Take the Picture! Photo Contest

Calling all camera bugs! Here’s a chance to showcase your photography online while helping to raise funds for two worthwhile causes in our community!

The Take the Picture! photo contest is a three month contest starting in August 2011, with a different category for each month. Participants will enter their nature photos in August, animal photos in September & pink (Breast Cancer Awareness) photos in October. They will then get their family, friends & coworkers to vote for their favorite photo. There will be an entry fee for each photo & each vote cost $1, with all proceeds donated to the two charities equally. First place prize package will be awarded to the picture with the most votes in each category and honorable mention will be awarded to one picture chosen by our fearless judging panel in each category. ENTER YOUR PHOTO IN ONE OR ALL THREE CATEGORIES BY JULY 31ST, 2011 AND THE ENTRY FEE WILL BE WAIVED!!!

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and Majical Miniatures will split the funds raised from the admission and voting fees equally. An annual non-competitive walking event sponsored by the American Cancer Society, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer has raised more than $400 million to fund the search for a cure for breast cancer. The three- to five-mile walks are held in cities throughout the country and have attracted an estimated seven million walkers since the event was launched in 1993.

Located in Parrish, Majical Miniatures is an animal sanctuary that rescues and rehabilitates wildlife, as well as exotic and farm animals. The 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, locally known as a place “where second chances are born,” relies on grants and donations to provide food, shelter and medical care for the animals that are given a safe home at the sanctuary.

For more information about the contest, details on how to enter, and photo submission rules and guidelines, please visit www.TakethePicture.org You can send your photo to submissions@takethepicture.org

Take the Picture! Photo Contest is sponsored by the following local businesses:

www.backyardgetaway.net www.legaleagles.weebly.com www.sarasotapet.com www.localshops1.com www.canvaszoo.com www.siestakeybungalows.com www.wingatebradenton.com www.lazyfairyimprov.com www.wittywocks.com www.stpetebagelco.com www.probuild.com www.sendoutcards.com/plannerconnections www.jenniferandrewsdesigns.com www.casadipizzafl.com www.jadegates.com www.selby.org www.ringling.com

Posted via email from Backyard Getaway

Take the Picture! Photo Contest

Calling all camera bugs! Here’s a chance to showcase your photography online while helping to raise funds for two worthwhile causes in our community!

The Take the Picture! photo contest is a three month contest starting in August 2011, with a different category for each month. Participants will enter their nature photos in August, animal photos in September & pink (Breast Cancer Awareness) photos in October. They will then get their family, friends & coworkers to vote for their favorite photo. There will be an entry fee for each photo & each vote cost $1, with all proceeds donated to the two charities equally. First place prize package will be awarded to the picture with the most votes in each category and honorable mention will be awarded to one picture chosen by our fearless judging panel in each category. ENTER YOUR PHOTO IN ONE OR ALL THREE CATEGORIES BY JULY 31ST, 2011 AND THE ENTRY FEE WILL BE WAIVED!!!

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and Majical Miniatures will split the funds raised from the admission and voting fees equally. An annual non-competitive walking event sponsored by the American Cancer Society, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer has raised more than $400 million to fund the search for a cure for breast cancer. The three- to five-mile walks are held in cities throughout the country and have attracted an estimated seven million walkers since the event was launched in 1993.

Located in Parrish, Majical Miniatures is an animal sanctuary that rescues and rehabilitates wildlife, as well as exotic and farm animals. The 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, locally known as a place “where second chances are born,” relies on grants and donations to provide food, shelter and medical care for the animals that are given a safe home at the sanctuary.

For more information about the contest, details on how to enter, and photo submission rules and guidelines, please visit www.TakethePicture.org You can send your photo to submissions@takethepicture.org

Take the Picture! Photo Contest is sponsored by the following local businesses:

www.backyardgetaway.net www.legaleagles.weebly.com www.sarasotapet.com www.localshops1.com www.canvaszoo.com www.siestakeybungalows.com www.wingatebradenton.com www.lazyfairyimprov.com www.wittywocks.com www.stpetebagelco.com www.probuild.com www.sendoutcards.com/plannerconnections www.jenniferandrewsdesigns.com www.casadipizzafl.com www.jadegates.com www.selby.org www.ringling.com

Posted via email from Backyard Getaway

Teamwork!

A couple years ago, I met a newcomer to our area. Brenda Smoak, an artist from Washington DC, had recently moved to Bradenton and opened an artist gallery in the Village of the Arts. It was easy to see that she was very passionate about her art and gallery and she quickly became very active in her new community. Brenda and I became friends and talked often about the possibility of working together in the future. About the same time, Dave & I met a local teacher, Holly Clouse. She enthusiastically told us how she had attended our pond tour that we hosted each spring to raise funds for a local school waterfall project and how she had always wanted to create a project like that for her "kids". This past September, while attending an art walk, Holly met Brenda. Holly mentioned to her that she was looking to find a project to help motivate her students. They began brainstorming about a possible mural project. Brenda had the idea to extend the project into the garden and knew that we had been involved with school projects in the past. She called me to see if we would be interested in being a part of her project. I said yes immediately.


Here we are a couple of years later and we finally have the opportunity to work together on a fantastic project. Three women from three very different backgrounds, arts, education and marketing, brought our ideas and skills together with a common goal to bring the Learning Takes Flight project to life for the students in the STAR program. The main goal was to create a project that would not only beautify the school but also give these students a sense of belonging within their school community and feelings of accomplishment. The project was worked into their curriculum teaching the students that math and science are used in everyday applications.

The Learning Takes Flight project was Brenda’s brainchild. She collaborated with local artist, Barbara Gerdeman on the design and execution of the mural and came up with the idea for the students to create individual clay leaves with words that were inspirational to them. She then brought in Dave and me to design and help the students create a wildlife habitat, adjacent to the mural, complete with a pondless water feature.

Brenda Smoak has been an artist her entire life owning a decorative painting company for 10 years and working as the West Coast painter for Smallbone, Ltd out of England allowing her to travel all over the country and England to do faux finishing jobs. Currently she is a VSA fellow and was chosen as one of only five teaching fellows nationally by the VSA this year. The VSA is an International Organization on Arts + Disability. The focus of Brenda’s work as a VSA fellow is to bring art into the classroom, especially for students with special needs.

Holly Clouse has been a teacher for 31 years with a focus on at-risk populations. She ran an off campus school for five years on a working 13 acre mini-farm, teaching horsemanship along with the “three R’s”. The last five years she has been teaching in the Haile STAR program. STAR stands for Students Taking Another Road. It is a program designed to help those students who are failing or at risk of dropping out and do not qualify for special services.

As for myself, I spent most of my career in marketing and managing retail businesses owned by others. Until about seven years ago, when my husband, Dave told me he wanted to turn his hobby and passion for ponds into a business. I was skeptical at first, water gardening was fairly new to me. Dave on the other hand had been playing in the water for years. I found that I really enjoyed getting my hands dirty while still being able to manage the business aspect and so Backyard Getaway was born.

As we worked alongside the students, we watched them transform from being shy or indifferent to being proud of what they were accomplishing. The words on their clay leaves spoke volumes, trust, faith, confident, believe! One of the students told an interviewer that he learned that nobody can do it all himself that it takes teamwork to get something done!