Leadership Hernando hosts casual, Western-themed fundraiser. ...more

October 8, 2008

They could have gone black-tie but decided on boots and jeans instead. ...more

October 8, 2008

Avon Park will soon host a privately run tutoring program at its recreation center near Memorial Field for roughly 50 students from five of the county's underperforming schools. ...more

September 2, 2008

Patricia Walker is the new community outreach manager of the local Big Brothers Big Sisters. ...more

August 25, 2008

Boys and Girls Club summer camp ends with nature lessons. ...more

August 13, 2008

TARPON SPRINGS -- Late last Saturday afternoon, the Yianni Patterson Memorial Snook Tournament was being heralded as a success with bittersweet overtones. One tournament competitor, Nick Gerakios, was a cousin of the late Yianni Patterson. Patterson was a homegrown guy and avid fisherman, Gerakios said. Like Gerakios, many of the tournament's anglers took a moment or two from the day's excitement to remember their late friend. ...more

July 26, 2008

On behalf of the Boys and Girls Club of Highlands County, I would like to say thank you very much to the following companies and individuals for their most generous contributions, to the Boys and Girls Club Hot Air Balloon Festival: Remax, Taco Bell, Heartland Bank, Heacock Insurance, Highlands Independent Bank, All Around Septic and Sewer, Chaneys Used Auto Sales, Gulf Kist Sod, Bates Son and Daughters, Barbara Stewart, Marge Jakubek, Therman Pangburn, David Z. Mason, Nell and Steve Roberts, Christy and Crusier Crews, Randy Wilkens, James and Helen Hutchenson, Rita Youngman, Wally Randall, Gayle Harrell, D and C Cabnetry, Lois Johnson, Janet McKenny, Forrest Hilton, Highlands Animal Clinic, Alice Lowe, Donald Chamberlain, Don Cram. Also many thanks to the local hotels who provided rooms for our pilots: Four Points Sheraton, Inn On The Lakes, Kenilworth Lodge, Residence Inn of Marriott, Sebring and Lake Placid's Holiday Inn Express, Valencia Hotel and Suites of Lake Placid, and Econo Lodge. ...more

June 21, 2008

SEBRING — The city of Sebring will have to make do with $1.7 million less in revenues, but the city nevertheless has budgeted donations to the Children's Museum, Safe House, the Historical Preservation Commission, the Boys and Girls Clubs and the July 4 fireworks celebration. But about those fireworks. City Councilor Margie Rhoades isn't pleased that the Sebring Community Redevelopment Agency has donated $5,000, and she wants the council to withdraw its planned $5,000 gift. "Instead of spending $10,000 on fireworks, I think we should spend more on the Children's Museum and the Boys and Girls Club," said Rhoades, in a budget hearing Wednesday. Another hearing is scheduled June 17. The city is planning to contribute $10,000 to the Children's Museum and $50,000 to the Boys and Girls Club. ...more

June 13, 2008

SEBRING — Some Sebring residents could save up to $150 per year on their energy bills and help out the environment by taking advantage of Program Energy Florida's Neighborhood Energy Saver program. The program assists families in low-income neighborhoods with escalating energy costs by implementing electric conservation measures at no cost to the customer. The target area, which has been identified with help from the Department of Community Affairs guidelines, includes much of downtown Sebring and the Washington Heights neighborhood. The program will have an official kickoff Tuesday at 11 a.m. at the Sebring Boys and Girls Club, located at 111 Martin Luther King Blvd. Progress Energy officials will present information about the program to residents. ...more

May 21, 2008

SEBRING — Ross Lewis will graduate in a few weeks, then he is headed off to Tuskegee University in Alabama to study political science, and someday become a lawyer. He's not sure where he would be without the Boys and Girls Club, though. A statewide study recently found that young people who attend Boys and Girls Clubs show higher graduation rates, greater achievement on Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, lower rates of absenteeism and lower rates of criminal offenses. Ross, who has spent his afternoons at the Boys and Girls Club in Sebring for as long as he can remember, said he thinks the study is right on the money. ...more

May 21, 2008