Community Corner

Schwabe, Gibertini Advance Their Runs for Honorary Mayor of Brandon

Newly named Bucs cheerleader Kendall Schwabe roots for her grandmother, Barbara Schwabe, in this year's race for honorary mayor of Brandon. A day later, Kiwanians and others show up to support Cami Gibertini's race for mayor, at the Campo Family YMCA.

Kendall Scwabe said she doesn’t know for sure if her grandmother is going to become the next honorary mayor of Brandon, but if she does, “she would be a very sophisticated one,” said Schwabe, a student at the University of South Florida, as well as a newly named Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleader.

The charity race for the top-dog position to lead the town (figruatively, if not literally at the annual Greater Brandon Fourth of July Parade) advanced with June 17-18 fundraising events for both Schwabe and her charity race opponent, Cami Gibertini.

At the Center Place Fine Arts & Civic Association on June 17, Schwabe hosted “Wines & Designs,” under the direction of Patty Sisco, of Sketch & Sip. With no special talent required, attendees created hand-painted “redneck wine glasses,” which will be auctioned off at a future fundraising event, also to support the charity race.

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At the Campo Family YMCA a day later, Gibertini hosted a "Cami's Combat Challenge," at which attendees particiapted in a fitness and self-defense class, receiving a T-shirt as well for a $20 donation to Gibertini's campaign.

The annual race is sponsored by the Community Roundtable, which receives 10 percent of all money raised. Candidates have from June 1 to July 4 to raise money for both their sponsoring charity and any other charity the candidate chooses to support. Before the kickoff of the parade, also presented by the Community Roundtable, the candidates' respective campaign contributions are totaled, and the candidate with the most money raised is featured in the parade, and at various events throughout the year.

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Gibertini's race is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Greater Brandon; she is raising money as well for the Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO) in Brandon and all Y's in the Greater Brandon area.

Schwabe's race is sponsored by Center Place, which as a sponsoring charity will receive 10 percent of the money raised. The remaining funds are to be split among the candidate's other chosen charities, but in Schwabe's case, there is no other chosen charity.

The outgoing honorary mayor, Lisa Rodriguez, selected only one charity in her campaign as well, and that charity also was Center Place, for whom Rodriguez and Schwabe have both served for years on the board of directors and in other capacities.

Kendall Schwabe said she is not surprised by her grandmother's charity of choice.

"How long have I been coming here?" the USF student said. "I was six-years-old, with the Brandon Academy, coming her on field trips. I knew my grandmother was on the board. I thought, 'This is really sweet' that she wants to support Center Place."

If her grandmother were to become mayor, what could the community expect?

"She has a lot of 'with-it-ness,' and she'd do really well, " Kendall Scwabe said. "I'd have to follow her around and take with me (as lessons to learn from) some of the things she does really well with it."

Schwabe, who trained and performed at the Dance Center in Brandon and with the Brandon Ballet, in residence at the Dance Center, credits her teacher and the ballet's artistic director, Alice Holden Bock, with her solid foundation in dance education and technique. She danced with the USF Sun Dolls and plans to graduate in December with a degree in education, with plans to teach at the elementary school level.

She credits her grandmother with giving her the push she needed to actually try out for the Bucs' cheerleading squad.

"My grandmother said, 'What do you have to lose, you need to just try out,' " Kendall Schwabe recalled. "I thought, 'Okay, I love dancing and entertaining, what do I have to lose?' "

Her goal, now, is to see her grandmother "win" her race for honorary mayor.

"She has a lot of 'with-it-ness,' and she'd do really well, " Kendall Scwabe said. "I'd have to follow her around and take with me (as lessons learned) some of the things she would do really well with it."

For more on Gibertini's June 18 fundraiser, read Kevin Brady's Bloomingdale Patch report, Gibertini Hosts Charity Race Fundraiser at Campo Family YMCA.

For more on the remaining fundraising events for both Schwabe and Gibertini, read the Brandon Patch report, .


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