Elks pay off school lunch debts
Plant City’s Elks Lodge recently helped students at 19 eastern Hillsborough County schools by paying off their lunch debts.
“Little known fact, a child’s report card or diploma can be held up until those debts are paid,” member Judy Wise said. “Another interesting fact the unpaid lunch debt is not part of the free or reduced lunches. They are lower middle-class families that are struggling.”
The Plant City Elks financed the move through the National Elks Gratitude Grant and presented Hillsborough County Public Schools Area Superintendent Sharon Morris with the checks on April 10.
The Elks have been paying off area lunch debts since 2017 and this year’s batch of payments was the group’s biggest yet.
SCHOOLS HELPED
Bailey Elementary: $130
Burney Elementary: $6.95
Cork Elementary: $105.02
Dover Elementary: $107.79
Durant High: $125
Jackson Elementary: $155.68
Knights Elementary: $130
Lincoln Elementary: $76.89
Marshall Middle: $143.77
Pinecrest Elementary: $45.18
Plant City High: $150
Robinson Elementary: $123.40
Simmons Career Center: $59.50
Springhead Elementary: $130
Strawberry Crest High: $125
Trapnell Elementary: $114.14
Turkey Creek Middle: $125
Walden Lake Elementary: $130
Wilson Elementary: $16.39
TOTAL: $1,999.71
Photo Archives opens summer intern program
The Plant City Photo Archives and History Center is looking for interns and encouraging local high school, college and graduate students to apply for the summer.
The program, which began in 2010, lets students learn skills like institution operations, accession and documentation procedures, historical research and more to help them thrive while working in a museum, archive or history center. Each intern will be paired with a mentor and Gil Gott, the organization’s executive director.
Schedules are flexible and programs of the work are set out in advance.
The application period opens April 22 and runs through June 4. Interested students can get an application form by visiting the Photo Archives office or by emailing Gott at gil@plantcityphotoarchives.org. Call 813-754-1578 or visit plantcityphotoarchives.org for more information.
Operation Medicine Cabinet
Not sure what to do with unused or expired prescription and over-the-counter drugs? The Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance is teaming with the Drug Enforcement Agency and Tampa Bay-area law enforcement agencies to help fix that problem on April 27.
Operation Medicine Cabinet will be back in the county on National Prescription Drug Take Back Day so those drugs can be handled and disposed of safely. Plant City residents can drop off their drugs at the CVS at 2302 James L. Redman Parkway that day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For more information and to find other take back sites in the Tampa Bay area, visit deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback.
PCHS bands to perform concerts
Plant City High School’s jazz and concert bands are getting tuned up for a series of concerts to be played at the school next week.
The PCHS Jazz Band will start things off with its fourth annual Jazz Night at 7 p.m. April 23. The jazz band will perform with guest Dan Miller, a trumpet player who has performed with Harry Connick Jr., Maynard Ferguson, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis Big Band and the Danny Sinoff Quartet. A reception will be held outside the auditorium at 6 p.m. and attendees can meet Miller and get refreshments before the show. Admission is free but there is a suggested $5 donation to benefit the band program.
The school’s symphonic and wind ensemble bands will play seven pieces in the PCHS Spring Concert beginning at 7 p.m. April 25. The bands will be joined by saxophonist Dan Ferri, a Stetson University and Seminole State College professor who is a founding member of the Orlando Saxophone Project and Central Florida Youth Saxophone Ensemble. Ferri has played around the world with The Platters, the Four Top, Deborah Gibson and other recording and Broadway artists, with Royal Caribbean Cruises and with philharmonic orchestras around the United States.
Admission to the spring concert is also free.