The incoming Leadership St. Pete® Class of 2013 has selected PARC as the beneficiary of this year’s Class Project. PARC’s mission is ‘to provide opportunities for children and adults with developmental disabilities to exercise their independence and experience life to the fullest’. The Class Project, titled “Planting the Seed,” centers on PARC’s outdoor areas, creating new opportunities for residents, while also helping to beautify the property.
Specifics include constructing and improving vegetable, flower, and herb gardens; renovating a greenhouse; and improving the landscaping and irrigation systems – all of which provide sustainable therapeutic and vocational opportunities for residents, healthy fresh vegetables for PARC group homes, and a sustainable enterprise through the sale of fresh grown herbs and vegetables at the St. Petersburg “Green Thumb Festival” and fresh markets throughout the year. Planning and fundraising efforts will culminate on May 4, 2013 with an onsite Class Project Day for the entire class. This year’s class also considered outstanding renovation projects proposed by Daystar Life Center and Creative Clay.
Each LSP class is responsible for attempting to make a difference in our community by working with a local nonprofit organization to further its goals in St. Petersburg. The Class Project generally takes the form of a physical facility improvement for the beneficiary organization. The LSP Class Project has become a significant event in the nonprofit community over the past several years. LSP Class members provide planning, fund-raising and physical labor to execute a facility improvement project for a local nonprofit each year. The last several Class Projects have exceeded cash-and-in-kind donation values of more than $20,000.00 each. According to Jason Spears, Class Project Committee Chair, “While we can’t predict the value of this year’s Project, we can always count on the best efforts of the 34 class members and 26 Planning and Executive Committee members to make it a success.”
The Class Project is intended to be a team-building activity among class members and as such, it must involve the entire class and provide opportunities for all to contribute to its success. The Class Project involves planning and fund-raising activities, and always culminates on Class Project Day, a single day on which the entire class gathers to complete the work.
Send funds or inquiries about in-kind donations in support of this project to Ivory Blackwood, SPACC Programs Coordinator, 100 2nd Ave N, Suite 150, St. Petersburg, FL 33701. Please make checks payable to The Bay Area Chamber Foundation.
As one of the oldest leadership programs in America and a division of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce and its 501(c)(3) Foundation, LSP is a dynamic, intensive, interactive, six-month experience designed to promote and enhance community leadership through an in-depth introduction to social, economic, business and political issues in the St. Petersburg area. The mission of LSP is to identify, recruit and develop leaders who represent the diversity of our city and who will assume future leadership roles in our community. The LSP program is made possible through the generous support of community partners. Patron Sponsors of the Class of 2013 are Tibbetts Lumber Co., LLC, the MBA Program at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and Synovus Bank of Florida.