Organizations

Clearwater, FL: National Water Safety Month is an annual awareness campaign coordinated by the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance with support from the American Red Cross, National Drowning Prevention Alliance, National Recreation and Park Association, and World Waterpark Association. CFY’s newest community outreach is a water-safety program which targets Pinellas County families within Title 1 elementary schools. The 2022 test programs revealed that 80% of all children had never received any formal water training. This program encourages children in K through 2 to participate in a 2-week program as part of their school’s P.E. curriculum that focuses on developing life-long water safety skills.

Two schools in this pilot program were selected and approximately 650 children received life-long water safety skills. In the launch of this program, the observation was roughly 80% of these children had never received any type of formal water-safety instruction. Out of those children 45% were considered unsafe swimmers. The growth of this program is crucial in keeping youth safe in and around water. In 2023, 4 schools were impacted with the water safety classes: McMullen Booth Elementary, Eisenhower and Skycrest Elementary have already been completed. CFY is currently working with Bellair Elementary and is working with the City of Dunedin and San Jose Elementary for the last two weeks of the school year. With the help of Juvenile Welfare Board (JWB), American Red Cross, Epic Wing, PDQ and the City of Clearwater this program has already helped over 1100 children with our facilitation.

“The financial obligations per school are close to $15,000, so it takes great partners like JWB and the Red Cross who are able to assist in the instructor cost, add in the transportation, swim shirts and other supplies it is important that we can key in on donations from individuals and possible other businesses to step up so CFY can continue to push the growth of the Title 1 Water Safety Program. Every dollar counts!”

Said Brooke Bennett Development Manager, CFY

Check out the full feature on Fox 13 with Charley Belcher:

CFY was officially chartered as a nonprofit organization by the State of Florida in February 1972 but was active in the community organizing youth athletic programming for 6 years prior. The 51st anniversary celebration was an opportunity to pay homage to the growth of the organization, transitioning from the role of organizer to funder and facilitator in recent years while expanding beyond Clearwater’s city limits to serve youth across Pinellas County. The event raised over $100,000 in support of CFY initiatives.

The evening’s program, emceed by Fox 13’s Walter Allen, featured awards presented to Pinellas County Oldsmar Little League, recipient of the Karen Aungst Coaching Development Award. CFY annually grants $2,500 to use towards improving the leadership, mentoring and/or coaching skills of the volunteers in a youth athletic program. Oldsmar Little League was selected as a reinvigorated program with many new coaches and managers to provide life lessons to support their athletes. Brian Aungst Jr., on behalf of his mother, presented the award. Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation received the Frederick E. Fisher Humanitarian Award. The award recognizes an individual or organization in the CFY Network doing exceptional community work.

Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation and the partnership with CFY, Pinellas County Schools and City of Clearwater is this year’s recipient. Elliot Ross, Chi Chi Executive Committee, accepting the award on behalf of the Foundation.

Beyond the honored guests, the event was highlighted by an impressive display of seafood on ice, land and sea paella stations, and more culinary delights curated by the Sheraton Sand Key as guests mingled through sunset on Clearwater’s trademark powder white sands.

Supporters can expect Banquet on the Beach to return each spring as CFY’s principal annual fundraiser supporting the mission of elevating the youth of Pinellas County through access to skill building programs where children of all backgrounds can learn, play, and grow together. For more information on partnering with CFY please visit our website at www.cfypinellas.org

Clearwater, FL: CFY’s 2023 Richard O. Jacobson (ROJ) Postsecondary Scholarship Program has reached new heights with a total of $148,500 to be awarded this summer, on pace with $153,000 in 2022. Since the program’s inception CFY has given over $900,000 in scholarships. The final distribution of awards includes: eight $10,000 college/university awards, thirteen $5,000 college/university awards, and one $3,500 technical/trade awards, for a total of 22 lives impacted. Each honoree had the opportunity to meet their scholarship sponsor at “Breakfast at the Ballpark”, sponsored by the Philadelphia Phillies at their Spring Training home away from home on March 6 th .

Over 140 applications were submitted, each undergoing a blind review by CFY’s Scholarship Committee. Since the formalization of the program, the committee has been chaired by CFY Board Member, Dawn Daugherty, who has been a sponsor herself since the very start. with this year’s new Co-Chair Brandy Halladay. “The generosity of our sponsors and the enthusiasm and accomplishments of these students continue to amaze me and fill my heart! I am so proud to be a part of the CFY organization and this Scholarship Committee.” Co-Chair Brandy Halladay adds “I am so excited to be able to co-chair this program. Impacting the educational journey of these 22 children has been a highlight from me and our entire CFY Board of Trustees.”

What started as a few one-off scholarships awarded to local seniors as an extension of CFY’s youth- focused mission quickly gained traction, offering sponsors the opportunity for direct impact with their selected student: 100% of sponsor dollars are paid directly to the postsecondary institution, all administrative expenses associated with the program covered by CFY. Today there are close to 20 sponsors, some with multiple scholarships, and many who continue to support the program year after year.

The ROJ scholarship program reopens each year on November 15 th with an online application open to all Pinellas County High School seniors, or those of similar age who are in pursuit of or have completed their GED. Sponsor inquiries and other program related questions may be submitted to scholarships@cfypinellas.org.

As CFY expands to south county into St Pete the relationship with Pinellas Sheriff and the PAL Boxing Program grows in support with a $31,790.00 donation made for 2023. CFY is also thrilled to continue the talks with former welterweight champion Keith Thurman about future involvement with the foundation and this program.

Thrilled to have Big Storm Brewery as one of our newest partners in 2023. They were tremendous in providing the hospitality for the Inaugural CFY Program Workshop on Jan 31 st . Big Storm will also be providing a selection of their locally crafted beers for the upcoming Banquet on the Beach as well as the Capogna Golf Tournament.

McMullen Booth Elementary kicked off the 2023 year for the CFY Title 1 Water Safety Swim Program. Lessons were held at the Longcenter Jan 30-Feb 10 with City of Clearwater. We currently have three more schools scheduled with City of Clearwater and look to add 2-3 more with City of Dunedin and Suncoast Y.

On Friday, April 22^nd, friends and supporters of CFY gathered at the Sheraton Sand Key for Banquet on the Beach, CFY’s annual fundraiser and a special celebration of the organization’s 50 year anniversary.

CFY was officially chartered as a nonprofit organization by the State of Florida in February of 1972, but had been playing an active role in the community organizing youth athletic programming for 6 years prior. The 50^th anniversary celebration was an opportunity to pay homage to the growth of the organization, transitioning from the role of organizer to funder and facilitator in recent years while expanding beyond Clearwater’s city limits to serve youth across Pinellas County.

Keeping with the “golden” anniversary theme, the evening’s program, emceed by Fox 13’s Walter Allen, featured awards presented to Pinellas County local Olympic gold medalists, Nicole Hailsett, recipient of the Outstanding Achievement in Sports Award, and Bobby Finke as the Frederick E. Fisher Champion for Youth. Finke provided a video acceptance, as he was en route to USA Nationals to qualify for the World Championships next year in Budapest the night of the event. Mr. Fisher, a founder of CFY still active today, was present at the event and received spontaneous standing ovation from the some 200 guests as current CFY Chair, Fred Miller, acknowledged his commitment and lasting vision.

Tracy West, President of Copperheads Charities and Tournament Director of the Valspar Championship, received the J. Warren Hughes Humanitarian Award on behalf of the Copperheads, who expect to invest over $2 million into the community in 2022.

Beyond the honored guests, the event was highlighted by an impressive display of seafood on ice, land and sea paella stations, and more culinary delights curated by the Sheraton Sand Key as guests mingled through sunset on Clearwater’s trademark powder white sands.

Banquet on the Beach is a new adaptation of CFY’s legacy “Celebrity Banquet”, by which it was last named in late February of 2020. As the overall landscape of special events underwent major forced overhauls due to the global pandemic, CFY’s Banquet Committee made the intentional decision to transition from the ballroom to the beach in the spring of 2021 in order to maintain connections with donors and share developments of the organization in a socially conscious way.

Supporters can expect Banquet on the Beach to return each spring as CFY’s principal annual fundraiser supporting the mission of elevating the youth of Pinellas County through access to skill building programs where children of all backgrounds can learn, play, and grow together. For more information on partnering with CFY, click here

For the second year in a row, CFY hosted the Breakfast at the Ballpark recognizing this year’s class of Richard O. Jacobson Postsecondary Scholarship Program honorees and their generous sponsors.

On Wednesday, March 9^th, 2022, 26 Pinellas County students joined at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater to celebrate their achievements as recipients of Richard O. Jacobson Postsecondary Scholarships. On an otherwise gray morning, the club level of BayCare Ballpark was shining bright as the honorees and their families met scholarship sponsors, along with CFY’s Board of Trustees, local civic and education leaders, and other scholarship recipients. Students and sponsors connected over breakfast to get acquainted and discuss plans for the future.

The event’s program, emceed by 10 Tampa Bay’s Evan Closky, included a personal invocation by Mayor Hibbard, encouraging remarks by CFY Chairman, Fred Miller, and many candid mentions of each honoree by the Scholarship Committee’s Chair, Dawn Daugherty. John Timberlake, Director of Florida Operations for the Phillies and longtime CFY Board Trustee, offered a warm welcome as the host and acknowledgement of members of the Phillies front office in special attendance.

In addition to the Phillies countless contributions to the success of this event, a $10,000 David P. Montgomery Memorial Scholarship was awarded to an outstanding young softball player, presented by Lyn Montgomery. Among the 26 awards, other notable memorial scholarships include the Don Zimmer Memorial Scholarship presented by Jean ‘Soot’ Zimmer, and the Angelo Dundee Memorial Scholarship presented by Jim Dundee.

A total of $153,000 in postsecondary scholarships were honored at Breakfast at the Ballpark, 100% of which will go directly to the student via their postsecondary institution. Read more about this year’s ROJ Postsecondary Scholarship Program in our latest press release, and check out 10 Tampa Bays coverage of the event here.

April held every golf enthusiast’s most treasured weekend: The Masters. All of the excitement had us thinking about one of our long time partners, the Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation, an exceptional resource for children in Pinellas County. Setting them up for success in Augusta? Potentially. Setting them up for success in life? Absolutely.
 

Local golfers are generally familiar with the Chi Chi Rodriguez driving range and golf course, known for it’s affordability, accessibility, and the PGA pro and co-founder for which it is named. But there’s much more to this story than another place to practice your swing or get in a round on the 69-par course “in time to make it home for dinner”, as they say.

Thanks to the vision of founders Chi Chi Rodriguez, Bob James, and Bill Hayes, the Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation was established in 1979 with the mission of educating students and improving their academic performance, self-esteem, and character by using the golf course as a living classroom. There are, in fact, real classrooms that can be seen upon arriving at the facility – a main building and portables that house students from fourth through eighth grade – all of which make up the Chi Chi Academy.

The students that attend Chi Chi Academy have been identified as struggling and/or high risk of dropping out. At Chi Chi, these students are given the opportunity to learn and develop in a unique environment with more personalized attention. In addition to traditional academics taught by Pinellas County teachers, students learn through horticulture, birding, job shadowing, and behavior-based “earnings” to spend at the on-site store, supplied with a variety of donated items. Furthermore, each week the students are brought out onto the course to further develop a life skill that can be understood and emphasized through the game of golf, such as judgment.

This unique construction of education has proven to work, with Academy students consistently outperforming the Pinellas County District midterm testing average. After moving on to high school, 78% of all previously at-risk students go on to graduate.

In addition to Chi Chi Academy, the Youth Foundation also operates the First Tee – Clearwater, another branch to offer children around the area from ages 5-17 more skill-building lessons, in golf and in life, with scholarships available to meet those in need.

So yes, there is more to this course than another perfect day of golfing in the sunshine state. Over a fifth of the funding for the Youth Foundation’s programs is furnished through the golf club and driving range. In golf, as in all athletics, practice makes perfect. At Chi Chi, that practice truly makes a difference.Local golfers are generally familiar with the Chi Chi Rodriguez driving range and golf course, known for it’s affordability, accessibility, and the PGA pro and co-founder for which it is named. But there’s much more to this story than another place to practice your swing or get in a round on the 69-par course “in time to make it home for dinner”, as they say.

Thanks to the vision of founders Chi Chi Rodriguez, Bob James, and Bill Hayes, the Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation was established in 1979 with the mission of educating students and improving their academic performance, self-esteem, and character by using the golf course as a living classroom. There are, in fact, real classrooms that can be seen upon arriving at the facility – a main building and portables that house students from fourth through eighth grade – all of which make up the Chi Chi Academy.

The students that attend Chi Chi Academy have been identified as struggling and/or high risk of dropping out. At Chi Chi, these students are given the opportunity to learn and develop in a unique environment with more personalized attention. In addition to traditional academics taught by Pinellas County teachers, students learn through horticulture, birding, job shadowing, and behavior-based “earnings” to spend at the on-site store, supplied with a variety of donated items. Furthermore, each week the students are brought out onto the course to further develop a life skill that can be understood and emphasized through the game of golf, such as judgment.

This unique construction of education has proven to work, with Academy students consistently outperforming the Pinellas County District midterm testing average. After moving on to high school, 78% of all previously at-risk students go on to graduate.

In addition to Chi Chi Academy, the Youth Foundation also operates the First Tee – Clearwater, another branch to offer children around the area from ages 5-17 more skill-building lessons, in golf and in life, with scholarships available to meet those in need.

So yes, there is more to this course than another perfect day of golfing in the sunshine state. Over a fifth of the funding for the Youth Foundation’s programs is furnished through the golf club and driving range. In golf, as in all athletics, practice makes perfect. At Chi Chi, that practice truly makes a difference.

 

Clearwater For Youth is proud to partner with the Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation, aligning our missions to uplift young people and set them up for success later in life, using athletic activity as a cornerstone. We look forward to returning this year for our annual Capogna Golf Fundraiser – keep an eye out for the date in the coming weeks! Until then, visit Chi Chi’s website for more information and ways to get involved.

 

 

 

 

This post was included in our April 2021 newsletter, FYI on CFY. Enter your email below to get first access to great content like this and all other important news from the CFY huddle!

Baseball is known as the American pastime, and while impressive ballparks can be found all over the country, the joy of soaking in 9 innings on a beautiful spring day is something Floridians are particularly familiar with. Right here in Pinellas County, we are blessed each spring season with plenty of options for professional baseball activity, but nothing says spring quite like little league.
 

Founded in 1955, Clearwater Little League (CLL) is one of a few robust local leagues in our area that offers baseball and softball programs for boys and girls. Teams range from T-Ball (ages 4-6) to Seniors (ages 14-16) for baseball, and AA (ages 5-8) to Seniors (ages 13-16) for softball, collectively reaching over 300 families each year.
A member of Little League International, it is stated in their constitution that the objective of their league must be to implant the ideals of good sportsmanship, honesty, loyalty, courage and respect for authority in all children. CLL’s commitment to this is not only apparent through the success of their teams on the field, but in the support garnered from all around our community.
In addition to more than 20 baseball and softball teams, over 10 more teams make up CLL’s Challenger Division. The Challenger Division is another extension of Little league International which provides children and adults with physical or mental challenges the opportunity to play, and further captures the league’s commitment to positive growth and development for all. In February, the program lost one of its greatest champions, Jim Scheuerman, the division’s vice president and a board member for over 20 years. Jim was a friend to all involved and his passion was undeniable, and this program will continue to thrive in his memory and honor.
After a difficult year, little leagues across the country celebrated opening day in late February. In Clearwater, 30+ teams enjoyed a day of fun and sportsmanship in the sunshine, dedicated to Jim. A day that certainly set the tone for what was to come for the league and its young athletes with a busy March schedule just around the corner.
On Monday, March 29th, the Clearwater Emeralds won the Greater Largo Little League’s 14th Annual Spring Tournament 9-0 after a stacked week of games competing against teams from all over the county. CLL is slotted to host a majors tournament that kicks off Thursday, April 8th, with Another AAA tournament just behind on Saturday, April 10th in Dunedin.

 

To stay up to date on all the activity, visit their website or Facebook page. You can also learn more about the Challenger League by reading this article from the archives, which includes quotes from Jim Scheuerman himself. CFY is honored to have worked with Jim and the entire CLL organization over the years.

 

 

 

 

This post was included in our March 2021 newsletter, FYI on CFY. Enter your email below to get first access to great content like this and all other important news from the CFY huddle!