Pensacola News Journal from Pensacola, Florida • 16

2C Pensacola News Journal Thursday, July 6, 2006 Page edited by Kathy Ames, 435-8548 after 4 p.m. EIGHBOR www.PensacolaNewsJoumal.comneighbors 1 Escambia TvY CT1 "You can go through the government, and you may have an orphanage in two years. Or you can go through me and have an orphanage in a few months." Aaron Burke, 22, of Gulf Breeze 7 mi mtvA if TOM Li I IE? tftt Photos special to the News Journal Aaron Burke, 22, of Gulf Breeze helps build an orphanage in rural Sri Lanka. Burke started Gateway Outreach, a charitable organization, to help provide housing for children orphaned after a tsunami struck Sri Lanka in December 2004. Orphanage outreach Area resident, 22, building home for tsunami victims Rep.

Miller will cut ribbon for radio station dedication U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Chumuckla, will perform the ribbon-cutting for the formal dedication of the new facilities for WEBY Radio (1330 AM) at 8 a.m. today at 7179 Printers Alley, Milton. Miller will cut the ribbon at the official dedication during a one-hour live broadcast that will cover WEBY's history and plans for the future.

The ceremonies will include proclamations from Santa Rosa and Escambia counties commemorating the event. Other local politicians and community leaders have been invited to attend. The ceremonies mark the official recognition of the five-fold increase in power from 5,000 to 25,000 watts. This upgrade took six years to complete. Candidates to discuss top issues facing county The Central Santa Rosa Republican Club will have its monthly meeting and Dutch-treat dinner at 5:30 p.m.

today at Red Barn Real Pit Bar-B-Que, 5887 U.S. 90, Milton. Santa Rosa County Commission District 2 candidates Bob Cole, Ron Scott and James White, and District 4 candidate Gordin Goodin will be the guest speakers. This forum will give attendees an opportunity to learn where the candidates stand on important issues facing the county. A question-and-answer session will follow.

Details: Rodney Rollo at 623-0572. University adds marketing class to horticulture program The University of FloridaInstitute for Food and Agriculture Sciences Environmental Horticulture Program will offer a retail management and marketing course from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday evenings today through Aug. 10 at the University of Florida Milton campus, 5988 U.S. 90, Milton.

The course, taught by Dr. Jamie Gibson, is designed to enhance the marketing and management skills of retail nursery owners, managers and employees. Gibson is known in the horticulture community for his work with local garden centers and grower retailers to improve consumer awareness of plant products. The course may be taken for professional development or for college credit. Tuition for Florida residents is $309.26.

Course topics will include retail signage, layout and inventory management. Students will develop a retail business plan and visit Florida Panhandle Region garden centers. Details: Patricia Capps at 983-5216, ext. 125 or e-mail patcappsufl.edu. Beautification grant to be topic at FDOT workshop The Florida Department of Transportation will offer a workshop at 10 a.m.

July 19 in the Design Conference Room at the Florida Department of Transportation District OfficeonU.S.90inChipley. The workshop is intended to assist local governmental entities and highway beautification councils in applying for the Florida Highway Beautification Council Grant Program. The FHBC Grant program is a 5050 matching grant that will pay for landscaping along the state right of way. Applications for this year's grant will be due Oct. 1.

Full details and grant requirements will be discussed at these workshops. Details: Faye S. McBroom at (850) 415-9680 or e-mail Bonnita.Skipperdo t.state.fl.us. More information regarding the FHBC Grant Program can be found at www.dot.state.fl.usemobeauty council.htm. WHAFS HAPPENING TODAY City of Milton Planning Board: 5:30 p.m., Milton City Hall, 6738 Dixon Milton.

Details: 983-5440. Central Santa Rosa Republican Club meeting and Dutch-treat dinner: 5:30 p.m. dinner; 7 p.m. meeting; Red Barn Real Pit Bar-B-Que, 5887 U.S. 90, Milton.

Details: Rodney Rollo at 623-0572. Santa Rosa County Zoning Board of Adjustments and Appeals: 5:30 p.m., Santa Rosa Administrative Center, 6495 Caroline Milton. Story Time at the Gulf Breeze Library: 10:30 a.m., Gulf Breeze Branch Library, 1060 Shoreline Drive, Gulf Breeze. Details: 932-5166. Book Feast at the Gulf Breeze Branch Library: 3:30 p.m., Gulf Breeze Branch Library, 1060 Shoreline Drive, Gulf Breeze.

Scheduled activity: Water Safety. Details: 932-5166. Panhandle Writers Group: 5:30 p.m., Oops Alley, 3721 U.S. 90, Pace. Details: panhandlewritersgallery.com.

Holley-Navarre Senior Association Pinochle Club: 1 to 4 p.m., E.H. Pullum Senior Center, 8476 Gordon Goodin Lane, Navarre. Details: 936-9460. Bagdad Waterfronts Florida Partnership Steering Committee: 6 p.m., Bagdad United Methodist Church, 4540 Forsyth Bagdad. Details: 981-9915 or www.BlackwaterRiver.org.

Early Learning Coalition of Santa Rosa County Parent and Child Services Committee: 10 a.m. to noon, Berryhill Administrative Complex, 6751 Berryhill Milton. Details: Suzanne Harrison at 626-2212. Contact: Editor Claudine Kriss, 470-4416, or send her e-mail at NeighborsPensacolaNewsJournal.com. WSRE lecturer to discuss immigration, security impact Sanford Ungar, former director of Voice of America, will be the featured lecturer on WSRE's community spotlight program "Food for Thought" at 7:30 p.m.

today. Ungar's presentation, "The Search for a Fair Sensible U.S. Immigration Policy in the Post 911 World," examines the current national discussion on immigration and its implications on national security. Ungar's appearance is courtesy of the Panhandle Tiger Bay Club and was pre-recorded during a recent monthly meeting. More information about WSRE-TV is available at wsre.org.

Hospice seeks participants for Evening of Comedy Covenant Hospice will present its 12th annual Evening of Comedy from 6 to 10 p.m. July 29 at the Hilton Garden Inn, 12 Via de Luna, Pensacola Beach. This year's featured performer is Comedy Central comedian Henry Cho. Sue Straughn will be the host for the evening, which will include silent and live auctions, appetizers, a gourmet dinner and a cash bar. Tickets for the event are $75.

Cho recently agreed with ABC and Touchstone Studios to co-create and star in his own sitcom. It will be based on his life as a Korean-American born who was raised in Tennessee. He also has a one hour comedy special titled: "What's That Clickin' Noise?" on Comedy Central, which premiers at 10 p.m. July 14. Covenant Hospice still is seeking area businesses to participate in this year's event.

Auction items, such as gift certificates, gift baskets and artwork are needed. For more information, contact Courtney Humbaugh 438-9714. Learn to Read to conduct workshop to train volunteers Learn to Read of Northwest Florida will offer a two-day tutoring workshop from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 22 and 29 at the Town Country Plaza building to train volunteers to help other adults learn to read and write.

Space is limited. For more information or to register, call 432-4347. Photo Club to present several one-hour seminars The Wide Angle Photo Club will offer the following free one-hour seminars July 15 during the Power of Photography benefit show at the Wright Place, 80 E. Wright St. 10 a.m., "Travel Writing and Photography" by Dan Wendleton (limit 20 guests).

11 a.m., "Photoshop" by Rafael Perez. Noon, "Camera Controls" by Johnny Liseth. 1 p.m., "Macro Photography" by Bob Wahl. 2 p.m., "Judging Photography Shows" by Suzanne Borges. 3 p.m., "Camera Lenses" by Kenny Wilder.

For more information, visit www.wideanglephotoclub.org. WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY Book Feast at the Southwest Branch Library: 1 p.m., Southwest Branch Library, 12248 Gulf Beach Highway. Scheduled activity: Art Day. Free. Details: 453-7780.

Story Time at the Tryon Branch Library: 10 a.m., Lucia M. Tryon Branch Library, 5740 N. Ninth Ave. Details: 494-7373. American Legion Post 240 Bingo: 9 a.m., 8666 Gulf Beach Highway.

Details: 455-6111, ext. 6.. Evenings in Olde Seville: 7 to 9:15 p.m., Seville Square. Jones Company and the Duncan McCall Pipe Band. Details: 438-6505.

Warrington Elks Lodge Bingo: 6 p.m. early birds; 7 p.m. regular bingo; Warrington Elks Lodge 2108, 727 S. 72nd Ave. Details: 455-5522.

United Way of Escambia County Awareness Tour: 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., United Way of Escambia County, 1301 W. Government St. Details: 434-3157. Escambia Board of County Commissioners special meeting: 2:30 p.m., old Escambia County Courthouse, 223 Palafox Place. B'twixt and B'tween Book Club: 2 p.m., West Florida Regional Library, 200 W.

Gregory St. Details: 436-5060. Story Time at the Southwest Branch Library: 10:30 a.m., Southwest Branch Library, 12248 Gulf Beach Highway. Details: 453-7780. BLOODM0BILE The Northwest Florida Blood Center has a critical need for blood types A-positive, O-positive, A-negatlve and O-negative.

Evenings in Olde Seville Square: 5 to 9 p.m., corner of Alcaniz and Zaragoza streets. Details: 434-2535 or www.nfbcblood.org.t Corry Station: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., 640 Roberts Road, Building 3714. Details: 434-2535 or www.nfbcblood.org. Baptist Medical Park: 12:30 to 5:30 p.m., 9400 University Parkway.

Details: 434-2535 or www.nfbcblood.org. Contact: Editor Claudine Krlss, 470-4416, or send her e-mail at NelghborsPensacolaNewsJournal.com. Sean Dugas PensacolaNewsJournal.com When a wall of water crashed into the island nation of Sri Lanka in December 2004, 7,000 children became orphans. Because of the need to provided homes for orphaned children and the desire to change the lives of people throughout Asia, Gulf Breeze resident Aaron Burke, 22, started Gateway Outreach. GO, a charitable organization that organized in 2006, plans to build a 45-person children's home in the rural village of Anamaduwa, Sri Lanka.

"The over-arching goal of the organization is to bring hope to kids through education," Burke said. "We want to bring them out of poverty and give them the opportunity for education." The foot orphanage will contain a boys' dorm, girls' dorm, cafeteria, library, conference room, intern dorm, computer training center, playground and infirmary. Construction on the orphanage began March 21, and Burke plans to have the project completed by the end of the year, "You can go through the government, and you may have an orphanage in two years," he said. "Or you can go through me and have an orphanage in a few months." The total cost for the project is estimated at $47,000. Burke has raised $12,800 so far, and he is confident he can secure the necessary funds to complete the building with the help of Pensacola residents.

"I want to work with the kids and show them that people genuinely he said. "We want to raise the next leaders of Sri Lanka. That is my goal for the kids of this orphanage." Workers build the Anamaduwa Children's Home in rural Sri Lanka. Burke said he hopes to complete the project by the end of this year. Construction began in March.

tion is complete," he said. The estimated monthly operating cost of the orphanage is $1,200, and Ekno said he hopes others can help raise funds to maintain the facilities. "We are trying to finding organizations that will develop sponsorship programs for the children," Ekno said. "For what most people in America spend on a car, we could care for these orphans for months." Burke said 20 years of civil war in Sri Lanka and the tsunami that ravaged the island are contributing factors to the poverty and the lack of infrastructure. "The rich keep getting richer, and the poor keep getting poorer," he Get Involved For information on how to volunteer or to make a donation to Gateway Outreach, contact Aaron Burke at 207-4087 or manofgod95aol.com or visit www.gatewayoutreach.org.

We have the resources to help, and our focus should be on helping those people in need." Burke offered advice to other young people interested in making a difference. "If you are considering missions or working with other cultures, the only thing you need to do is go," he said. "The biggest lie that you will ever hear is that because you are young, you can't make a difference. You have to be proactive. Don't just talk about it Do it." said.

The average person makes less t.Vinn nnp Hnllnr a Hnvw Tim Ekno, executive director of American Education Development based in Hawaii, is working with GO, and said building the orphanage is only one step. "It is important to sustain the children and the facility after construe- People with the ability to help the needy have a responsibility to care for their fellow man, Burke said. "When you live in America, you forget about the rest of the world. New father? Look for a Daddy Pack Safe" and "10 Ways to Become a Better Dad." It also includes a CD on "Directions for Dads" and a first month of fatherhood calendar of tips and ideas for new dads. "Our community awareness program is designed to creatively involve agencies, organizations, schools, churches and hospitals in the distribution of Daddy Packs," Polk said.

The packs have made their way to active-duty military servicemen who participate in a class for new dads offered by the Naval Air Station Fleet and Family Support Center. Camp Fire staff also distributed more than 300 packs for new fathers at Pensacola's Largest Baby Shower. Gateway Church of Christ and St. Mary's Outreach Ministries were among the church organizations that distributed them on Father's Day to new or soon-to-be dads. Camp Fire USA encouraging dads to be responsible Ashley Wright PensacolaNewsJournal.com New fathers in Pensacola have a fresh source of information and encouragement at their fingertips.

The Gulf Wind Council of Camp Fire USA is distributing 1,000 Daddy Packs to new fathers in Escambia County. The packs are full of information to help new dads, said Melissa Polk, Camp Fire awareness coordinator. In January, Camp Fire received a grant from the Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County's quality initiatives committee to raise awareness and promote responsible fatherhood. "The active participation of fathers Want to know more? New fathers may pick up Daddy Packs at the Gulf Wind Council of Camp Fire USA headquarters, 1814 Creighton Road, Pensacola, between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

weekdays. provides children with the emotional, educational and economic support they need to succeed in life," said LaVonne Haven, executive director of the council. The council brings awareness of the need for responsible fatherhood by being a National Fatherhood Initiative Affiliate and serving as a lead agency for the Pensacola Fatherhood Initiative. The Daddy Packs contain a number of brochures, including: "So You're a New Father," "Keeping Your Child Hum.