Community Corner

Brandon Rotarian To Receive Top Honor at Scouts Dinner

The Second Annual Soaring Eagle Dinner is set for Feb. 23 at The Regent. Brandon Rotarian Dick Eatman will receive the Soaring Eagle Distinguished Citizen Award and USF Bulls coach Skip Holtz is set to speak.


University of South Florida Bulls football coach Skip Holtz will headline an annual dinner to raise funds for area Boy Scouts.

The Greater Brandon Area Friends of Scouting Committee, in conjunction with the Gulf Ridge Council Timucua District Boy Scouts of America, will host the second annual Soaring Eagle Dinner Thursday, Feb. 23 at The Regent, 6427 Watson Rd., Riverview.

Each year at the dinner, the committee presents the Soaring Eagle Distinguished Citizen award to someone who has made a significant impact on the Boy Scouts in the area.

This year's award will go to longtime Brandon resident Dick Eatman. An active member of the Rotary Club of Brandon, he is retired as president of Bank of Tampa. As a former Scoutmaster, Eatman was instrumental in spreading the Boy Scout message throughout Brandon and southeastern Hillsborough County and helping boys achieve their Scout goals.

Last year's Soaring Eagle award went to four longtime Brandon residents: Bill Wynn, Dick Stowers, Julian Craft and Fred Boehmer, who helped establish the Brandon Emergency Care Help Organization, which provides food and clothing to residents facing emergency needs. Each year, the area Boy Scouts host a food drive that benefits ECHO.

(See, Boy Scouts To Honor 4 Brandon Men: Craft, Stowers, Boehmer and Wynn)

All members of the community are invited to attend the dinner. A social hour begins at 6 p.m. with dinner by Southern Gourmet Catering following at 7 p.m.

"We were thrilled to be able to get Skip Holtz as our guest speaker this year," said Becky Jordan, co-chair of the dinner with Jeff Reynolds. "It should be a great event."

Jeff Reynolds is senior vice president with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. He was active in Scouting as a youth and earned the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest rank available. Reynolds also served as honorary mayor of Brandon and is active with the Brandon Rotary Club where he served as president.

Jordan, a local Realtor with Keller Williams also served as honorary mayor of Brandon and was honored as Brandon’s Key Citizen for 2010. She is a past president of a Rotary Brandon '86. In addition, Jordan serves as the chartered organization representative for a local Cub Scout Pack and Boy Scout Troop sponsored by Rotary Brandon ’86.

Area resident and district executive of the Timucua District, Gulf Ridge Council, Molly Blanton, described the event as an opportunity to bring together people from around the community "and share with them a little of what our Boy Scouts are doing around our area.

“It is also an opportunity for us to recognize an outstanding community builder," said Blanton. "Dick embodies the legacy of the Boy Scout movement which, largely through volunteers, presents a fun and challenging outdoor and merit badge program to help individual young people develop into responsible and productive citizens, thereby helping to build stronger communities. We are honored to have had Dick as a Scouting volunteer and are pleased to recognize him with the Soaring Eagle Distinguished Citizen Award.

There are no tickets to attend the event. Donations and pledges to Scouting will be requested during the event. The dinner is a major source of support for the area Scouts, said Jordan. Last year's dinner raised more than $15,000.

Blanton added that the Brandon/South Shore area is home to more than 150 Cub Scout Packs and Boy Scout Troops encompassing more than 3,000 boys and 900 adult volunteers.

“The Boy Scouts of America is one of the nation’s largest and most prominent values-based youth development organizations.” Blanton said. “The Boy Scouts provide fun and challenging programs for young people that build character, train them in responsibilities of participating citizenship and develop personal fitness.”

To RSVP, contact Blanton at 210-1788 or mblanton@boyscouting.com.

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