Page 10 - Florida Sentinel 12-7-18

Local Volunteers Recognized By
Alex Rodriguez And Jennifer Lopez Are Special Guests At B&G Club Event
Progress Village Community
Volunteers were recognized for their service by the Progress Village Community at the community meet- ing held November 19th at the Emanuel P. Johnson Community Center.
Shown L-R are: Freddie Blue (Mighty Men of FB- COPV); Alfred Sheffield, Shirley Clark, Debbie Burt (Victory @ St. James A. M. E. Church), Lyndia Mathis, Renee Graham (Hillsborough County Parks and Recs), Darla Nesbitt (Hillsborough County Parks and Recs), Larry Sanders (Progress Village Panthers and Cheerleaders Organization).
The youth making a presentation of artwork to Alex Rodriguez are: Janecia from the Wilbert Davis Club and Steven from the Smith Salesian Club at Mary Help.
Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod) and Jennifer Lopez (J-Lo) with Janecia and Steven.
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
The local Boys & Girls Club’s annual event got some megastar power Tuesday when former Major League Baseball player, Alex Ro- driguez, along with his fa- mous girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez were the special guests.
Rodriguez – also known as A-Rod – was the guest speaker at the Great Futures
Breakfast that benefits the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay. Both he and Lopez – commonly known as J-Lo – are alums, Rodriguez in Miami and Lopez in New York City.
Raised by a single mother, Rodriguez told a crowd of nearly 800 that his local Boys & Girls Club “felt like home.”
“It felt safe. It felt like hope,” he said. “It kept me off the streets of Miami.”
Money raised from the
Great Futures Breakfast will ensure continued operations and programming at the Tampa-area clubs, which began in 1926 with the West Tampa Boys Club. Since that time, the clubs have served thousands of children who are “really special,” said Tampa Bay clubs chairman, Keith Harris.
“We work hard every day to level the playing field for them,” he said.
Rodriguez, a member of the 2009 World Series cham- pion New York Yankees team, remains connected to the organization on the Board of Directors of the Boys & Girls Club of Miami-Dade.
He started his career in 1994 with the Seattle Mariners before moving on to the Texas Rangers in 2001 and, lastly, the Yankees in 2004. Rodriguez retired in 2016 and is an analyst with broadcast networks and a special advisor to Yankees co- chairman, Hal Steinbren- ner.
Rodriguez implored the audience to support the Boys & Girls Clubs, stating that the principles he learned there both he and Lopez pass on to their four children.
“The real heroes at the Boys & Girls Club are the people,” he said. “Because of people like you,...BGC creates miracles. It did for me, it did for Jennifer.”
(Photographs by Matt Nassif)
PAGE 10-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2018