presented Cursillo music in June, will play. "'Cursillo' means a short course in Christianity," said Carole Del Castillo, church publicity coordinator.

Ryan Bennett, a rising senior at East Bay High School and member of the school's Sounds of Time show choir, sang during the July church services. The emphasis was on music for and by youth. Bennett also will perform at the festival.

Youth who performed at the July services were not members of the church, but area students who performed as individuals, Del Castillo said.

Gospel and jazz also will be featured at the 9 and 11 a.m. worship services at the church through this month.

For information about the festival or regular Sunday services, call the church office at (813) 645-1521.

Home School Group To Meet At Center Place

BRANDON - The Brandon Home School Fellowship group will meet Aug. 21, at Center Place Fine Arts and Civic Association, 619 Vonderburg Drive, for a fall planning meeting.

New members are asked to arrive at 6:30 p.m., current members at 7.

Attendees will meet the new board: Michele Roberts, chairwoman; Dana Cook, co-chairwoman; Nancy Bergman, contact coordinator; Betsy Roses, Web-site coordinator; Kendy Barrios, welcome-committee coordinator; and Wendy Kruse, service-area coordinator.

The 17-year-old Brandon Home School Fellowship includes members from the greater Brandon area, as well as from Lithia, Plant City, Lutz and Tampa.

It "is a support group of multiple Christian denominations that share in a love of home education," Roberts said.

"You do not have to be a Christian to join our group," states the group's Web site, www.brandonhomeschoolfellowship.org, "just understand that we will abide by our Christian beliefs," which are listed on the site.

"In a nutshell," Roberts said, "this is our annual membership signup evening, and parents who may be on the fence about home education can come and see what BHSF can offer. ..."

Among the activities and events offered throughout the year are field trips, weekly physical education, an art, history and science fair, yearbooks, holiday parties and a year-end promotion ceremony.

Some members, such as the Bryan Mion and Carl Bergman families of Valrico, enjoy a week-long, living history lesson as a group at the Alafia River Rendezvous, a pre-1840s interactive encampment held each January in Homeland.

The group also provides information about the Florida Parent Educators Association, a statewide home-school organization, and the Home Education Foundation, an organization that lobbies for home-school education in Tallahassee.

Representatives from Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, 4-H, and dance, music and cooking schools will be at the planning meeting to sign up students. Yearbooks will be available for pickup, and there will be a drawing for a free membership.

Yearly membership fees are $40 per family if paid by Aug. 21, and $45 per family after that.

For information, visit www.brandonhomeschoolfellowship.org.

Democrats To Discuss State Amendments

SUN CITY CENTER - The South Shore Democratic Club will meet at 1 p.m. Thursday in the Kings Point Clubhouse, 1900 Clubhouse Drive.

Stephen Gorham, candidate for the Hillsborough County School Board, and Pat Kemp, vice chairwoman of the Hillsborough Democratic Executive Committee, will speak about current concerns, including amendments to the state constitution.

For information, call Nate Bell, (813) 642-8013.

Congressional Update Open To All

RIVERVIEW - The Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce will host its 2008 Congressional-Update Luncheon at noon Aug. 20 at the Winthrop Theatre, 11349 Bloomingdale Ave.

Congressmen Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, and Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, have been invited to give an overview about vital issues under discussion in Washington, especially by the committees they serve on, and their impact on local education, medicine, business and quality of life. A question-and-answer period will follow their talks.

The cost of registration for the luncheon is $18 for chamber members, $23 for nonmembers. Corporate tables of eight are $170 for members, $210 for nonmembers.

To register, or for information, go to www.brandonchamber.com or call Allison Braden, (813) 689-1221, ext. 36, or e-mail abraden@brandonchamber.com. Contact Braden at least 48 hours before the luncheon if special accommodations are needed.

Ohio Club Plans An Indoor Picnic

SUN CITY CENTER - The Ohio Club of Sun City Center will throw a catered indoor picnic at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 22 in the Florida Room, 955 North Course Lane.

Hamburgers, hot dogs, coleslaw, beans and ice cream sundaes will be provided by Java Cow Ice Cream & Coffee Cafe. The club will supply tea and coffee. Entertainment will be Barbara Van Eycken performing Patsy Cline tunes.

The cost is $10 per person. To confirm a reservation, send a check, payable to Ohio Club, to Marianne Turman, 1954 Wolf Laurel Drive, Sun City Center, FL 33573-6440. For information, call Turman at (813) 634-7770.

Men's Group To Learn About 'Duty, Honor'

SUN CITY CENTER - The Sun City Center Men's Club will meet at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 20 in Community Hall, 1910 S. Pebble Beach Blvd.

Author Michael Deer will talk about his novel, "Duty and Honor." The book's sequel, "Duty Accomplished," will be released in the fall.

This members-only event requires reservations by Sunday. For membership information, call Jerry Mahoney, (813) 633-2879.

Students Give Twirling A French Twist

RIVERVIEW - Two exchange students from Echanges Culturels Internationaux, Sandy Promonet, 15, and Lauren Seynaeve, 14, who have been best friends since childhood in Oyannax, in Ain, France, found common ground with local girls who like to twirl batons.

They joined June Bryan's Let's Twirl students July 22 at the Winthrop Pole Barn.

The French girls, who were sponsored by Jerry and Julie Hurley of Tampa, "enjoyed a morning of fun, friendship and twirling," Bryan said. "The language barrier was no problem when it came to elbow rolls, turns, neck rolls, toss illusions and flashbacks. It was quite an experience to see the two countries coming together for the sport of twirling."

Lauren has been an enthusiastic member of a twirling team for four years, training with a coach three or four times per week, said her mother, Karine, in an e-mail interview from her home in France.

"Her team won first place in the French championships three years in a row," Karine Seynaeve said. "This year she decided to form a duo with Sandy."

How did they feel about their daughter's spending the summer so far from home? Karine Seynaeve said she and her husband, Patrick, were anxious about her, but the host family was marvelous and put them at ease, especially by letting Lauren call home often. The Seynaeves considered the trip to be an opportunity of a lifetime for Lauren, who will get together with the other students in the ECI group for a reunion every year.

"Lauren returned home thrilled and delighted as much with her trip abroad as with her host family," said Karine Seynaeve, and she is "ready to go back."

Lauren and Sandy twirled with Bryan's group the day before Let's Twirl group headed to the 2008 AAU Junior Olympic Games, July 23 to Aug. 2 in Detroit, for the national baton twirling championship. Let's Twirl won the championship for the fifth year in a row.

Registration for Let's Twirl classes is open. Classes run from 3:45 to 4:45 and 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. beginning Aug. 25 at the Winthrop Pole Barn. Ages four through college age and beginners through advanced students mingle in each class.

For details about registration and classes, go to www.letstwirl.net or call Bryan at (813) 653-2199 or e-mail SBryan01@tampabay.rr.com.

Area Youth Invited To Join New Choir

BRANDON - Sixth- through 12th-graders who enjoy singing are invited to join a new youth choir called One Voice.

It will be directed by One Voice founder Carol Abbott, music and arts director at Celebration Church in Valrico, with Kimberly Lee, pianist at Celebration Church, accompanying. Rehearsals are from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Monday nights at 733-B W. Lumsden Road, Brandon, inside Oak Park Plaza.

Costs of participation per student include a yearly $50 registration fee and a $35 monthly fee. Students may register by e-mailing Abbott, at cma.sings@gmail.com.

Square Dance Features Fruit, Chocolate

SUN CITY CENTER - The Sun City Center Swingers Square Dance Club will hold its Fruit Fest Mainstream/Plus Square Dance Friday with prerounds at 7 p.m., plus dance rounds at 7:30 and a chocolate fountain all evening in Community Hall, 1910 S. Pebble Beach Blvd.

For information, call Gail Bouverat, (813) 633-1297, or Sue Lynch, (813) 633-8780.

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

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