Mt. Olive group helps students go back to school
The legacy of Plant City High School teacher Ginger Bennett Forte not only lives on in Mt. Olive Baptist Church, it’s also being carried out to help local students.
The Ginger Jewelz Group, led by a group of Forte’s close friends, got a group of Plant City-area students who attend church at Mt. Olive get prepared to go back to school with an Aug. 11 giveaway of book bags, school supplies and care baskets. While alive, Forte made it a point to make the young girls of Mt. Olive feel loved and valuable whenever possible and had plans for a similar giveaway this year, before her passing.
“Ginger Forte was such an inspiration to all and she touched many lives, young and old,” group member Terri Green said in a press release. “The Ginger Jewelz Group will continue to inspire and encourage young girls and, most importantly, make sure they have a relationship with God. This is a way that the community will see that Ginger Forte’s legacy is being carried through the Ginger Jewelz Group.”
The students given items by the group on Aug. 11 are Jalaya House, Khadori Walker, Antwania Boyd, Valentta Hogan, Jasmine Smart, Kennedy Ware, Tashanti Clarke, Lloycia Barnum, Ayleniah Wilson and Kaniya Bennett.
The group is also working to organize an annual Ginger Bennett Forte Day in the educator’s honor.
Busy times at the Photo Archives
The Plant City Photo Archives & History Center staff recently underwent and completed extensive training with the American Association for State and Local History.
The AASLH offers a four-week Basics of Archives course that PCPA director Gil Gott said covers “all phases of archival operations and includes archival procedures, acquisition, analysis, metadata records, processing, housing, storage and retrieval, and access and outreach. The course also covers all media, photographs, film, documents, papers, and various materials. Storage focuses on acid free containers, migration of deteriorating gases, light, temperature, and humidity — always a problem in Florida.”
The PCPA is also planning to publish a periodical journal covering the history of the greater Plant City area and is opening up an opportunity for local writers, seasoned or otherwise, to contribute.
Tentatively titled “The Plant City Journal of History,” the periodical is looking for stories about anything from growing up in Plant City and tracing family history in the area to completing deep-dive research into something that happened in this strawberry town some time ago. The PCPA has put together an editorial team to help writers with story pitches, research and more. If you have photographs to go with the stories, even better.
To learn more about the periodical and writing opportunities, call 813-754-1578, email Gott at gil@plantcityphotoarchives.org or visit the PCPA downtown headquarters at 106 S. Evers St.
Missing Plant City boy and mom found
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office was able to locate Ana Francisco-Miguel and David Francisco, who went missing last week.
HCSO said Francisco-Miguel, 17, took her 6-month-old son away from their Plant City residence on foot and that both were last seen at the family residence around noon Aug. 6. The pair made their way up to Georgia, where they were found staying at a relative’s home. HCSO hasn’t released any further details at this time.
Registration underway for Florida Birding & Nature Festival
Local birders may want to get a head start on the 2019 Florida Birding & Nature Festival, for which registration is now open.
This year’s event is based out of the Hillsborough Community College campus in Brandon and features field trips around the western parts of central Florida, more than two dozen seminars with speakers such as author Kenn Kaufman, Dr. Mark Madison of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Owl Research Institute founder Denver Holt, artwork and other nature-related products for sale and more. The festival runs from Oct. 17-20.
Register online and get more information at fbnfestival.org. Space is limited.
Sign up for PCRPD After School Program
The Plant City Recreation and Parks Department is offering an After School Program for youths in grades K-5, and registration is now open.
Hosted at the Planteen Recreation Center, 301 Dort St., the program makes sure all enrolled kids have a place to study up, get a snack and have fun with their friends under adult supervision. The program runs from 1:55 to 6 p.m. most days and starts at 12:55 p.m. on early-release days. Study Hour offers kids the chance to both get their homework done and get tutoring from the staff. Indoor and outdoor activities are always on the schedule, too.
The program is closed on major holidays, Hillsborough schools’ Jan. 6, April 10 and April 20, 2020 non-student days and the Florida State Fair (Feb. 7, 2020) and Florida Strawberry Festival (March 2, 2020) days. Following Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring Break, there will be a series of full day camps requiring separate registration if parents wish to enroll their kids.
The program costs $150 per 18-week semester ($1.67 per day) and, for an extra $25, per semester, students from Bryan, Burney, Jackson, Lincoln and Wilson elementary schools can get transportation from the school to the rec center (limit of 13 students per school). Registration is accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis due to space limitations. Sign up at the Planteen center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. Contact Recreation Supervisor II Julie Garretson at jgarretson@plantcitygov.com or 813-659-4200 ext. 4341 for more information.