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Email: linda.MyPaperNow@yahoo.com
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mypapernow > From left, Darci D'Onofrio and Susan Saunders, of Center Place, and Virginia Johnson and Dottie Berger MacKinnon, of A Kid's Place of Tampa Bay in Brandon, off Lithia-Pinecrest Road.
mypapernow > "She had a vision and worked hard at making it happen," said Dottie Berger MacKinnon, chair of A Kid's Place, in talking about Anne Nymark, founder of the Greater Brandon Community Foundation. "Somebody needs to recognize her for what she's done." MacKinnon, a former Hillsborough County Commissioner and founding force behind both Joshua's House in Lutz and A Kid's Place in Brandon, said the June 18, 2009 recognized a gathering of people and organizations that share a sense of purpose behind their giving ways. "You work because it's the right thing to do," MacKinnon said. "You do it from the heart, and that's how Anne is."
mypapernow > Charles Del Castillo, left, and Jerry Ball, with Dottie Berger MacKinnon, left, and Virginia Johnson, of A Kid's Place of Tampa Bay in Brandon, which celebrated on April 3, 2009 its grand opening. The residential campus is a $5 million state- of the-art center for abused, abandoned, and neglected children . Located in the Greater Brandon area, at 1715 Lithia Pinecrest Road just south of Lumsden Road, the five-acre campus is comprised of five homes, approximately 3,200 square feet each, that collectively can accommodate up to 60 children. The focus is on keeping siblings together in temporary housing during times of crisis. "I maintain that you do something because it's a passion," MacKinnon said in an interview after the luncheon. "For me, it's foster kids." A former Hillsborough County commissioner, Berger MacKinnon 18 years ago led a group of concerned citizens, including Bob Thomas, Olin Mott, Jim Zimmerman, Laurence Hall, Greg Johnson, and Alberto de Alejosis, in the founding of the Joshua House in Lutz, a residential home for children who have been removed from their families. At the April 3 groundbreaking, Berger MacKinnon, chair of A Kid's Place, was credited, too, as the driving force behind the founding of A Kid's Place. Johnson is the Brandon campus' newly named executive director.
mypapernow > "I have some wonderful friends," said Dottie Berger MacKinnon, at the podium, at the April 3, 2009 Grand Opening celebration for A Kid's Place of Tampa Bay, a $5 million state- of the-art center for abused, abandoned, and neglected children . Located in the Greater Brandon area, at 1715 Lithia Pinecrest Road just south of Lumsden Road, the five-acre campus is comprised of five homes, approximately 3,200 square feet each, that collectively can accommodate up to 60 children. A former Hillsborough County commissioner, Berger MacKinnon 18 years ago led a group of concerned citizens, including Bob Thomas, Olin Mott, Jim Zimmerman, Laurence Hall, Greg Johnson, and Alberto de Alejosis, in the founding of the Joshua House in Lutz, a residential home for children who have been removed from their families. At the April 3 groundbreaking, Berger MacKinnon was credited as the driving force behind the founding of A Kid's Place, too. The facility was built entirely with private funding and in-kind contributions from local businesses, philanthropists, and volunteers. Berger for several years has rallied the passions of committed community friends to bring the center to fruition. A Kid's Place is a community initiative of Kids Charity of Tampa Bay. It provides a temporary home for a child, and his or her siblings, removed from home because of absuse, abandonment, or neglect. A standing- room-only crowd attended the April 3 Grand Opening for a center that involves, working in partnership, Kids Charity of Tampa Bay; the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office; Department of Children & Families Services; Hillsborough Kids, Inc.; Hillsborough County School District; and various community leaders, groups, businesses, and organizations. The aim is to provide a safe, healthy, nurturing home for children who are taken from their homes, at least temporarily, while the courts work to figure out what happened, and whether to return these children to their homes or to find for them alternative placements, A Kid's Place offers a sanctuary that aims to lessen the fear and stress that surrounds such a traumatic event in a child's life. A Kid's Place "addresses the overwhelming need to provide comprehensive assessments for children, including hard- to-place sibling groups," reads the center's informational materials. "Our intent is to improve appropriate placement matches in foster and non-relative care. In addition, our goal is to promote healthy families, both foster and biological family units, by providing family development and assessment services supported with resources and facilitation of serves that will move them toward stability."
From left, Darci D'Onofrio and Susan Saunders, of Center Place, and Virginia Johnson and Dottie Berger MacKinnon, of A Kid's Place of Tampa Bay in Brandon, off Lithia-Pinecrest Road.
mypapernow > From left, Darci D'Onofrio and Susan Saunders, of Center Place, and Virginia Johnson and Dottie Berger MacKinnon, of A Kid's Place of Tampa Bay in Brandon, off Lithia-Pinecrest Road.
From left, Darci D'Onofrio and Susan Saunders, of Center Place, and Virginia Johnson and Dottie Berger MacKinnon, of A Kid's Place of Tampa Bay in Brandon, off Lithia-Pinecrest Road.
See photo in original gallery.
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