Garden Club presents check to Riverkeeper
The Garden Club of Jacksonville planted a little “seed money” with the St. Johns Riverkeeper last month. During their end-of-the-year council meeting last month, Garden Club leaders presented the Riverkeeper with a $1,500 donation. The organization is one of the groups the club supports through civic outreach programs each year.
In the Garden: Crape Myrtles — love them, or not?
By Victoria Register Freeman I have a friend who refers to the twin trees on each side of her Historic District driveway as Crap Myrtles. Her mispronunciation is intended to convey her distain for the multi-trunked trees even though their white blossoms present her with a riotous visual bouquet throughout the summer. I confess, […]
Go Giver: Sander Moody
By Julie Kerns Garmendia Sander Moody is a devoted father, husband, attorney and volunteer who relocated to Jacksonville from a successful law practice in New York City in 1998 when he and his physician wife, Laura, were ready to start their family. The couple chose an Avondale Tudor style home that had been remodeled […]
Go Giver: George Foote
By Julie Kerns Garmendia George Foote is the kind of dad and volunteer who can motivate an extremely busy middle school principal to alert the community newspaper that he should be recognized for exceptional contributions to Julia Landon College Preparatory and Leadership Development School in San Marco. Foote and his wife Michele, a senior […]
Gettin’ Jiggy with It – learning tips and tricks
The Mudville Grille was the place to be if you’re a lure angler in the waterways of Northeast Florida. Captains
Spring break not only time to enjoy outdoor activities with the family
By Ted and Nathan Miller
Last month was spring break. With the kids out of school for a week and their sports activities put on hold, it was the perfect time to tell them to pack a bag and take off to a favorite destination for a much needed break.
Our great state of Florida offers many opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. From fishing to hunting and camping to canoeing, it is virtually impossible to get bored around here. There are activities and destinations for everyone — and many spots are just a few hours away. Let’s take a quick tour from the northeast to the south and back up the west coast.
Amelia Island is a about a 2.5-hour boat run from Jacksonville. Free dockage at the city dock allows you and the family to jump off the boat for the one minute walk to the historic district of Fernandina Beach. Kids will enjoy window-shopping and catching a scoop or two of ice cream at one of the several parlors in the city center. There are many great places to grab lunch as well.
From Fernandina Beach, you can run south down the east coast of Florida to our nation’s oldest city — St. Augustine. At this historic waterfront stop, you can enjoy an inexpensive stay at one of several marina resorts. With a late afternoon walk along the docks, you will witness boats unloading the day’s catch and watch the sun set behind the tuna towers.
Next, we head further south through Crescent Beach, Matanzas Inlet, and Ponce Inlet and into Cape Canaveral. The fishing in this region can be the best in the Southeast. This time of year offers an incredible bull-red run off the coast where the sea turns red with thousands of redfish or you can chase packs of free-swimming cobia heading north for their annual migration.
Looking for a longer trip? Travel further south to Stuart, Vero and Palm Beach. These areas offer a wide range of lodging from 4-star resorts to quaint little fish camps and marina resorts with private dockage. With more than 100 inshore spoil islands in the ICW and the gulf stream being only minutes away from the inlet, this part of Florida offers some of the most accessible inshore and offshore fishing around.
Then there’s Miami and the Keys. With its gin-colored water and local restaurants and marinas, the area boasts some of the freshest fish tacos and cold beverages you can find. When you are through exploring the Gold Coast, travel up the west coast past the Everglades, 10,000 Islands, Naples and Ft. Myers. This gorgeous part of the state offers some of the most beautiful inshore angling in the world. Be sure to use the tracking devise on your GPS: with every canal and mangrove island (over 10,000 of them) looking the same, it can be difficult to find your way out of there.
Heading up the west coast, you will find one of the greatest cheeseburgers the state has to offer. Travel a little further north up the Cultural Coast past Sanibel and Captiva to Cabbage Key at mile marker 60 along the ICW. The dock masters are friendly and will work hard to squeeze your boat into a slip (and they do accept tips). After lunch, head northward to Boca Pass and spend a few hours watching the mayhem and the cluster of agitated anglers tarpon fishing jockeying for position over “The Hole”. This is an area in the pass where the depth goes from 35 down to 74 feet, holding hundreds of fish.
Next — it’s Boca Grande, an area a few miles north of the hole. There, you can leave your boat at the city dock and take a walk into Boca Grande for some ice cream. Golf carts are available for rent as well. Boca Grande is full of great places to eat. A little further north is Gasparilla Island. You can only access the island by boat and truly has one of the most beautiful inlets around.
Traveling further north we enter into the scallop capital of the world in Steinhatchee (STEEN-hat-chee) and Keaton Beach. This family activity has been referred to as ‘easter egg hunting for grown-ups’. I tend to agree. A few recommendations: Pay someone to clean your scallops. Eat dinner at Fiddler’s Restaurant. Buy a koozie at the Sea Hag Marina. Heading further north and west along the panhandle you reach Apalachicola, Port St. Joe, Panama City, Destin and Pensacola. These areas offers some of the whitest beaches, one of the best cobia fishing migrations and some of the best bottom fishing in close proximity to the inlets around. You can fill a fish box full of snapper and grouper (when it’s open) only a few miles offshore. And if you search hard enough, you may be able to find a local restaurant to prepare your catch for you.
Happy exploring.
Go-Giver: Mark Rosenberg
By Julie Kerns
Garmendia
Mark
Rosenberg, a Jacksonville native and local attorney with a private law practice
in Riverside, lives with his wife Natalie, daughter Charlotte 10, and son
William 6 1/2, in Avondale. Several years ago Rosenberg first began supporting
the nonprofit The Sanctuary on Eighth Street through a friend’s involvement.
Later a chance personal encounter with the Sanctuary children introduced
Rosenberg to the group of underprivileged children and teens who would become
nearly a second family to the busy attorney.
“At
first I was just the typical check-writing supporter of The Sanctuary — then we
ran into the kids at Boone Park where they were enjoying an Easter egg hunt,
” Rosenberg said. He explained how he reconnected with Sanctuary director
and nearby resident, Vicky Watkins during the run-in. Rosenberg’s interest in
the Sanctuary was rekindled a year later in the same park. “I was at the
park again with my family when I saw a friend, Robert George, who was trying to
set up a ‘not-for-profit week’ at Camp Rockmont in Black Mountain, North Carolina
for kids who would never be able to attend summer camp otherwise. I knew I
could pull some people together and make something happen. I wanted to help
send Sanctuary children to the camp, and through that goal, my involvement with
the organization grew over time.”
Through
his connection with the summer camp, Rosenberg was able to arrange for the
first group of five Sanctuary children to attend Rockmont. For the past several
summers, more children have earned the trip through their behavior and academic
accomplishments in The Sanctuary’s enrichment and scholastic programs.
“I
got to know the children, the staff and their mission and began to spend alot
of time there personally, as well as working for them on my own,” he said. “I
was asked to join the board and served as president for the past two years.
Those kids are my little friends and they mean alot to me. What I do for them
pales in comparison to the blessings they have brought to my life.”
The
Sanctuary began as Urban Ministries of Springfield in 1992. The organization
changed its name to The Sanctuary on Eighth Street in 2001. The organization
will celebrate its 20th anniversary September 21, according to Rosenberg. It
has grown from an after-school program for a few children to serving more than
100 inner-city children and youth in after-school, summer school and a small,
but successful home school program taught entirely by volunteer teachers. Their
programs seek to encourage and empower youth and families in need by
ministering to their spiritual, physical, social and intellectual needs with
the goal of expanding opportunities through education, social services,
recreation and the arts.
“It’s
funny, but the Sanctuary Board is littered with my friends because not only did
I want to bring on more strong board members, but I know how my own involvement
has affected my life and I want to share that,” Rosenberg said. “A perfect
example of how we can encourage and help the kids, is their Sanctuary
basketball team practices and games. Sometimes I have been the only adult there
to cheer for their games, or it’s just me and my children, the staff, teachers
or other board members watching them play. It just means so much to them.”
Rosenberg
has already contributed successful ideas to help The Sanctuary kids and he has
more future plans and goals. His daughter Charlotte’s Brownie Troop painted the
computer lab. He came up with the idea for Party Partners, where a church or
other community group hosts a party for the Sanctuary children.
“When
I learned that many of the Sanctuary children never had parties given for them,
even birthday parties, all I could think of was how many parents and
grandparents of my childrens’ classmates attend the many parties and holiday
celebrations held at Riverside Presbyterian Day School. There is always an
abundance of families, food and fun and the comparison to these children was
heartbreaking to me. I just wanted to change that,” he said.
Now
several churches and organizations host parties for every holiday at The
Sanctuary, and many return each year. Rosenberg said the program has been a
wonderful success for the children and has simultaneously introduced many
people in the community to the Sanctuary children, their programs and needs.
Vicky
Watkins, executive director, says that Rosenberg transformed everything since
he came, through his personal involvement and commitment to the children. She
called him a blessing to the organization and a strong, committed leader with
vision, who gets things done and always follows through.
“Mark
strengthened the board tremendously and expanded our reach into the community.
He brought so much to us with his full involvement at every level,”
Watkins said. ” He personally gets to know the kids and loves them and his
commitment to their well being and futures is contagious.”
Rosenberg’s
goals for the future of The Sanctuary focus on funding and sustainability of
programs so that every child can improve behavior, school performance and
succeed in life. His concern when he speaks of their difficulties and
challenges at home and elsewhere is sincere. He said they have little
opportunity to meet their personal potential, that most are working below grade
level and some are in danger of dropping out of school. He proudly speaks of
The Sanctuary’s goal of helping children to attend KIPP Impact Middle School
(charter) or a public magnet school, and that three alumni entered college last
year. One deserving student received a full scholarship.
The
Rosenberg family moved to Avondale from San Marco when Natalie found her dream
Tudor style home, which they completely renovated. Later Mark relocated his
office to Riverside. Natalie is also an attorney, a fulltime mother and active
volunteer. She too can be found with the Sanctuary children, where she listens to
their individual reading. Natalie serves on the Women’s Board of Wolfson
Children’s Hospital. The Rosenbergs also support the Sulzbacher Center, the
Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, American Cancer Society, the Juvenile
Diabetes Research Foundation and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
“I
just want to help these kids become all that they can be. I want to do for them
what I do for my own children,” he said.
Go-Giver: Dr. Dean Glassman
By Julie Kerns
Garmendia
Some
San Marco residents already know that their neighbor, 52-year-old plastic
surgeon Dr. Dean Glassman, has been a medical missionary for years. However,
not many people know the extent of his charitable work as a pediatric
reconstructive surgeon on volunteer trips to Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines,
Grenada or Brazil — and in Jacksonville with Solace for the Children, a group
providing medical treatment for children from Afghanistan.
Glassman’s
wife Lisa accompanied him on early trips to Grenada, and now daughter
Gabriella, 20, has followed in his footsteps. Gabriella joined her father on
his two most recent trips in 2009 and 2011 to Brazil.
Glassman’s
first volunteer experience was as a young resident plastic surgeon in 1986. He
agreed to go to the Philippines and operate on children with cleft palates.
Later his friend Doug Campbell, founder of Jacksonville-based Children’s Health
Organization Relief & Educational Services (CHORES), invited him to operate
in Grenada. There he did some cleft palate surgeries and general surgery:
repaired old burns, birth defects, congenital abnormalities and some corrective
eyelid surgeries. In 2003, one of Glassman’s patients volunteered him for
medical mission work in Brazil.
“I
started operating on children from Brazil when one of my patients volunteered
me, and eventually I ended up meeting John Mark Bellington, founder of The
Moses Project in Porto Velho, Brazil,” Glassman said. “The first child came
here to Jacksonville, an 11-year-old with cleft lip who I operated on at
Wolfson. The next year in 2004, she returned, and I operated on her palate.
“
He
said his first trip to Brazil was in 2007 and he has returned every two years
since then. Several local doctors, including Timothy Groover, Bruce Maddern
also have joined him.
Porto
Velho, capital of the Brazilian state of Rondonia, with a population of
approximately 460,000, is on the banks of the Madeira River in the upper Amazon
Basin, about 100 miles from Bolivia. Most patients are native Amazon Indians
from many tribes and cultures, although in Porto Velho and at Camp Moses
Portuguese is the most common language, according to the Glassmans.
In
the U.S., children born with cleft palates undergo surgery between six months
and one year of age, and lip surgeries are performed during the first year. In
poor countries, even those with hospitals, there is rarely a surgeon trained in
specialized cleft surgeries. Although the Jacksonville physicians typically see
children in Brazil, adult patients also have been treated. Glassman recalled
one patient who was 37.
“it is much more difficult to
operate on adults, but that patient was all smiles after his successful
surgery,” he said.
Glassman said his patients there
rarely complain about their condition.
“They
are simply grateful. In some cases they must travel to the states for surgery,
but we can handle many operations there. Some procedures are re-doing surgeries
done elsewhere,” he said. “They usually spend one night in the hospital and
then move to The Moses Project Camp outside of town where they recover.”
Missionary
John Mark Bellington started The Moses Project in 1996 after a medical mission
trip where along with the usual cuts, coughs and worms, a distraught mother
brought her 3-year-old son named Moses who suffered from a rare condition –
rectal atresia. The protrusion of his herniated intestines from his body set in
motion a plan for immediate, life-saving medical evacuation to the U.S. for
treatment, and The Moses Project was born. The project raises funds for medical
expenses, assembles the medical teams, and completes legal paperwork. They also
manage follow-up care for the patients; children from the poorest communities,
where lack of running water and dirt floors are the norm.
“At
The Moses Project Camp the patients are prepped for their surgeries and also
receive after-care. There is a final check-up before we leave, stitches are
removed and instructions left for any follow-up care by plastic or general
surgeons,” Dr. Glassman said. “It’s always hard to leave. My daughter
Gabriella, now pre-med at the University of Florida, has a heart of gold and
she bonded with all the children we saw. On the last trip we also visited an
orphanage and I had to drag her out of there. She didn’t want to leave.”
Gabriella
is following in her father’s footsteps in more ways than one. On the mission
trips she volunteered as surgical assistant and helped wherever needed. After
her first trip she started a club at Bolles to raise funds for The Moses
Project and that has been just one of her many volunteer activities.
“I
have been a volunteer at Shands Hospital-University of Florida assisting the
nurses in recovery, and now I am a volunteer at Shands Children’s Hospital
helping the pediatric immuno-compromised patients,” she said. I do have a soft
spot for surgery after watching what my dad has been able to do for so many. I
also do alot of charity work through my sorority, Kappa Delta, which supports
the Gainesville Child Advocacy Center and the local Girl Scout troop.”
Gabriella
is also a volunteer at Sidney Lanier School in Gainesville; a school for
children with disabilities. There she helps them to complete physical
exercises, participate in creative and social activities, including sports.
“I
want to keep going back to volunteer in Brazil and I am looking for a mission
trip for this summer. Outside of school, I don’t have much free time, but I did
play volleyball in high school and still try to play intramurals, indoor and
sand volleyball for fun,” she said.
The
Glassman family, Dean, Lisa, daughters Sienna and Gabriella and sons Julian and
Jacob have lived in San Marco 15 years, since moving closer to Baptist Medical
Center and the water. Dea, who originally studied architecture, makes time for
a regular sculpture class, working out and basketball. Despite his busy
schedule and Gabriella’s college workload, both say they are already planning
their return trip to The Moses Project in Brazil. The disfigured children of
the Amazon have captured their hearts.
““I
began this volunteer work because I just wanted to help and do whatever I
could, and I hope to continue going back as long as I can,” Dr. Glassman said.
