Tuesday, April 2, 2013
A Dunedin mother inspired by the loss of her 5-year-old son Mathew turned to Dunedin Lanes in January to help raise money for care packages for Florida families at their children's hospital bedsides.
Editor's note: This story originally ran in January. We're putting it in the spotlight again to highlight the accomplishments one person can make. When Karen Gliddon was at the hospital with her cancer-stricken son, the last thing on her mind was leaving his side to get a toothbrush. "I didn't want to leave Mathew for a second," the Dunedin mother said, holding back emotion while her 2-year-old daughter Molli doodled on a piece of paper nearby. It's a topic she has a tough time talking about, but she insists, because she feels it is important. Mathew, her firstborn of three children, battled acute lymphoblastic leukemia from the time he was 2 until succumbing at the age of 5. Molli hadn't even been born yet. Gliddon's younger son Andrew …
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Dunedin Lanes
405 Patricia Ave, Dunedin, FL
/articles/with-bowling-pin-as-torch-dunedin-mother-continues-son-s-battle-with-cancer
943726
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Thursday, February 28, 2013
Rotary Club volunteers were stationed outside businesses in Dunedin on Saturday, Feb. 23, painting people's pinky fingers to bring awareness and raise money for polio immunizations worldwide.
- VOLUNTEERS IN THE NEWS
- Katie Dolac
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Thursday, February 28
You may have seen people wearing red T-shirts painting the pinky fingers of passersby purple outside some of your weekend destinations in Dunedin on Saturday. It wasn't a bizarre dream. It was a message from Dunedin area Rotary Club members about the realities of a potentially devastating childhood virus. Volunteers from Rotary Club of Dunedin, Rotary Club of Dunedin North, and Rotary Club of Dunedin Waterside were stationed outside the Dunedin Historical Museum, Walmart Neighborhood Market, and Honeymoon Island State Park on "Purple Pinky Day" Saturday, Feb. 23 collecting donations and trying bring awareness to polio — an intestinal virus that not just claims people worldwide, but also struck one of their own, survivor Welch Agnew, …
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-82.78889
Dunedin Historical Museum
349 Main St, Dunedin, FL
/articles/purple-pinky-fingers-bring-awareness-to-polio-in-dunedin
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/locations/8908200
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Walmart Neighborhood Market
2120 Main St, Dunedin, FL
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/locations/8908201
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
On Saturday, Judy Adair, whose family runs Creative Graphics in Dunedin, is taking a 10-week-old bulldog puppy to its new home in Michigan, where its new owner is in a fight for his life.
- VOLUNTEERS IN THE NEWS
- Katie Dolac
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Wednesday, January 23
It might not be first class, but Bosco is earning his wings this weekend. Judy Adair is taking the 10-week-old English bulldog to a new home in Michigan this weekend. He's going to Andrew, a teen whose greatest wish is to have him. Adair, an 11-year Michigan transplant whose family runs Creative Graphics on Douglas Avenue in Dunedin, said she has no doubt "he is meant for this boy." Bosco is moving north in place of another puppy, she explained from her patio chair in the Edgewater Drive neighborhood in Clearwater early Tuesday. One of her two adult bulldogs recently carried a litter of puppies, an exhausting, yet rewarding process for any breeder, Adair explained. Bulldogs must be artificially inseminated and delivered through C-section, …
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Owners at Causeway Cleaners hung a sign in the window offering free dry cleaning to people in need and received a surprising act of kindness in return.
The storefront of Steve and Peggy Milby's dry cleaning business blends into the landscape of strip malls and vacant lots off of Dunedin's Bayshore Boulevard. With Florida's unemployment rate hovering around 8.1 percent, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, the small business owners asked themselves what, if anything, could they do to help. Then, a sign. Three months ago, Steve Milby added a large white sign in the window of Causeway Cleaners, his 25-year business tucked snugly in the far corner of Causeway Plaza. It sticks out among a clutter of colorful stickers and miniature suction-cupped signs honoring his dogs, who've also worked there. The sign contains a heartening message in large, red capital letters: IF YOU ARE …
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-82.779362
Causeway Cleaners
2666 Bayshore Blvd, Dunedin, FL
/articles/kindness-returns-to-dry-cleaner-offering-help-to-unemployed
943741
/locations/8509494
Friday, December 21, 2012
Alex Gawel, 15, and more than 35 volunteers constructed racks at Dunedin Marina on Dec. 15 to store new Laser racing sail boats that will ultimately allow the Dunedin Youth Sailing program to expand.
- VOLUNTEERS IN THE NEWS
- Katie Dolac
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Friday, December 21, 2012
The Dunedin Youth Sailing Association was looking to purchase Laser sail boats so its progam could include more competitive racing options for the older teens. The only problem? The prorgam had no place to store the boats. That's when Alex Gawel, a 15-year-old member of Boy Scout Troop 10, decided to take it on as his Eagle Scout project. Alex Gawel learned to sail and race through the Dunedin Youth Sailing Assocation program, which caters to children ages 8 to 16. The Laser boat purchases would expand the Dunedin Youth Sailing program to include teens 16 to 18. His father Jeffery Gawel still has ties to the program. "When the need came up, it fit perfectly with Alex's need for a project that he could feel passionate about," his mother …
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Dunedin Municipal Marina
51 Main St, Dunedin, FL
/articles/teen-builds-boat-racks-for-youth-sailing-program
1760439
/locations/8433317
Monday, December 17, 2012
The Suncoast Brotherhood's 32nd annual Toy Run raised money and toys for the Pinellas County Foster and Adoptive Parents Association on Dec. 16 at American Legion Post 275 in Dunedin.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
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Monday, December 17, 2012
Eddie Michels captured these photos of the Suncoast Brotherhood's 32nd Annual Toy Run helped raise unwrapped toy donations for children on Sunday, Dec. 16. Hundreds of motorcyclists gathered at the K-Mart parking lot in Clearwater and American Legion Post 275 with toys. Participants rode with a police escort to American Legion Post 275 via State Road 580 and Bayshore Boulevard. All toy donations go to the Pinellas County Foster and Adoptive Parents Association.
28.023412
-82.788634
360 Wilson St, Dunedin, FL
American Legion Post
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/locations/8400528
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Al Barrett, founder of Threads of Hope, announced that specially-built crates packed with sewing machines and material needed to outfit an up-and-coming women's sewing center in Maasai, Kenya, have been shipped from Dunedin.
- VOLUNTEERS IN THE NEWS
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Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Dec. 5 was a grateful day for Al Barrett and countless Kenyan women he has never met. Barrett, the 30-year owner of Dunedin Canvas Works and founder of Threads of Hope, finished loading a huge shipment of sewing machines and material that is now on its way to outfit an up-and-coming women's sewing center that will teach new life skills to a dwindling nomadic people in Maasai, Kenya. Construction of the sewing center is slated to begin in February 2013. Barrett and his wife's charity, "Threads of Hope," has sent sewing machines to 14 countries across the world, with a focus in Africa. The following is an excerpt from a Dec. 6 letter Barrett wrote describing his gratitude after nine days loading the shipment at Dunedin Canvas Works. Friends…
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Curtis Fundamental fifth-grader Maria Norman decided that in lieu of gifts, she would give back to Dunedin Doggie Rescue for her birthday. She was publicly recognized at an event Sunday.
- VOLUNTEERS IN THE NEWS
- Katie Dolac
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Thursday, December 6, 2012
Young Maria Norman asked for stuffed toys, rawhide bones and dental sticks for her 11th birthday. The gifts weren't for herself, but for the rescued shelter dogs of Dunedin Doggie Rescue. "One thing we've talked about," Maria's mother Kathy Norman said, "is kids have so much every birthday — maybe it's a good idea to think about giving back. I got her to thinking, and she was thinking of an organization to donate to instead of getting birthday presents." For her selfless act of service, Dunedin Doggie Rescue publicly recognized Maria, a fifth-grader at Curtis Fundamental Elementary, when she dropped off the donations Dec. 2 at its last Suds on Sunday dog wash of the season. (The monthly dog wash fundraisers resume in March.) "At first she …
Friday, November 23, 2012
An Oldsmar audio and video marketing company donated 42 children's backpacks to Rob Ditro's Backpack Lady Project last month. It is the Dunedin charity's largest single donation to date.
- SCHOOLS
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Friday, November 23, 2012
An Oldsmar audio and video marketing company made the largest single donation to The Backpack Lady Project to date last month. Spectrio donated 42 backpacks to Rob Ditro's charity. The Dunedin man started it last year to honor his late mother's legacy. "As fortunate as we are to be able to feed and clothe our families, and make sure our kids have what they need in school, we know that there are a lot of families that struggle. We are always looking for ways to give back to our community and this was the perfect opportunity," Noah Blankenship, Spectrio national account executive, is quoted in a news release. Ditro was overjoyed by the generous Oct. 25 generous donation. All backpacks donated to The Backpack Lady Project go to local schools…
Friday, November 16, 2012
Jim Turner runs a consulting firm and has decades of experience in the business world. Now he’s putting his acumen – and contact list – to use with his new non-profit, UVETS.
Jim Turner and his wife, Aletha, looked like a couple of vendors with products to sell at a Safety Harbor street festival last week. A closer inspection of their tent revealed what the longtime Dunedin residents were really doing: raising money to help veterans fix their damaged and dilapidated homes. A year ago, Turner founded UVETS, a non-profit organization helping veterans fix or salvage their homes damaged by storms, power surges, fire or general disrepair. “The project came about because a business associate of mine was on the board of directors of the Wounded Warriors,” Turner said, “and we were discussing work that was needed for vets but that didn’t fall under the Warriors’ purview.” “Being a businessman, I researched the need …
Joe Kurtzke
9:14 am on Wednesday, April 3, 2013
The death of anyone impacts those around them, but when it is the death of a child it makes an even greater impact in many cases as one has to question why. Sadly we are seeing more an more stories of Cancer, ALS, Alzheimers and other Critical Illness related deaths and more of them are hitting the younger population than ever. Whether it is a matter of lifestyle or something else it is something… more ›