Life + Home

Tarpon Springs Leadership Conservatory
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From Shared Values to Lasting Impact: A Journey of Excellence and Leadership at Tarpon Springs High School

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It began as a chance meeting nearly thirty years ago at a Drum Corps International championship, which set the stage for an enduring partnership. He was there composing music; she was competing with a color guard group. A year later, Kevin and Jeannine Ford were married, beginning a lifelong journey of purpose together. Tarpon Springs…

Dakayla Wison So you think you can dance
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Dakayla Wilson: Letting Kids Pave their Own Paths

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Parenting is challenging, embodied work. Amidst society’s current culture of achievement, parenting’s challenges expand. Concurrently, kids’ autonomy and free time contract (to almost negligible levels). Of course parents want children to succeed. Within achievement culture, however, efforts are misguided and counterproductive. The mother of a competitive dancer and soccer player, I also am in achievement…

St. John’s Episcopal school 3rd & 4th grade
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Kids to Know: St. John’s Episcopal Parish Day School Grades 3 & 4

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In collaboration with Rise Against Hunger and St. John’s Episcopal Parish Day School, the Taylor Koulouris Foundation made it possible for students to pack 12,500 meals that will feed 347 children in Haiti each for an entire school year. As third and fourth graders at the school, our Kids to Know share their experience.  …

Growing sweet potatos in Florida
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Growing Sweet Potatoes in Florida: A Summer Delight for Families

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Florida’s warm, sunny climate offers the perfect conditions for growing sweet potatoes, a versatile and nutritious vegetable that thrives during the summer months. Gardening can be a wonderful family activity, and growing sweet potatoes in Florida is a simple and rewarding project that even young children can participate in. I’m so excited to share a…

CUP Coffee Uniting People baristas
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Fill Your CUP: The mission behind Tampa’s inclusive coffee shop

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The barista at CUP on S. Dale Mabry Highway in South Tampa hands me my drink and strikes up a conversation. Chatting with Stephen, I quickly realize what makes him and this coffee shop so special.  “Would you mind telling me the month, day and year you were born?,” he asks politely. He thinks about…

Mike and Brian Kleinschmidt
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Tampa Bay’s Dream Couple: Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt of HGTV’s “100 Day Dream Home”

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Long before Mika and Brian Kleinschmidt were hosts of the popular HGTV series “100 Day Dream Home,” they were classmates at Riverview High School. Now married for eight years, living in their own dream home in Ruskin, and raising Mika’s 14-year-old daughter, Jade, together, they’re reflecting on their journey and looking ahead to an exciting new year.

Hispanic Heritage in Tampa Bay
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Celebrating Hispanic Heritage: Two local moms share their deep roots in Tampa Bay

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National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. Tampa is rich with Hispanic Heritage. Two Tampa moms, originally from Puerto Rico, share details about their roots and raising their own children with Hispanic heritage in Tampa Bay.

Blink gun violence film

Blink: A new, locally produced film puts the spotlight on gun violence in Tampa Bay

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Gun violence is a problem among youth in America—and this is not an opinion. Centers for Disease Control data shows gun-related deaths surpassed car accidents as the number one killer of children in our country in 2020, and that data hasn’t changed today, according to the Gun Violence Archive. This is where a new locally…

Children's Network of Hillsborough County

Children’s Network of Hillsborough County: Celebrating a New Facility and Major Milestones as They Serve the Tampa Bay Area

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Since 2022, Children’s Network of Hillsborough County, LLC (CNHC) has served as the lead agency for administering the child welfare system in Hillsborough County. Though only a year old, their team of professionals has decades of combined experience in all aspects of the Florida child welfare system centered on preventing abuse and neglect, achieving permanency…

Bianca Burrows
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Local Artist, Bianca Burrows, shares her heart on blank canvases

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Bianca Burrows, @itsbbart Did you know that local students get less than one hour of art instruction in school each week? For children that express themselves through a more creative approach or kids that struggle in school because they do not meet traditional academic standards, that’s not enough time in the school year for them to…

Feeding Tampa Bay is Building a Future Without Hunger: Can you imagine that?

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Of all the powerful things in this world, few move me more than a child’s imagination. From play-fighting dragons in the backyard to building a Lego empire, kids have a way of seeing life with wonder. They can be anything they want to be, building a whole world within their imagination. Every child should have…

foster and adoption

Give the Gift of Home this Holiday Season by Becoming a Foster Parent

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Like gifts, gatherings, and good tidings, family is central to the holiday season. Many of us have treasured holiday family memories from childhood, or from watching the faces of our own children light up with holiday joy. But for hundreds of children in our community, the holidays can serve as a painful reminder of the…