Summation Weekly Aug 19

Application to mail at Periodicals Postage Rates is Pending in Pensacola, FL

This Community Newspaper is a weekly publication of Escambia Santa/Rosa Bar Association Page 1 Vol. 15, No. 33 VISIT THE SUMMATION WEEKLY ONLINE: www.esrba.com August 18, 2015

4 Pages

The Maritime Park Centennial Playground By: Josh Newby

The Rotary Club of Downtown has been working for years to make a fun, tangible difference for children and their parents downtown. They began by raising $500,000 to construct a playground near Maritime Park as part of the club’s 100 th anniversary. On July 20, those efforts paid off with the playground’s grand opening.

The idea for this project came to Rotary President John Shaffer and Past President Innes Richards during a visit to San Antonio, Texas and Tulsa, Okla. as they were researching centennial celebration ideas. One of those clubs did a small park with only a statue and the other did a banquet and service project.

“We wanted to do something that would live well beyond our centennial year and that would benefit the community,” said Shaffer.

Before undertaking the project, members of the Rotary asked local mothers for their feedback, and received overwhelming support and interest. Once it was decided that the concept would move forward, the Downtown Rotary started a small steering committee that worked closely with Ed Shears of the City of Pensacola, as well as the Community Maritime Park Associates board, before forming a much larger committee structure to work out the details and logistics.

“I gathered a few past presidents and the current president and we decided to give the city a playground at the Community Maritime Park,” said Shaffer. “It just so happens that the city had wanted to build a playground at the Community Maritime Park but had not gotten the funding yet.”

The park is now located southwest of the baseball stadium, in the center of a grassy area adjacent to the entrance. Shaffer and team chose this location for maximum accessibility and proximity to the baseball park’s restrooms. It is also handicap accessible, has a theme consistent with the Maritime Park and features a decorative clock tower with the Rotary symbol.

“The playground gives kids something else to do when visiting the Community Maritime Park, but we think it will be a destination as well,” said Shaffer. “And while families are at the park already or downtown, they have a place that kids can enjoy for free. With so much grassy area surrounding the playground and the view of the bay, I can’t think of a better environment to take kids to enjoy the outdoors. We also want this playground to be very accessible to kids with disabilities and have made that one of our priorities.”

Though the Rotary was responsible for spearheading and funding this beautiful new addition to downtown, Shaffer and team wanted to emphasize who the park truly belongs to.

“This is the community’s park,” said Shaffer. “It will enhance the quality of life for those that consider Pensacola a place in which to spend time.”

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Executive Director Mike Doubek mike@esrba.com Member Services Specialist Michele Kelley michele@esrba.com

Escambia/Santa Rosa Bar Office 216 S. Tarragona Street, Suite B Pensacola, FL 32502 Publisher Escambia/Santa Rosa Bar Association Published Weekly At: 216 S. Tarragona Street, Suite B. Pensacola, Florida 32502 Phone: 850-434-8135 Fax: 850-436-8822 Email: esrba@esrba.com Website: www.esrba.com Office Hours Monday - Thursday 8:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M. Friday 8:00 A.M. - 2:00 P.M. Application to mail at periodicals Postage Rate is Pending at Pensacola, FL Subscription Rates $20/ year ( All ESRBA Members) $22.50/ year (Escambia/Santa Rosa/ Okaloosa County Non-Members) $27.50/ Year ( Other counties within Florida & All other States NonMembers) Postmaster Send Address Changes To: The Summation Weekly 216 S. Tarragona Street, Suite B Pensacola, Florida 32502

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by Escambia/ Santa Rosa Bar Association.

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The Summation Weekly

Diversity and Acceptance in Sunday’s Child By: Kaitlyn Peacock

The traditional nursery rhyme, “Monday’s Child,” tells that “the child who is born on the Sabbath day, is bonnie and blithe and good and gay.” From these words the name Sunday’s Child was selected for the charity organization striving to make change in Pensacola. Members of Sunday’s Child are working to promote LGBT awareness and acceptance from local nonprofits by giving grants between $25,000 and $50,000 to charities that are inclusive to the LGBT community. Last year, Sunday’s Child gave away two grants, $33,125 each to Arc Gateway and Legal Services of North Florida for their outstanding efforts to promote inclusion and acceptance of diversity within Pensacola.

The Sunday’s Child’s philanthropic model is based off another Pensacola charity group known as Impact 100. Members donate $1,000 annually to a grant pool, which is then divided into grants and awarded to local charities. Unlike Impact 100, Sunday’s Child’s grants are smaller to better suit smaller charities, also allowing for more grants to be given a year. Last year was the first year that Sunday’s Child was able to award grants.

“We felt like we had a good turn out, it was a good first year,” said Sara Humlie, one of the founding members and current secretary of Sunday’s Child, “but of course we want to grow and have more nonprofits participating and competing for the grants. One of the big reasons that a lot of nonprofits in the area did not qualify for a grant this year is because they did not have the non-discrimination policy that we require. Even if they feel like they are open and inclusive and accepting, maybe they don’t have it in writing and it’s time to put it in writing.”

The relatively new Sunday’s Child was founded by 10 members in 2013, including Chuck Presti, the president of the organization. When first creating Sunday’s Child, Presti wanted to address the question of “What can we do to give back to the community, what type of philanthropic effort can we make that also will let the community know that the LGBT sub-community is an active and interested part of the community?”

By awarding grants only to charities who have a non-discrimination clause, Sunday’s Child hopes to spark conversation about acceptance within local charities and elsewhere in the community. It also filled a hole where members of the LGBT community could gather to help support the community in a way they knew would help to promote equality and acceptance.

“We saw some places where we could fill a different niche and of course a little bit of a different mission as well,” Humlie said.

Presti also believes that by promoting inclusion of the LGBT community, Sunday’s Child is actually helping to grow the local economy.

One might think that it is strange for members of a charity organization to think they can impact the economy in a significant way, but Presti believes a community that is more accepting and open will actually draw positive attention from businesses looking to move into Pensacola. He adheres to the economic and social theories prescribed by Richard Florida, who believes the more progressive a community, the more creative people are drawn to the area, the more companies looking to hire creative people move into the area, thus increasing the local economy.

He says that one of the things he considers is, “Are we moving along in being more progressive, as far as being more inclusive not just of the LGBT community but as a whole embracing diversity? If we are, how is that relating to our local economy?”

With Sunday’s Child promoting more awareness and inclusiveness, Presti hopes that the organization is helping to progress the community, therefore increasing Pensacola’s economy.

“One of the categories we have that is unique is’ economic initiatives’,” he said. “So our thought and logic is that if we can improve the local economy, it can raise the level of our quality of life and hopefully there will be fewer people who actually need the help of these charities.”

Other categories include Arts, Culture, and Education, Animals, Environment, and Preservation, LBGT and Family, and Health, Wellness, and Recreation. The first two grants given were for the Economic category, which went to Arc Gateway, and LGBT and Family, awarded to Legal Services of North Florida. In coming years, Sunday’s Child would like to give grants to charities in all five categories. goals.

Other than giving grants to charities, Sunday’s Child also acts as a teaching guide for other organization or people who are interested in their

“One of the things that we also want to do next year is hopefully provide even more resources to the group,” Humlie said. “We’d like to be a group where others can come and find resources on how to be an organization that is truly inclusive and accepting of diversity.”

Sunday’s Child membership is open to anyone who is passionate about Pensacola and willing to help. Every member’s annual $1,000 donation is given completely to the grant pool, with any overhead covered by sponsors or donations from within the organization. Members can include any individual person or a group of people who can donate $1,000 annually.

“We’re trying to encourage more and more people to participate,” Presti said. “We feel like there is a lot of passion and interest even in those people who don’t have the $1,000 available.”

Membership is open starting in September through the end of the year. For more information about becoming a member of Sunday’s Child or if you are a 501(c)3 charity that is interested in Sunday’s Child, you can find more information on their website www.sundayschild.org.

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