Page 7 - Florida Sentinel 2-14-17

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One Church One Child Of Florida, Inc. Recognizes Black History Month
Siblings, JOSEPH And PATRICK by Pezz Photo
One Church One Child of Florida recognizes Black His- tory Month and is reaching out to families and individuals in local communities across the state in efforts to help share the truth that the children pictured here and others like them are waiting for a permanent home and/or mentor.
Daily, over 700 children are in need of a family to call their own; many of them are minori- ties. Can you provide a loving, permanent home for these chil- dren or other children like them or consider becoming their mentors?
Churches are asked to part- ner with One Church One Child in sharing information with congregations and extending Watch-Care Ministries to chil- dren. Rev. Beverly Hills Lane, State President for One Church One Child of Florida and Vice-President for National One Church One Child, is chal- lenging fellow Pastors to get in- volved and encouraging families to open their hearts and homes to children in foster care.
These series of articles fea- ture children located in com- munities across the state; they have no family identified to adopt them. Will you take the challenge of opening your home and family to parenting them?
February’s children are highlighted in this article; they too deserve to have a family. Do pray sincerely for them and consider making them a part of your family through adoption or a part of your church through Project Watch-Care, for support and mentoring.
Featured here in the Febru- ary series of photographs are two youth.
Joseph, 12, is a thoughtful, big-hearted kid who, if he could choose to change one thing about the world, would end people stereotyping one an- other. He’s funny and easygo- ing and loves to read. If he isn’t
reading or sleeping he’s playing basketball, and his ultimate goal is to play professionally.
Although he’s not too sure about plane travel, Joseph wants to have some adventures in life, and thinks it would be awesome to find the Lost World of Atlantis. He looks up to his big brother, Patrick because he’s “kind and caring,” and he’s looking forward to being part of a forever family that he “can talk to when [he] has a question or problem.”
Patrick, 16, is a very earnest, respectful young man with a heart of gold. He’s very intelligent and loves to read, es- pecially science-fiction novels like Marco’s Millions. He does- n’t share his little brother’s aversion to flying, and would love to have that experience, es- pecially if the plane takes him to Paris! He’s into all kinds of music and likes to play video games. He can often seem seri- ous and reserved, but he’d got a very silly side, too!
When he grows up, he’d like to either be a photographer or a therapist, and if he could be fa- mous for anything it’d be for authoring a popular book se- ries.
These guys crave the warmth and support of a for- ever family. They’d thrive in a two-parent home as the only children or with other brothers. They have so much potential, and so much love to give!
If you are interested in knowing more about Joseph and Patrick and other children in foster care available for adoption, or if you would like to become a foster parent, mentor, partner or volunteer, please contact LaKay Fayson, Re- cruitment Coordinator for One Church One Child of Florida’s SunCoast Region, at (813) 740- 0210 or lakay_fayson@ ococfl.org.
The website for One Church One Child of Florida is www.ococfl.org.
Heisman Trophy Winner, NBA Star Charlie Ward To Speak At WMU Cooley Soifer Memorial Lecture
Heisman Trophy winner and retired NBA player Char- lie Ward, along with the Pres- ident of the Sarasota Bar and college football standout Keith DuBose, will be the featured speakers at the Howard Soifer Memorial Lec- ture in Sports and Entertain- ment Law. The noon event will be held at WMU-Cooley Law School’s Tampa Bay campus, 9445 Camden Field Parkway, Riverview, Florida 33578, on Friday, Feb. 17th, 12 p. m.
Ward, in addition to being a retired professional basket- ball player and Heisman tro- phy winner, excelled as a college basketball player and was a Major League Baseball draftee. In his college football career at Florida State Univer- sity, he was honored with every award he was eligible for as a senior quarterback on FSU’s 1993 National Championship team, which included the Davey O’Brien and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm awards.
Despite being one of the most decorated players in col- lege football history, Ward pursued a professional basket-
CHARLIE WARD ...Heisman Trophy winner, retired NBA star
ball career and played in the NBA from 1994-2005 for the New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs, and Houston Rockets.
DuBose, shareholder at the law firm of Matthews East- moore, earned his undergrad- uate degree at Duke University and was a member of the 1989 Duke football team that won the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship. He earned his juris doctor degree from the University of Florida College of Law.
This is the 11th (first in Florida) Howard Soifer Memo- rial Lecture.
KEITH DUBOSE ...President of Sarasota Bar, college football standout
Soifer (1949-2003) was a 1977 graduate of WMU-Cooley Law School. He was an avid sports fan and represented sev- eral prominent professional athletes during his career as a shareholder with Loomis, Ewert, Parsley, Davis & Got- ting, P.C. Soifer was grateful for his legal education at WMU-Cooley Law School and his family, friends and partners have endowed the lecture se- ries in his memory.
The event is free and open to the public. Those interested in attending may RSVP online at cooley.edu/alumni.
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