Hope Lutheran Church presents check to United Food Bank of Plant City
As a part of their morning worship on November 27th, the members of Hope Lutheran Church, 2001 North Park Road, Plant City presented a gift to Mary Heysek, Director of the United Food Bank of Plant City.
This check of $2,000.00 represents a portion of the proceeds received from the congregation’s Annual Turkey Supper that took place at the church on Nov. 6. Several years ago, a member of the congregation’s board of directors recommended that the church come together to bless others and in response, Hope gives all profits from their annual Turkey Supper and Peanut Booth at the Florida Strawberry Festival to mission opportunities in Plant City and beyond. Hope’s pastor Rev. Dean Pfeffer has been a board member of the Food Bank for a number of years and currently serves as board secretary. For the congregation, joining with the Food Bank has become a passion for the congregation to work together to eliminate food insecurities.
For more information on the United Food Bank of Plant City and their services, visit https://www.loc8nearme.com/florida/plant-city/united-food-bank-and-services-plant/7007508/.
Lights of Love and Christmas Parade returning to Plant City this week
The 24th annual tree-lighting ceremony at downtown’s McCall Park in Plant City marks the start of the holiday season each year. A 20+ foot live tree is adorned with lights “purchased” by individuals, families and businesses in honor or memory of friends and loved ones, with proceeds benefitting the many services and programs at South Florida Baptist Hospital. Lights of Love will take place on Thursday, Dec. 1 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at 100 N. Collins St. in downtown Plant City.
And the following night, the Plant City Christmas Parade will bring a wave of lights and exciting floats back to Plant City. This year’s parade is made possible in part because of their major sponsors in Stingray Chevrolet, Unity in the Community and the City of Plant City, also in partnership with the Noon Day Rotary of Plant City, the Lions Club of Plant City, Plant City Parks & Rec, the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce and Winn Dixie. This year’s parade will feature an alternate route, starting at Evers St. and Ball St., heading north on Evers to Reynolds St, turning right on Reynolds and coming to an end near the Plant City Court House. The Parade will run from 7 to 9 p.m.
Plant City Fire Rescue medic graduates from Honor Guard Academy
Plant City Fire Rescue medic Dalton Givens graduated from the Honor Guard Academy on Nov. 18, held annually at the Florida State Fire College in Ocala.
The Academy is an intense one-week program of instruction that trains fire service department members to become members of their honor guard. The annual Florida Fallen Firefighter Memorial is held and Givens subsequently marched with not only his academy class, but with other members of the honor guard teams throughout the state of Florida.
The National Honor Guard Association specializes in providing honor guard training to firefighters, police officers and EMS personnel. Their honor guard training focuses on how to care for the family of an emergency service provider on their greatest day of need – the day they bury their loved one.
“There are a host of traditions in the emergency service community and we teach honor guards how to preserve those traditions with honor, dignity and respect,” the National Honor Guard Association says. “We are the trusted team that brings tradition and precision together. We are the ambassadors that match the compassionate needs of the family with the traditional needs of the emergency service department.
Should one of our brothers or sisters pay the ultimate sacrifice, the newly acquired knowledge of NHGA graduates makes them properly prepared to provide a family with the support needed to properly honor their loved one.”