Palm Harbor couple renovate RCS Grace House kids' room in Clearwater

From the St Pete Times, May 14, 2009

Note: Diane Gobo is a current member and former President

Marc and Terry Banning of Palm Harbor have learned a lot in three years of volunteering at RCS Grace House, but this might be the biggest lesson: Much more can be done if you ask others to work with you. "We believe that if you show someone how to help others, they will," Marc Banning said Wednesday.

He was speaking at the dedication of a newly renovated children's activity and donation room at RCS Grace House in Clearwater. Grace House, part of the nonprofit Religious Community Services, has 13 apartments at 1552 S Myrtle Ave. for families with children who would otherwise be homeless.

"We appreciate everybody," said Terry Banning. "It was just so overwhelming — complete strangers offering to help us." The Bannings and the help they recruited donated materials and labor and worked for eight weeks to renovate the run-down building. It got a new air conditioner, new windows, plumbing fixtures, shelves, cabinets, flooring, light fixtures, fans, paint, murals and butterfly plants. Just about everything is new except the small chairs, refinished with multi-colored paint and painted butterflies.

The Gillian's Rainbow Room & Butterfly Garden is dedicated to a bright, vivacious and engaging little girl, Gillian Gobo, who lived across the street from the Bannings. She died in her sleep of unknown causes in February 2008 when she was nearly 2 years old. She had a slight fever that afternoon, but no other symptoms.

"We knew we wanted to do something special for the family," said Terry Banning. "We were very close to the family and very close to Gillian." The Bannings own a lumberyard, Banning Lumber and Millwork in Largo, and they started volunteering at RCS Grace House three years ago. They adopted one of the apartments there for homeless families and they encouraged their employees to volunteer. The Bannings and their employees provide maintenance, cleanup and more for one of the three-bedroom, 1 1/2 bath apartments.

When Gillian died, the Bannings looked for a new project that they could accomplish in the young girl's name. Marc Banning noticed that the Junior League had donated the children's activity/multi-purpose room years ago. It was unorganized and had grown dilapidated.
Diane Gobo, Gillian's mother and a nurse anesthetist, is a past Junior League president, so Marc thought updating and renovating the room for children would be the perfect project for remembering Gillian.

Her father is Dr. Dean Gobo, a neurosurgeon with Morton Plant Mease. The Gobos have two older daughters, Emily, 10, and Victoria, 9. "Our family feels so honored to have this place in honor of Gillian," Diane Gobo said Wednesday. "We cannot thank Terry and Marc enough."
"Hopefully, this will raise awareness of RCS," said Dean Gobo. "This room is about renewal and rebirth."

Gillian loved the outdoors, the moon, stars, plants and flowers.
If Gillian could have been there Wednesday, she no doubt would have loved the butterfly garden and its new inhabitants. Butterflies in paper packets were distributed throughout the large crowd, many of whom contributed to the project. "How can they breathe?" asked Emily Gobo.
When the packets were opened, Victoria's butterfly landed on her paper packaging and stayed with her. Finally, she put it in a box. Diane Gobo said her daughter will release it at home, in the front yard near the wisteria tree they planted in Gillian's memory.

Theresa Blackwell can be reached at tblackwell@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4170

Tampa Bay Magazine

In their May/June 2009 issue, Tampa BayMagazine named Art Harvest as the best art festival in their Best of the Bay issue. This is quite an honor, and one, I believe (as I am sure you all will agree) is well deserved.

Thank you to all that volunteer to ensure Art Harvest's success!

Salon Day for Foster Children

“Savvy Salon” DIAD a Huge Success!!- by Nola Johnson

The stylists at “Savvy Salon” in Clearwater were our gracious hosts on Sunday, May 3rd from 12-6 p.m. for FREE haircuts and styles for children in foster care in Pinellas & Pasco counties. Salon owner, Maryann Hauser, and nine stylists were on hand for a six-hour “hair marathon” as they cut and styled hair for 64 foster children aged 3 to 21!

“We wanted to give back to the community and thought this would be a great way to do it. We are thankful for the opportunity to do something that the children need but can’t always afford, in a fun environment”, said Maryann. One group from a local foster home brought in handmade cards of thanks for the stylists, with words of appreciation like “Thank you for doing my family’s hair. I appreciate what you are doing. It was nice of you to do that for us”. It was a very heartwarming experience to see the “before and afters” and the smiles on the faces of the children when they saw themselves with their new hairstyles. They each walked a little taller on their way out!

JLCD ladies were on hand to provide hairstyle advice, drinks, snacks, sweep floors and assist the stylists by washing guests’ hair! Thank you to members Jenna Franklin, Julie Halladay, Molly Barber, Kelley Miller, Colleen Flynn and Nola Johnson for being there to help put a smile on these sweet faces, and to the ladies and gentlemen of “Savvy Salon” for providing a wonderful service to these children and for becoming a community partner to the Junior League of Clearwater-Dunedin.

It was a GREAT day and we could not have made it happen without you!

Art Harvest receives a prestigious AJLI Award!!

The Junior League of Clearwater-Dunedin received Honorable Mention for The Association of Junior Leagues International’s prestigious “JL” Award for Fund Development at the organization’s 87th Annual Conference in Atlanta last week.

This is a very important award and we received $1,000 for our efforts. On hand to receive the award were Meg Lokey and Kandy Forenza. AJLI Present Debbie Robinson presented the award along our incoming Community Vice-President, Kathy Rabon! Thank you to Sharon Gilberg for drafting this award winning application.

First Teen Foster Summit

Today, I had the pleasure of participating in JLCD's first annual Teen Foster Summit at St. Pete College. About 80 foster teens joined us today to envision how they want their lives to be. Internationally known speaker Ian Hill began the day. Ian provided tools for the foster kids to help them succeed in life. It's not where you sleep that make you who you are. After Ian, the children enjoyed a "What to Wear and What not to Wear" fashion show. Jill Holcombe, Meg Lokey, Michael Lokey and Joanna Rosse provided the "What not to Wear" versions while Laura Redmond, Kelly Borota, Gail Christensen provided the "What to Wear" Molly Lucas and Erin Ester emceed and provided the tips. I learned that undergarments showing is never a good thing!

After pizza lunch, the kids went on to the afternoon sessions including communication skill building, checkbook balancing, and how to formulate an education plan. It was exciting to hear their individual dreams!!!

Thanks to the force of JLCD volunteers for hosting a memorable event!

Can I solicit funds for another non-profit organization?

As President, I am often asked by our members if it is OK to solicit donations or distribute marketing materials at JLCD events or use our mailing list for other fundraisers of another organization. The answer is NO.

Simply put, members of JLCD are supposed to be committed to JLCD's mission at JLCD events. Because JLCD members are outstanding members of our community, can you imagine what a flurry it would be if everyone brought solicitations for their non-JLCD causes?

AJLI and JLCD is an educational and charitable organization, not a networking organization. The educational component of our mission is the key to our organization of women. AJLI argued this point years ago, to successfully maintain an all women’s organization. The Junior League’s purpose is not to promote the business interests of members including other non-profit organizations.

If you ever have a question about if something is appropriate, please ask.

Junior League of Clearwater-Dunedin Hosts 2nd Annual Foster Summit

On Tuesday, I had the privilege of facilitating a foster summit with foster stakeholders in Pinellas and Pasco counties. After our strategic plan last year, we decided to focus our efforts on foster families. Last year, we held the first foster summit to help us select our projects, and we have already implemented many of their suggestions.

This year, we had more attendance, and asked the same questions: What can the JLCD do to help in the short-term and the long-term? After we took notes (Thank you AMY), we then asked the participants to place a dot on their favorites---it's really voting by DOT-MOCRACY.

We received wonderful feedback from the stakeholder, and they would even like the summit to be more often than once a year!

Anyways, I couldn't have thought of any other place I would have rather been. It was a joy to see the impact we have already made on these organizations. We really fill a service they each need.

Thank you to all that helped make this happen--Nola Johnson, Debbie Smith, Terri Kontodiakos, Sharon Gilberg and Amy Connors.