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Florida's Hometown USA was organized in 1986 as an educational endeavor
to instill in the youth of Florida the importance of volunteer service.
Students are selected each year to participate in this program.
They are from different cities in the state. They are active in
volunteer programs in their hometown and also throughout the state.
The focus on the volunteer work is with children and the elderly.
The
students visit, entertain, and take gifts to Arnold Palmer Children's
Hospital in Orlando, Shriner Children's Hospital in Tampa, All Children's
Hospital in St. Petersburg, Ronald McDonald House of Tampa Bay and
Orlando, and the Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville. A
special project each year at Christmas is collecting gifts for the
Santa program at the hospitals.
The students also volunteer. visit and entertain at:
Terra Vista Nursing Home
Westminster Towers Assisted Living in Orlando
Sterling House Retirement Center
Head Start programs
First Baptist Church Children’s, Women’s and Men’s Shelters in Leesburg
The Taylor Home, the River Garden Nursing Center, PACE center for girls, Daniel residential home for children. and the Children's Home Society in Jacksonville
The Veteran's Hospital and St. John Knox Village Retirement Center in Tampa
Christian Social Services – Adopt a Family Program
Give Kids the World in Kissimmee
Make a Wish Walk-a-thon
Relay for Life – American Cancer Society
House of Hope for Teenagers
Needy Family Assistance Network through churches and schools
Children’s Miracle Network
Florida's Hometown USA has been involved with some of the above facilities for 15 years. We also collect food, toys, make baskets for needy families and collect food for Leesburg Food Bank during the WESH TV 2 Share Your Christmas Food Drive. We have organized an Adopt a Grandparent Program in each hometown at a local nursing home. Each student is assigned an elderly person to visit monthly who has no family nearby or needs special attention. This is just some of the many things they do each year.
The focus in the educational area is to work closely with our Legislators
focusing on youth volunteers. Each year the students go to the state capitol
in Tallahassee and to Washington, DC or New York City to learn more about
the importance of giving back to their state and nation. The students
are recognized by our state and national leaders for their service
work and as future leaders of tomorrow. One year, on the trip to
Washington, DC the group visited and entertained at a Retirement
Center while there. This was a great opportunity to represent Florida.
Another educational outreach is the Scholarship Program that awards $10,000
each year to high school students. Our desire is to add to this
fund and award more scholarships. The scholarships are paid directly
to the college and must be used within one year of graduation. The
same focus of community involvement is stressed in the scholarship
program.
Since 1986, we have had hundreds of students who have given many hours
of volunteer service to our state. These young people have shown
the commitment of values such as kindness, helpfulness, personal
responsibility and respect for others – qualities that we believe
are essential to leading productive lives in our society.
Florida's Hometown U.S.A. Program is a 501 (c) (3) non profit organization.
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