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The Junior Orange Bowl Committee recently elected and installed its new board for the upcoming year.
On a Zoom call hosted by JOBC’s 50th president, Steven Gonzalez, the gavel was passed on to the 51st president, Samantha Jones. Samantha, working mother of two daughters ages 16 and 13, started volunteering with the JOBC in 1993 and became at member in 1997, holding many leadership positions with the organization since that time.
Past JOBC president J.R. Steinbauer conducted the swearing in of Jones and her board: president-elect, Grant Souviron; vice president, Roberta Fliss; vice president, Lisa Albizu-Vazquez; treasurer, Anthony Broad, and secretary, Jennifer Forbes.
This is a big year for the JOBC that is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its International Tennis Tournament and the 70th Anniversary of its Youth Ambassadors program.
The Junior Orange Bowl in partnership with the South Florida Writers Association also is presenting its 33rd annual Junior Orange Bowl Creative Writing Contest open to all eighth graders in South Florida. The theme for this essay competition is “How Has Nature Helped Me in This Time of Pandemic?” Books & Books and Coral Gables Museum are sponsors of the Creative Writing event while the contesalso t is made possible by a generous grant from the Coral Gables Community Foundation. Co-chairing the competition are Anthony Broad and Jennifer Forbes with director Connie Goodman-Milone.
There cash prizes range from $150 to $750 and, even better, the winning essays will be published in Author’s Voice which could be great for college applications. Judging criteria includes: attention to theme, originality, and depth of meaning. Essays can be submitted on the Creative Writing page under Our Events at www.juniororangebowl.org.
Attention teachers! Each teacher who submits five or more student essays will be entered into a raffle to win a cash prize of $500 for their school. Submissions must be received online or postmarked by Apr. 16. The awards ceremony will be a live/virtual event at the Coral Gables Museum on Sunday, May 2, from 2 to 4 p.m. Contact at creativewriting@jrorangebowl.org or call 305-662-1210.
In other good news, the South Miami/Coral Gables Elks Lodge 1676 teamed up with One More Child and Reality Church and their 20 volunteers from Georgia Southern University on Mar. 20 to distribute food to 125 South Dade families in need. The students, who arrived on the prior Thursday, were on a Mission Trip with Reality Church, which is part of the North American Mission Board (NAMB). They joined Elk volunteers packing 24-pound food boxes purchased with a grant from the Elks National Foundation.
That done, on Mar. 20 members of Elks Lodge 1676 and Reality Church met once more at the Lodge to distribute the boxes to the families. Elks Lodge 1676 president Jim Glogowski was pleased that despite the pandemic challenges the Lodge 1676 was able to fulfill the motto “Elks Care, Elks Share” having received record amount of grants to fulfill this mission.
They also have provided food and clothing to our homeless Veterans, have teamed with local police and churches to provide food to those in need, and have continued to provide scholarships to worthy students as they pursue higher education. They welcome those interested in service to join. The South Miami/Coral Gables Elks Lodge 1676 is located at 6304 SW 78 St., Miami, FL 33143.
For information about Elks Lodge 1676 go to www.Elks1676.com
To join the BPOE: http://join.elks.org/.
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Until next time, keep making each day count, share an act of kindness every day and stay safe.