WHO .... we want to thank!

Were you there? Last week I posted about Women Helping Others, an organization founded by locals Karen Errico, Lisa Kothe, Julie Brannon, Irma Cardoso and Amy Stinsman.

WHO is a group of women who meet four times a year to have some fun and help a local organization that is doing good in our community. SHAMc was fortunate to be the chosen WHO charity for the first gathering of 2016.

One-hundred sixty-five women attended the event, which was held at Whimzey, to raise funds to purchase a glass door for the art and music center. Kiaralinda had hoped enough women would attend so that we could raise $2500 to cover the door, but that  amount was pleasantly surpassed.

In a thank you email from WHO, Karen Errico wrote:  "We raised $4,432.00! (That included mailed in donations, opportunity drawing tickets, and donations at the event.) WHO bought that door and a lot more--thanks to you ladies! It was a great evening to enjoy the art and fun of WHIMZEY House. It is indeed an honor to have your support and your caring for charities in our community. What a great bunch of gals!"

So yes, thank you. Thank you all! Many of you have been on this journey with us from the day Kiaralinda and Todd thought of turning the property into a center for the arts, and many of you have joined us along the way, including many brand new to SHAMc through WHO. But no matter how long you've been part of the dream, it is finally happening, thanks to your support.

WHO had a sign-up sheet at the event, so if you added your email to a list that evening, you will receive announcements for upcoming WHO gatherings. If you were hoping to sign up for the SHAMc or Song Fest email list, or to volunteer, please head to our website and do so there. We apologize for the inconvenience, but we sure don't want to lose touch with all of you amazing 

women!

 

  

"For all who attended, who sent in donations, Todd and I want to thank you profusely for the difference that you are making and for including us in your vision of ‘giving back to the community.’" -Kiaralinda




               Peace and Love to you all!  -Laura

Calling all women! You're invited to Girls' Night Out with a Purpose!

Karen Errico moved to Safety Harbor almost three years ago and immediately got involved in the community.  Now she, Irma Cardoso, Lisa Kothe, Amy Stinsman and Julie Brannon are a volunteer team leading others to help our community, and guess what? SHAMc is next on their list!

The Women of WHO aren’t exclusive. They want to meet other women whose desire is to make something small turn into something big, and all by spending an evening out with other women. 

“I went through the Citizens Academy," Karen says. "Janet Hooper spoke and gave the statistics regarding poverty in Safety Harbor.  I kept thinking, ‘I want to do something, but what can one person do?’”

Now, just over a year after the first WHO gathering,  WHO―Women Helping Others―has raised much needed funds for five groups and/or non-profits based in Safety Harbor. 

“WHO Safety Harbor is a girls’ night out with a purpose,” Karen says. “And it has grown bigger than I ever imagined it would.” 

Thirty-eight women attended their first gathering and they raised $695 for the Mattie Williams Neighborhood Family Center. That was in November of 2014. Only a year later, 54 women attended and they raised $1249. for Safety Harbor Elementary School classrooms. Karen says the next WHO gathering might attract more than 100 women if all goes as planned. 

The way it works is that each woman who attends donates $20 at the door. The gatherings are four times a year and each one benefits a specific non-profit or organization in Safety Harbor. Besides the donation, women are asked to bring a bottle of wine or a dish to share. 

If you are looking for a way to help our community, to connect and make new friends, join us at Whimzey on Friday, February 5 from 7 to 9 p.m. We will be raising money for the WHO door—a glass garage door that connects the Rigsby house to the music pavilion. The door costs $2400., so everyone hopes at least 120 women will come out for the evening. 

“I am thrilled that WHO has been so well received,” says Karen. “The women of Safety Harbor, they want to help and do something for others, and they are willing to give. Many times WHO women have given more than the $20 donation we ask for. They have such good hearts.”

Besides the food, wine and fun, there is also a table full of donated baskets, gift certificates and merchandise donated by local businesses and residents. Tickets are only $1.00 or six for $5.00. 

“It's just fun,” Karen adds. “It's a feel good group. You’re meeting women and having a good time and at the same you are helping your community.”

Special thanks to Karen, Lisa, Irma, Julie and Amy for all their hard work, the fun they’ve created, and for all the great things they have in the works for the future. By the way, if you have a daughter, granddaughter, or young friend between 6 and 14, who wants to get involved, the group has already formed a Junior WHO. Check out their website for more information and we hope you’ll attend the Whimzey WHO event on February 5. 

Whimzey  is located at 1206 3rd St., Safety Harbor, FL - (One block north of Main St., 12th Ave and Okeechobee St.) Cash or checks only please. Receipts will be available. 

People Behind the Posts: Heather Richardson, Plank-Painting Organizer

Heather Richardson turned SHAMc's first community art project into a smooth, fun, well-organized event. As thunder and lightening promised rain, Heather set up tents in front of her Whimzeyland studio, Lilikoi, poured paint and gathered brushes.

Along with her dog, Tink, she recently purchased over 150 planks. She primed them all to get ready for Sunday's first hands-on SHAMc community art project.

In fact, "hands-on" is a great description of Heather. She's SHAMc's "right arm," always involved in creative ways to get the word out and to raise funding to make the center a reality. But she doesn't see it as work. "I'm just the messenger," she said. Kiaralinda disagrees. "Heather does whatever needs to be done. She's an integral part of SHAMc."

Kiaralinda and Todd visited The Flying Pig in Algoma, Wisconsin in May and were inspired by an art installment created by the community there. They saw fence posts on display--artwork decorating both sides of each post--and they knew it was something they could take a step further for SHAMc. "We talked to Heather and it just grew from there," said Kiaralinda.

About fifty artists participated in Sunday's "Picket the SHAMc" event, some professional artists having traveled from far away, and even more claiming "I'm not an artist." But all were ready to create a SHAMc fence post . . . even though it rained enough to fill buckets!

Not only is Heather an artist, she has experience running a business--a good thing for SHAMc! Her mom is a potter and Heather ran that business for twenty years. Later, she spent ten years hand-painting silk and did the art show circuit. Now her art is mostly mosaics. "Someday I’d like to make it my job," she said.

Beside her mosaics, Heather expresses creativity as a specialty gardener and landscape designer, and is a member of the Garden Fairies. She also works at E & E Steakout Grill in Belleair Bluffs.

The plans for the posts are not only to border the construction wall around the center. "We hope to put up sections in the linear park on Bayshore so people can enjoy them and start thinking about it, and wonder what they are," Heather said. "Every one of the planks are by people in the community who have participated to beautify the city."

Heather will run a booth at The 8th Avenue Pub this Sunday, July 3rd (more information below). The Pub is hosting a fundraiser to benefit SHAMc. The cover charge is $5.00 and food proceeds will be donated to the Art and Music Center. "We’ll sell T-shirts and people can write on a plank, maybe add something about what art means to them."

Which post did Heather paint? "I had my hands on all of them," she said. But along with friends and fellow artists, Shannon and Siobhan, the three are responsible for the beautiful sign now on the SHAMc property.

"I want families and kids to get involved in this," Heather said. "The most important thing is getting people to know what SHAMc is and getting excited about it. That’s my mission right now."

For more information on this project, contact Heather at IMPURPLE@MAC.COM.

If you are a one of many of our painters, I'd love to write about you. Everyone was an artist on Sunday and we want to know all the "People behind the posts." Please e-mail Laura at LEKSINK@GMAIL.COM if you were one of our participants. There are many stories to follow!