Clearwater Beach And Island Estates Associations Winby Anne McKay Garris
Jerry Murphy, right, president of the Clearwater Beach Association and board member Ron Delp, left, show off one of the awards won by the Association and the scrapbook of information about Association activities that won awards at the City's CAN celebration on Saturday. Delp, along with board member David Ramos, formed the CAN committee responsible for gathering data for the Association. Eleven neighborhood associations of the City of Clearwater competed for prizes after months of gathering data about their organizations and submitting it for judging. The award shown above was the City Manager's Award for Charity and Volunteerism which was won by the Beach Association with a record of 8,000 hours of volunteering by the 50 people the CAN committee interviewed. On Saturday, the award was presented by Clearwater's Vice Mayor John Doran who said he was honored to be able to do so since he has been an active member of the Clearwater Beach Association for 23 years. He mentioned just a few of the ways in which the Association members volunteer, mostly for charity. "They collect food from twelve public schools and Publix Supermarkets every week and take it to Tampa Bay Harvest," he said. "They build homes for Habitat for Humanity and, each year, hold a huge community Easter Egg Hunt which, this year, was attended by more than 400 children and adults." "Last year," he added, "this association partnered with the Clearwater Community Sailing Association to host the first annual fundraising Golf Tournament. More than $8,000 was raised to benefit Tampa Bay Harvest and the Sailing Club's sailing program for physically challenged children and seniors." The Beach Association also received an award for outstanding communication with its members and the community. The Island Estates Civic Association was also a winner in the competition, winning the Award For Creativity, in part because of the exciting Memorial Christmas Boat Parade they have each year around the island and the Christmas lighting contest they sponsor in their neighborhood. This year, they added a dinner cruise for the membership to their wide variety of activities. A $5,000 prize for winning the Mayor's Award For Overall Achievement went to the Edgewater Drive Association for their care of senior citizens in their area, their activities to encourage families, and their ways of supporting our military men and women in Iraq. Staff of the city's Neighborhood Services, sponsors of the CAN Program, promise there will be more categories and even more participation next year. |