Community Corner

Race Heats Up With 2nd Candidate for Honorary Mayor of Brandon

Barbara Schwabe joins Cami Gibertini as the early candidates in the Community Roundtable race for honorary mayor of Brandon. Applications for the charity race still are being accepted. The race officially kicks off June 1 and ends July 4.

The race for honorary mayor of Brandon officially kicks off June 1 but don’t let the deadline fool you, the race to date has two candidates, with the second candidate making her official announcement this month.

Joining the race against Cami Gibertini, who announced her race at a March meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Brandon, is Barbara Schwabe, who announced her intentions to run April 13 at Center Place, the group for whom she plans to wage her run.

Gibertini, senior vice president of , at the corner of Kings Avenue and Oakfield Drive, is sponsored by the Kiwanis club. She also is raising money for the Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO) and the YMCA.

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Schwabe, vice president of Fred Schwabe & Associates, is a long-time supporter and board member of the , for which this year she serves as president.

Schwabe said she is waging her charity run to support only one charity, and her sponsoring charity, which is Center Place. That was the sole charity of choice as well for this year’s honorary mayor, Lisa Rodriguez.

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Schwabe’s announced her plans to run at the April 13 meeting of the Community Roundtable, which each year runs the race for charity.

“I was first approached by Center Place to run and I said I would have to think about it,” Schwabe said. “I did think about it, not long, and it was when we were decorating for the [27th annual Center Place Patron Party] arts gala [on April 9] that I decided I would run." 

The candidate who raises the most money for charity is declared the new mayor on the morning of the Greater Brandon Fourth of July Parade. Each candidate contributes 10 percent of the money raised to the Roundtable and another 10 percent to the candidate’s sponsoring charity. If the candidate declares more than one benefiting charity, the remaining money is split equally among those non-profit organizations.

Traditionally, money can only be raised in the month of June, but that deadline has been lifted to accommodate monies raised at the B. Lee Elam golf tournament in March, which is now dedicated to raising funds for the Community Roundtable and the mayor’s race.

Whoever wins this year’s race will become the town’s 44th honorary mayor since 1959, when Nat Storms first earned the title. There were no mayors in 1961-62, ’65 and ’70, and Hilda Hampton served twice, in 1981 and 1993. (Click here for a full listing of honorary mayors of Brandon.)

For information about the race for honorary mayor, and an application, contact the Community Roundtable at 813-661-4350 or via email: Roundtable2008@aol.com.


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