Kenadi Smith is a second grader who attends the annual Candlelight Vigil honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American History Museum. There, she watched the performances of two young African-American’s, Maya Stevenson and Aleisha Mandela, along with the Florida Orchestra. While watching the Florida Orchestra, Smith noticed the one African-American woman who played the violin next to all white males. While Smith is not old enough to have experienced racial segregation, she understands that life should be full of love, peace, unity, and harmony.
This story was originally published at The Weekly Challenger on January 18, 2018. Click on the link below to read the full story:
Collin Gustafson:
This hurricane season Floridians dodged a bullet. Hurricane Irma screamed through the Caribbean islands in early September, strengthening to a category 5 for much of its life. The storm brought unprecedented hurricane force winds and a dangerous amount of water to the island nations. By the time Irma made landfall on the southwest coast of Florida it lost much of its power, dipping back down to a category 3 hurricane. A direct hit from a category 5 would have been devastating, but a category 3 storm still brings a level of destruction that gives insight into what a category 5 storm would entail.
James Harris:
My name’s James.
Gustafson:
Nice to meet you James. What’s your last name?
Harris:
Harris. H-a-r-r-i-s.
Gustafson:
James Harris sits alone outside of the Enoch Davis Recreation Center in Cromwell Heights, a neighborhood located in south St. Petersburg, Florida. He is waiting for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, of FEMA, workers to return from lunch so he can sign up to receive aid from the government. Harris lost everything in the storm.
Harris:
I was there when it started coming through my closet. I kept hearing something leaking, leaking and I looked out in the hall and it was coming down the hall from the bathroom, down the hall.
Gustafson:
Shingles on Harris’s roof were blown off by the hurricane force winds, exposing the unprotected roof to the full power of the storm. Multiple leaks began to form in the ceiling of the home. At first the bathroom was the only place where the water began entering, but then Harris’s own closet was swept up in the cascade of water.
Harris:
When the hurricane came through I didn’t go to no shelter or nothing. I’m in between two houses so I figured I wouldn’t get hit so hard from the winds. When I sat there I could see the shingles and paper coming off the roof with the house shaking. Next thing I know water is coming through hard from the ceiling. All my clothes got soaking wet. My furniture got soaking wet with mildew.
Gustafson:
Insulation from between the ceiling and roof rained down with the trickle of water on Harris and all of his belongings. The water ran straight down on top of all of his clothes in his closet and onto his carpet floor. His television, furniture and bed all become soaking wet as the number of leaks in the ceiling grew larger. Power to the house also went out during the storm and did not return for five days. Harris lost not only his possessions but also all of his nonperishable food. This was just a category 3 storm.
Harris is one of those people that can not prepare during a hurricane. He is on a fixed income with only his disability checks and food stamps to pay rent and keep himself fed. The St. Petersburg native had hip replacement surgery earlier this year so his mobility is drastically impaired. His home is just south of i275 in Jordan Park, a mile and away from the nearest hurricane shelter. The house is a multi-family home where Harris shares the kitchen, common area and bathroom with the others living in the house. The owner of the home has not yet fixed the problems caused by the storm.
Harris:
They put a blue tarp over the house to stop the leaks. They are trying to find the cheapest person to come in and redo the roof. They came inside and put in five gallon buckets. So they come in every day and dump the buckets because it’s all in the roof.
Gustafson:
Rooms in Harris’s home are filled by the stench of mildew. Even after all of the furniture was thrown away and carpet ripped up there is still damage in the walls and roof that have to be dealt with. Harris sleeps on an air mattress on the floor in the same room that is filled with water damage.
Harris:
Thank God for that. Looking at some of the stuff that happened in Puerto Rico and all this stuff with some of the houses in St. Petersburg.
Gustafson:
The FEMA sign up hall is just two rooms in the recreation center. A table outside the rooms has a list of names that will be called for sign up. Harris is twenty-sixth on the list. The first room for people seeking aid is a waiting room where over thirty people wait their turn to be called into the second room. Within the second room four employees from FEMA help people sign up for aid on laptops. It is loud and chaotic. Most of the group have a hard time navigating a computer on their own.
This is the process Harris and hundreds of others have gone through at the Enoch Davis Center to get financial assistance following Hurricane Irma. Some, like Harris, have lost everything while others have lost just the food in their refrigerators. Either way it becomes clear that if Irma was any larger twelve laptops in a room would not be enough. Waiting days or weeks to get assistance is too long when disability checks only come in once a month. This system will not be enough for a category 5 direct hit.
Collin Gustafson, University of South Florida St. Petersburg Neighborhood News Bureau
When Hurricane Irma was on a collision course with the mainland of the United States, Floridians were rushing to their local grocery stores to stock up on food in the chance that the storm would knock out power for an extended period of time.
Instead of relying on non-perishable foods in times of emergency, people can be self-sufficient by eating their own lawns. Urban agriculture is not only vital in times of panic though.
“It’s not just about emergency situations, although that is a consideration,” Sustainable Urban Agriculture Coalition (SUAC) President Bill Bilodeau said. “First of all, our whole food system, on a national scale, is broken. Many of our foods come from 1,500 miles away or more. That involves a lot of environmental impact in terms of transportation.”
An organization in south St. Petersburg that is working in the urban agriculture field is the Local Food Project, which is run by Executive Director Carol Smith, who is also one of the boards of directors at SUAC. The Local Food Project is partnering with Pinellas Technical College’s St. Petersburg campus located on 34th St. S.
Pinellas Technical College had a landscaping program that was shut down in May.The program is getting a makeover and a jump start, led by Smith, who will head the new Urban Agriculture program.
“The estimated date that we’ll start our regular scheduling of classes is February of next year,” Smith said.
“We’ll be running classes mostly in the evening and then on Saturdays. We have a lot of hands-on classes, so we need the daylight, and we can extend the hours in the summer. In addition to that, we’ll be doing activities with the community year-around, and those will gear up around April.”
Bilodeau also plans to be involved in the urban agriculture program at Pinellas Technical College.
“We’re interested in teaching there because of the location – it’s very positive in terms of potential impact,” he explained. “To have a public facility like that as an urban center potentially could have real ramifications in the city and be a hub for anyone who wants to grow.”
Carl Lavender, the Managing Officer of Workforce Innovation and Community Strategy at Pinellas Technical College, worked with Smith at the Local Food Project. That connection helped lead Smith to create the new urban agriculture program.
“We knew [Lavender] because he served on our advisory council for a number of years, so he really understood what we were trying to do with sustainable, local food system development,” Smith said.
Smith would like to run a program that can function on its own and not rely solely on grants.”We’ve been working towards that all along with whatever we do”, said Smith.
The project’s designed to allow self-sustainability and faster growth of opportunities for citizens interested in urban agriculture.
“We’d really like to make it more accessible to have fresh produce in this area. We have five food deserts around us here. This is a high poverty community with low transportation, so to have it right here at their doorstep makes it really it convenient. It shows them that it can be integrated into anything. It’s integrated here at a college campus. It can be into your own yard, your own business, another non-profit’s land – there are so many ways that you can bring the food to the people, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Resilience is a term often used in conjunction with urban agriculture. Recognizing that St. Petersburg is a hurricane-prone city, Smith hopes that the program can capacitate citizens to recover quickly from potential food scarcity.
“One of the top three things that need to happen to help the community is to be resilient,” Smith said. “Food is important; shelter is important. All of these things go together.”
Bilodou is also convinced that crop growth education can have a permanent impact on the community.
“In terms of people becoming more resilient in the face of emergencies – or economic downturn, which is a real possibility – if people are growing their own food, they become much more resilient,” Bilodeau added.
“The benefits are that you know what you’re growing when you grow it. Or, if you buy from a local grower, you can develop a relationship and you can actually go to the garden or farm and see how it’s produced and what kind of chemicals they’re using. We promote organic agriculture across the board for reasons of safety, health, and environmental impact.”
Organizations such as SUAC work to make St. Petersburg a better and healthier city. SUAC was founded several years ago (year?) by Bilodeau and a large group of people in the urban agriculture field. Although many team member’s of the coalition aren’t active, eight board of directors hold monthly meetings at the Enoch Davis Center every first Monday of the month.
“What I’ve found is that people are really drawn to the presentations if the subject matter is very practical in nature and something they can put into practice,” said Bilodeau.
SUAC’s vision is to be a “coalition of diverse yet like-minded people who see the importance of growing healthy food in the City and teaching others how to do it. Our mission is to advocate for healthy food, jobs, and economic development through sustainable urban agriculture,” according to their website, suacstpete.org.
There are more restrictions on urban agriculture than most might think. St. Petersburg is limiting in what Bilodeau and other members of the urban agriculture community can accomplish to distribute food.
“We advocate with the city in terms of trying to move ahead of their urban agriculture ordinances and trying to make them more friendly to growing food here,” Bilodeau explained.
“There have been a lot of restrictions in the past that wasn’t in the interest of urban agriculture. The codes have to be amended continually to make them more liberal in terms of allowing the existence of urban agriculture and activities such as vending food on site at the garden. Right now, that’s an issue, and we’re working on that.”
Atlantic hurricanes have been the strongest and most destructive on record according to Weather Underground. Irma, the season’s second hurricane not only made landfall in Florida as a category 4, but caused severe flooding and left millions of people without power— the Tampa Bay Times reports a total 62 percent of the state to be exact.
Duke Energy, which provides power for 1.8 million customers across Florida, had 1.2 million homes and businesses experience power outages for days. The Tampa Bay Times reports more than half of Pinellas County’s Duke customers were still without power late Tuesday, Sept. 17. Many people showed their frustrations with Duke, lashing out across social media and complaining about the lack of communication and timely restoration.
“We lost power for about a week,” SPC student and Midtown resident, Brandon said in the wake of Irma, “it wasn’t until the following Friday that I got full power, since we only had half power.”
For Brandon, partial power meant that his family had to travel between other family members’ homes to cook food and take hot showers. Although some rooms in his house had lights, the refrigerator was one of the main appliances affected and all of the food within was lost.
Half power -otherwise known as partial power or “brown-outs”- can leave only 120-volt outlets working, meaning larger appliances which require 240-volt service might be inoperable, according to Florida Power and Lighting’s Frequently Asked Questions page.
Duke Energy’s website explains that they will not accept responsibility for “spoiled food and other losses caused by the storm,” and advises customers to seek assistance from individual insurers and/or FEMA.
A majority of Midtown stores closed for days, and those that did open were mainly fast-food restaurants with massive lines. As a student, Brandon found the partial power the most frustrating aspect of dealing with the effects of Hurricane Irma.
“There were a lot of assignments that I could not get done,” Brandon added.
Many news organizations have stated that hurricane Irma has caused the largest mass evacuation in U.S. history – nearly 6 million Floridians ordered to evacuate. While many fled to northern counties, others fled the state all together. Many St. Petersburg residents are left feeling concerned about the city’s overall preparedness and are questioning whether or not their city could actually survive an intense hurricane with the same magnitude as Irma or stronger.
Midtown resident and cyclist Mike faced different problems during his evacuation to North Florida. As a cyclist, planning where to go and how to get there was only the precursor to excessive traffic and confusion on the roads in the days leading up to Irma.
“I’m on a bike; I can’t just crank up and leave. If I know people, I can call them [for help]; you [aren’t] prepared like that,” Mike said.
Wholly, Pinellas County is a flood zone with coastal mandatory evacuation zones only 11 feet above sea-level maximum. Not to mention, Florida is known to be extremely susceptible and vulnerable to severe coastal flooding. Fortunately for St. Petersburg, Irma shifted away from the city, not causing any flooding for coastal properties this time.
But the city shouldn’t be so placid. According to The United States Landfalling Hurricane Web Project co-authored by scientific experts from Colorado State University and Bridgewater State University, the 50 year probability of 1 or more named storms making landfall in Pinellas County is as high as 88.1%.
According to Climate Central, since 1998 atmospheric temperatures have continually risen – every year breaks a record and 2016 ranks as the hottest year yet.
Source: Climate Central “10 Hottest years on Record” The Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory states that “Anthropogenic warming by the end of the 21st century will likely cause tropical cyclones to have substantially higher rainfall rates than present-day ones, with a model-projected increase of about 10-15% for rainfall rates averaged within about 100 km of the storm center.”
So, what is St. Petersburg’s plan?
Hurricane preparedness and disaster prevention are critical topics for Floridians, and Mayor Rick Kriseman has been preparing a plan, but was unavailable to provide us with specific insight and preparedness in the wake of Hurricane Irma. However in 2015, the City Council Committee voted to make St. Petersburg the first Florida city to commit to 100 percent renewable energy and reduce its carbon footprint.
This plan has been in the works for two years, it has become somewhat of a ghost story: residents are not aware of the parameters of the plan and have not physically seen any of its results.
When asked what he had seen so far implemented around the city in regards to this plan, Brandon divulged that it was the “first time [he] had heard about it.”
Laterally, the city is a participant of the STAR rating community system which is the United State’s first in depth plan created by local governments themselves to rank local environmental and sustainability measures. It allows communities to also record and compare their efforts to other communities while establishing such objectives. As of December 2016, St. Pete received a 3-STAR community rating out of the possible five.
In 2015, the city also adopted the “Peril of Flood Act” — an extensive plan with many goals intended to protect the city and its residents from disaster hazards. As outlined in the 2017 workshop established by the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, the statute must include six main components:
Include development and redevelopment principles, strategies, and engineering solutions that reduce the flood risk in coastal areas which results from high-tide events, storm surge, flash floods, stormwater runoff, and the related impacts of sea-level rise.
Encourage the use of best practices development and redevelopment principles, strategies, and engineering solutions that will result in the removal of coastal real property from flood zone designations established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Identify site development techniques and best practices that may reduce losses due to flooding and claims made under flood insurance policies issued in this state.
Be consistent with, or more stringent than, the flood-resistant construction requirements in the Florida Building Code and applicable flood plain management regulations set forth in 44 C.F.R. part 60.
Require that any construction activities seaward of the coastal construction control lines established pursuant to s. 161.053 be consistent with chapter 161.
Encourage local governments to participate in the National Flood Insurance Program Community Rating System administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to achieve flood insurance premium discounts for their residents.
On Oct. 19, a city council meeting took place with HERS, Health, Energy, Resiliency & Sustainability Committee. Covered was the city of St. Petersburg’s Integrated Sustainability Action Plan which includes tasks for greenhouse gas inventory and energy data, 100% clean energy road map and resiliency/vulnerability assessment among other tasks.
Sharon Wright, the city’s Sustainability & Resiliency manager stated that the 100% Clean Energy Roadmap would actually be the first step towards that initiative and explained that the action plan in its entirety would help the city move towards a 5-STAR rating.
As for resiliency and vulnerability, “we’re partnered with the county and they’re in the final stages hopefully of signing their contract with their consultant to model vulnerability as – storm surge, sea-level rise, and how critical infrastructure and vulnerable populations would be affected”, said Wright.
Watch the full city council meeting below.
Duke Energy’s stance
Following Hurricane Irma, Duke Energy Spokeswoman Ana Gibbs said the utility company has yet to establish a communication and social media plan that would work to improve the issues faced during the mass power outage caused by Irma. However, she says that Duke Energy “maintains an extensive storm plan that is regularly reviewed, drilled and revised to ensure that all employees are poised to spring into action when the time comes.”
In regards to future plans, she states that “the company is also investing in advanced technologies to transform the energy grid into a dynamic system to automatically detect, isolate and reroute power when a problem occurs.”
In the following days and then weeks after Hurricane Irma, Duke made thousands of automated calls to customers with vague updates about the surrounding counties, but no specifics. Residents were often unable to get into contact with actual operators for more information.
“My mom called them twice; I called them twice, but we kept getting the automated messages,” Brandon said, lamenting about not even getting an option to speak to an operator.
Mass e-mails were sent out to the universal client list before and after the hurricane as well. The final e-mail sent out Sept. 28 explained the “unanticipated challenges in [their] communications technology” which kept them from disseminating the “real-time information” expected of them. In addition, they listed the donations and grants put into play to “fundamentally improve [their] ability to keep [customers] informed.”
Source: Duke Energy
However, while Duke’s donation of $1 million in the aftermath of the hurricane seems a grand total, when put into perspective of the total costs of preparations and recovery efforts–the amount falls short of spectacular. According to U.S. News, as of midway through September, preparation and restoration efforts had totaled $273,522,000: Duke Energy’s input totals only 0.0037%. Considering their total assets as of 2016 totaled over $132 billion, according to their annual reports, the funds Duke “allocated” and “awarded” were simple platitudes for their majority incensed clientele.
But how does Duke stack up next to the city’s renewable energy commitment?
Source: Duke Energy
[Left] Duke Energy’s Florida settlement agreement will take effect January 2018 and will allow the city and its customers to transition to the renewable energy technology that is necessary for the city to become self sustainable.
The utility company has been working on advancing towards a renewable energy future. Duke Energy Florida is partnering with various Florida universities to further their research and development by installing 100-kilowatt solar PV systems, locally funding a $1 million solar PV installation at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg with a new solar energy storage system in the 5th Ave South Parking Garage.
On Aug.29, 2017 right before hurricane Irma, Duke Energy Florida filed an improved settlement agreement with the Florida Public Service Commision (FPSC).
The shared news release states three main initiatives:
Investments in grid modernization, smart meters, solar, electric vehicle charging stations, battery storage, and new programs to enhance customer choices
Four-year plan to add 700 megawatts (MW) of solar energy including its next 74.9-MW universal solar power plant in Hamilton County
To end the Levy Nuclear Project with no further charges to customers
Duke’s overall solar power installation plan for its Florida customers is to have 12 universal solar power plants totaling 718 MW by 2023.
“Duke Energy Florida will also provide more than 500 electric vehicle charging stations throughout our communities, along with the infrastructure with grid communications as part of a five-year pilot program,” Gibbs said.
Source: Duke Energy
However, their 2016 annual report reveals their use of fossil fuels is still much greater than their use of renewables. Most of their current plans advertise a more sustainable future, but the numbers suggest that future is much further off than their public announcements impress. Their hydro and solar power maxed at 1% of their total generated power–a infantile number in comparison to the 35% coal and 35% nuclear power Duke was responsible for.
At the St. Pete Culinary Center, Chef Patrick “PT” Collins was the guest chef at their BBQ cooking class. Chef Collins is an entrepreneur and owner of Deuces BBQ in Midtown, St. Petersburg. As guest chef, he taught the students the importance of cooking as a trade as well as the art of cooking of BBQ. The program is designed to help at-risk youths learn a trade that is in demand as well as assist them in finding a job in the culinary industry. The video covers Chef Collins class as he taught the youths to cook BBQ.
ST. PETERSBURG – With museums, music, murals and more, the city of St. Petersburg’s thriving arts scene offers tourists and locals alike a place to escape, enjoy and find inspiration. For Cranstan Cumberbatch, who serves as co-producer, co-writer, co-director and actor in the new film “Art in the City,” St. Petersburg is also home.
Story by Nikki Sawyer. Edited by Tamiracle Williams.
Andrea Perez is a master’s student studying Journalism and Media Studies at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg (USFSP). Perez was born and raised in Puerto Rico. She moved to the Florida not too long ago to further her education.
Perez has had a passion for writing and telling stories ever since she was a little girl. However, being a journalist was not always in her life plan. Book publishing was Perez’s original career path, but in high school she noticed the difficulties of this industry. Meanwhile, newspapers and journalism sparked her interest.
Most teenagers do not spend time reading newspapers, but Perez was different. She spent countless hours reading newspaper in her free time.
“I found that giving out stories for people to learn about their communities and things that are going on in society was really important,” she said.
Andrea Perez
Perez had already unveiled her love for community journalism. Next, was to get herself into the field and start working on becoming a professional journalist. Her journalistic journey started years ago in high school. While attending high school she began taking photographs for the school’s yearbook.
“That was a type of photojournalism [to me],” she said.
Doing work for the school’s yearbook was nice and fulfilling at the time, but that was just the start of Perez’s journalism career . Once completing high school, Perez found herself at Universidad del Sagrado Corazon in San Juan, studying journalism. There, she worked with various publications covering different campus activities.
Perez’s passion continued to grow more and more. Taking photos and learning how to be a journalist from her classes simply was not enough for the twenty-three year old. On her own merit, she decided she needed to do more creatively as a journalist and let her unique passion bloom.
At university, she developed an online news blog for students on campus called “La Bicicleta.”
“It actually started with the big question. – Why don’t we have a news blog as students who practice journalism?” she said. “So, me and another group of people started asking for permission [to create one].”
“We had many hours of trying to figure out how we can make it happen. It was very difficult; we took almost two years to actually make it an official website for our campus,” she said. “It was a great experience for us and for other students [who] wanted to [practice] journalism on campus.”
While the blog is a passion project of hers, photography and journalism are even larger passions. Perez is experienced and skilled behind the lens, but doesn’t consider herself to be an expert.
“I am highly interested in journalism and even though I know the basics, I want to get better at it because I really love photojournalism,” she said.
Unlike other students in the USFSP’s journalism programs , Perez said the most she has done is interviewing.
“I’d say that I’m really good at getting that information and building a solid relationship with whoever it is that I’m interviewing for my story,” she said.
Another keen interest for Perez is documentaries. While she lacks in experience, she is really looking forward to learning more about them.
Tentatively, Perez would enjoy learning more about community journalism and engaging in the Midtown (St. Petersburg) community. She said the community aspect of journalism is mainly why she selected this master’s program above many, many others.
“What I would want to be able to actually do and complete is to go back to Puerto Rico and create a sort of news blog for students, special aid for students that don’t really have the benefits and opportunities to go and do internships with local news agencies, because that’s really difficult to do in Puerto Rico,” she said.
Luckily, Perez has faced no challenges in her work with NNB thus far. Her first assignment went swimmingly, with the exception of some pesky clouds getting in the way of her camera lens. She’s interested in learning more about a project in which students worked with Academy Prep to test local tap water for the presence of lead and seeing how she can contribute to it.
Story by Andrea Perez. Edited by Alyssa Fedorovich.
If you’re sitting across from 22-year-old Nicole Sawyer, in a classroom, or a café in downtown St. Petersburg, and ask her to talk about herself, you’ll be surprised and honestly, quite enthralled.
Although Nicole is currently seeking a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Media Studies, from the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg, she has also been training as a professional wrestler since 2014.
“Wrestling is my true passion and what I hope to do with my life. I work around the state wrestling and usually my weekends consist of traveling from one end of the state to the other,” expresses Nicole.
As she tackles with journalism assignments, Nicole still manages to train four days a week at the Tampa Bay Pro Wrestling ring owned by Jay Lethal, a former trainer and professional wrestling champion. She adds, with a matter-of-fact tone and relaxed attitude, that a typical day for her consists of classes, assignments, training, and wrestling shows.
The balance she’s able to maintain in her daily life allows her to continue developing journalism skills. Last semester she worked for The Crow’s Nest as a writer, and was even asked to write a profile on herself, which the undergrad describes as one of her favorite on-campus assignments.
“It was cool to kind of explain my story to people, because it’s almost like having two lives. Being a college student, and then being a professional athlete, so it was cool to explain that the two worlds come together,” she explained with a candid smile.
Her passion also comes with responsibilities. While being interviewed, Nicole holds poise that gives away discipline.
As a newly Neighborhood News Bureau (NNB) reporter, Nicole expects to learn more about Midtown. She’s particularly interested in working on a story regarding food accessibility issues the community of Midtown could be facing, following the decision Wal-Mart made to close down one of its stores, located on 22nd Street South.
She realizes that her journalistic intention, combined with the knowledge she has obtained so far from reading “St. Petersburg’s Historical African American Neighborhoods” makes her enjoy NNB very much.
“I’m learning about an entire race and culture with a significant background that as someone foreign to the area, I didn’t even know was a thing,” the Palm Harbor resident adds.
Nicole also want others to learn what she is learning in NNB. “I’d like my fellow classmates and friends to get to know more about Midtown, given what I’ve learned already. I feel it’s a very stigmatized area with no real reason to be such,” she said. “I’d like my friends to know it’s a perfectly fine area with nothing to worry about. To educate yourselves on a significant history is important and crucial to our development as individuals and as a society,” Nicole added.
This semester you’ll find the longtime athlete reporting on social issues, and still arriving on time for her classes. It’s possible that weekly training enhances speed walking. Just ask Nicole.
The 5000 Role Models of Gibbs High School are providing a biweekly car wash to raise funds for their college tour to Miami, Fla. The program is a dropout prevention, mentoring program that is committed to minority male achievement. The car wash services are available from 12 to 5 p.m. every other Sunday. They had their first car wash on Feb. 5 with the next car wash happening this Sunday.
Coordinator, Javaris Green, hopes they can continue this fundraiser so the students can have opportunities to visit more college campuses. One school on that list is the University of South Florida’s St. Petersburg campus. The date is to be determined, but Green hopes the community will come out to support the young men and help them have a rich college-tour experience.
Partnered with No Limit Detailing, they are offering interior services (cleaning, leather conditioning, carpet shampooing, and wheel and tire care) and exterior services (wash, polish and wax). The charge is $10 per car and $15 per truck. Donations are always welcome. The car wash is located at 534 28th St. South St. Petersburg, FL, 33712. The contact number is 727.648.8540.
