One of Miami’s Community Newspapers _______________________________________ Supporting local businesses since 1958
South Miami
DECEMBER 2 - 8, 2008
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Sheltered bus bench officially dedicated at Senior’s Center
Interval International hosts annual food drive
BY GARY ALAN RUSE first rate sheltered bus bench at the South Miami Senior Center on 62nd Avenue was unveiled and formally dedicated with a ribbon cutting ceremony last Wednesday at noon, fulfilling a promise made earlier by Mayor Horace Feliu, who hosted the mini-event. “This has been a special project of mine, one of my campaign promises that I’ve been working on for a couple of years now,” said Feliu. “I promised the seniors that they’d have a sheltered bus bench so they’d be shielded from the elements, and I’m happy that with the help of Ajibola Balogun, our city manager, we were able to make this happen and turn a dream into reality once again. My vision is to have bus benches that are sheltered throughout the entire city.” City Manager Ajibola Balogun commented later on the apparent speed with which the sheltered bench was put in place once the work had commenced.
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BENCH, page 5
Pictured (l-r) are City Manager W. Ajibola Balogun, City of South Miami, with members of the Corporate Marketing team Sonia Landin and Robin Morales, and Mayor Horace G. Feliu, City of South Miami.
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Above: The ribbon-cutting by city officials and other VIPs. Right: Pictured (l-r) are Mayor Horace Feliu, Ana Lazabal and City Manager Ajibola Balogun tryi it out.
Mitzvah Project to aid shoeless children BY GARY ALAN RUSE randon Sloane will be turning 13 soon and will be celebrating his Bar Mitzvah. As part of his faith he has chosen a Mitzvah Project that is designed to help children worldwide. “I found out about an organization called Soles4Souls,” said Sloane. “It is a program for people around the world and has one goal: to impact as many lives as possible with the gift of
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BRANDON SLOANE
n November 25, Interval International hosted its Twelfth Annual Thanksgiving Basket Food Drive and Decorating Contest benefiting residents of the City of South Miami. More than 50 baskets filled with complete holiday meals were donated by employees of the Miami-based global vacation exchange company and distributed to families in the community immediately following the contest. Interval’s Corporate Marketing department won first place for its rendition of this year’s theme – The EcoFriendly Turkey – with its “Turkey Pointe Village, Florida” entry. The judging criteria were based on how creatively employees incorporated reusable products to support the “green” contest theme. Guest judges included Mayor Horace G. Feliu, City of South Miami; City Manager W. Ajibola Balogun, City of South Miami; Major Bobby Richardson, Chief of Police, City of South Miami; and James Liebl, Supervisor, Waste Services of Florida.
shoes.” Sloane learned that there are millions of shoes in the U.S. that lay idle in people’s closets. Estimates are that there are 300 million shoeless children in the world. “Soles4Souls has given shoes to kids in over 40 countries on five continents including Guatemala, Haiti, The Dominican Republic, and Uganda,”
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SLOAN, page 9