Club Hubbub 07.02.15

+ Solar Bears visit Winter Garden Rotary

Winter Garden Fire Chief Matt McGrew, right, welcomes Jason Siegel, center, and Mark Nolte to the Rotary Club of Winter Garden weekly lunch meeting.

Siegel, president and CEO of the Orlando Solar Bears, gave a presentation about plans for a new 125,000-square-foot hockey and training facility that will be located in Winter Garden. The new Orlando Hockey Center will be constructed on 16 acres of land on East Crown Point Road off Plant Street and will include two sheets of ice.

For more information about the Solar Bears, visit the website at orlandosolarbearshockey.com.

DR. PHILLIPS

+ Dr. Phillips Rotary Club

The Rotary Club of Dr. Phillips received the highest honors of the governor’s citation, The Presidential Citation of Achievement, and also was honored as Club of The Year in its category.

Recognition was given during the Rotary District 6980 awards banquet at the Buena Vista Palace with 46 Rotary clubs in Central Florida and approximately 2,000 members. 

In addition, the greatest honor for the Rotary Club of Dr. Phillips was to see President Ross Marvin receive the “President of the Year” award within the district.

+ Dinners for Eight

The Dinners for Eight group at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church recently enjoyed an end-of-the-year celebration with a pot-luck picnic at the Dr. Phillips Community Park.

Food, games, music, fellowship and a breeze from the lake made this outing a huge success. The group will resume activities in August. Any St. Luke’s members interested in joining should call (407) 876-5532.

OAKLAND

+ Florida Native Plant Society

The Florida Native Plant Society has recognized the Oakland Nature Preserve with a Conservation Award grant to conduct a controlled burn on one acre of sandhill habitat at the preserve.

Fire through controlled burns is an important part of maintaining healthy ecosystems and native plant communities. The burn was conducted May 20. Since then, native grasses and flowers have already begun to regenerate.

“We are proud to help the Oakland Nature Preserve do what is best for the natural habitat in their area,” FNPS President Anne Cox said. 

Projects applying for grants must promote the preservation, conservation or restoration of rare or imperiled native plants or native plant communities. ONP’s grant was sponsored by the Tarflower Chapter of FNPS.

OCOEE

+ West Orange Seniors

The West Orange Seniors hold a variety of activities each month at the Tom Ison Center, 1701 Adair St., Ocoee. This month’s lunch/movie is “Catch Me if You Can” at noon Thursday, July 1. Cost is $1.

Bingo is played from 3 to 6:30 p.m. Sundays and 1 to 3:30 p.m. Mondays. Liverpool Rummy card game is played from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Mexican Train dominoes is offered at 9 a.m. Wednesdays.

Line-dancing is at 10 a.m. Tuesdays (for a minimum $2 donation), and belly-dancing exercise is at 1 p.m. Tuesdays.

For more information, call (407) 592-4498.

WINDERMERE

+ Rotary Club of Windermere

The Rotary Club of Windermere presented Rachel and Michelle Bednarek with a Paul Harris Fellowship on June 23. 

Paul Harris was the founder of Rotary, and the Paul Harris Fellowship was set up in his honor to acknowledge persons who give $1,000 or more to the Rotary Foundation. The foundation is the organization that funds all major projects, such as Polio Plus, a program with the goal of eradicating polio from the world. The club also has three legacy bequests set up, at an amount of $10,000 apiece.

The Bednareks were presented the Paul Harris Fellowship by a generous donation from their father, Todd Bednarek, a member of the Rotary Club of Windermere and a Paul Harris Fellow himself.

+ W.O. Republican Women’s Club

The West Orange Republican Women’s Club will hold its next luncheon at 11:30 a.m. July 2 at Windermere Country Club, 2710 Butler Bay Drive North, Windermere.

The guest speaker is Brittany Beary, the daughter of former Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary, who will discuss her time as an active service member in the Middle East.

Cost is $18 for the Fourth of July-themed picnic luncheon; membership in the club is not required.

For more, call Carolyn Sparks, (407) 230-3856.

WINTER GARDEN

+ Winter Garden Book Clubs

The Winter Garden Recreation Department offers two different book clubs for West Orange County residents, and attendance is free to both.

The Literary Ladies Book Club meets from 10 a.m. to noon on the second Saturday of each month, and the West Orange Page Turners meet from 2 to 5 p.m. on the second Monday of each month.

For information, call the rec office at (407) 656-4155.

+ Active 50+

The Winter Garden Parks and Recreation Department’s Active 50+ group is taking a day trip to Lavender N Lace Tearoom and Restaurant at Lake Alfred. The trip is from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, July 16.

The senior group is headed to this restored 1920s cottage for shopping and lunch with a stop at The Barn on the way back. 

Cost is $10 for city residents, $12 for others and includes transportation only. To register, call the recreation office at (407) 656-4155.

West Orange Duplicate Bridge Club

Results from Jan. 22

N-S: 1. S. Kmiec – M. Ryan 2. H. Parker – M. Lesnik 3. Y. Peabody – M. Voorhees 4. B. Bell – C. Winscott 5. J. Thompson – B. Ballenger; E-W: 1. M. and J. Chilton 2. R. Kerkhoff – E. Quinn 3. V. Oberaitis – J. Muzeni 4. S. Horovitz – R. Austen 5. R. Brekke – B. Young