Winthrop Charter School Draws Crowd to Brandon Foundation WinterFest

What a difference a year makes – and with it, the opening of a community charter school.

With the school  comes a lot of kids and parents, which is a good reason why the Second Annual Greater Brandon Community Foundation WinterFest at Winthrop has been scoring a home run.

See for yourself today and tomorrow, Dec. 3-4, as the festivities unfold following the lighting of the Winthrop community Christmas tree Dec. 2 followed by a night of outdoor, family friendly, holiday movies.

“We are incredibly excited,” said Debbie Kirkland, the foundation’s administrative director. “Our vendors are double from last year, our food has doubled from last year, our activities have doubled from last year and the crowd has tripled or quadrupled.”

In a nutshell?

“It feels like Christmas,” she said. “Christmas has come.”

A good reason for the strong turnout is the Winthrop Charter School, open by lottery admission for students up to grade 8 throughout the Hillsborough County School District.

Students and their families were sent invitations to the event via email and with fliers sent home in backpacks.

“I was going to be tickled pink with 400 people showing up, but we blew that away,” said Rich Strehl, the foundation’s executive director, at the event Dec. 2. “Tonight’s just a teaser for the main festivities.”

The aim of the event is to give families an affordable way to spend time together outside the home.

Icing on the cake, Strehl added, “is the camaraderie and the friendship made, and the relationships built and developed, that are born out of a night like this.”

Funds raised benefit the foundation’s work, which, according to co-founder Anne Nymark, is “to help people in a lot of different ways.”

“Sometimes it’s just about giving a family hope,” Nymark said, “and wrapping your arms around them at the most difficult time in their lives.”

She noted that the foundation, with monies raised at events like Winter Fest, recently gave away $160,000 to area charities. The group also has a Foundation Angel and Junior Angel program that pairs adults and kids, respectively, with people in the community who have specific needs arising out of catastrophic and emergency health and life situations.

Bernadette Casey helped chair this year’s Winter Fest with Brooke Wheeldon-Reece and Eric Arnold.

“First and foremost, we’re trying to raise awareness about the Brandon foundation,” Casey said. “Also, it’s important for the community to come together and get more connected.”

WINTER FEST SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

• Dec. 3, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.  – Craft vendors, food, beer truck and hayride; lunch with Santa, at the Green Iguana restaurant, 11:30-1:30 a.m.
• Dec. 4, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. – Entertainment, Santa’s workshop, bouncy houses, hayride; lunch with Santa, at the Green Iguana restaurant, 11:30-1:30 a.m.

TO FIND WINTER FEST:

• Winter Fest is at the Winthrop Town Centre at the southwest corner of Providence Road and Bloomingdale Avenue, in the Greater Brandon community of Riverview. The centre is anchored by Publix, at 11109 Market Street in Riverview. The ZIP code is 33578.