Hello Wellswood Neighbors,

As the holidays are wrapping up, we are currently planning our events for the new year. We are excited to announce that the haunted house, breakfast with Santa along with the Wellswood Eats were a great success.  Due to popular demand, we will begin to host Wellswood Eats quarterly in 2019.  We are also happy to announce that all Association members will receive discounts on any Wellswood Civic Association functions.  So don't forget to renew your dues.

I would like to give a big thank you to our Vice President Tina Hurless along with all the other board members for the numerous amount of hours they dedicate to helping keep Wellswood wonderful.  They continue to donate their free time attending meetings, planning and making decisions to repair the building to help make it a safe and enjoyable experience.  Tina has done a fantastic job on publishing our quarterly newsletter and ensuring it is distributed in a timely matter with monthly event reminders and updates.  Much gratitude to Kitty Wallace for securing the grant for our new community garden which will be located in the Wellswood Park.  Thank you to Jose Lazo who did an amazing job donating his time as Santa!  Also a big thanks to Ada Pyles, Michelle Lambo & Jessica Scrivani for all their time donated to the various events held at the Civic Center. And last but not least, Rey Cox who has donated countless hours during her many years on the Wellswood Board.

Please don’t forget to renew your membership or join the civic association and show your support for our beautiful Wellswood Community.  Dues are only $20 per household annually and come with great member benefits.

Wishing all a happy, healthy, and safe New Year, looking forward to a great 2019!

-Dominick Perrone
  Wellswood Civic Association President

On August 19th, we shared another wonderful volunteer experience with USF students.  With the help of Chris Cano getting us signed up with The USF Stampede of Service and USF Charge, volunteers we have done a lot of maintenance we otherwise could not have afforded throughout these last eight years. What great kids!  When you pass by the civic center you might see a great improvement to our curb appeal.  Bob Kilgore was there leading a few of the USF Charge volunteers making our curb, for sure, more appealing.  Shout out to Bob--the kids loved you!  Big WCA and community "Shout Out" and Special thanks to our own gardeners, Barbara Olsen and Eileen Hinchliffe, who were there early Saturday morning volunteering their precious time to help with the curb appeal portion of our day. Thanks Eileen and Barbara--we truly appreciated your help.

Chris Cano, though very short of volunteers, managed to cover all 2 miles of Wishart Blvd end to end with WCA flier information on the hard copy/email copy of our resurgent Wellswood Nugget.  There is a Nugget newsletter committee forming led by Kitty Wallace, please come and help, we always need our community members positive involvement.

If you were at the WCA on Monday August 14th  when the City's Park Dept. John Allen and two other staff members came by to meet with us, I personally would like to thank you!  Thanks for encouraging us with your attendance.  This long overdue meeting, was arranged so that Mr. Allen could garner information as to what our community wanted should the $640,000 earmarked for the church building renovation be approved.  It was a good meeting and Kitty Wallace will be filling you in shortly.  Please give her a little time and wish her well soon since she's recovering from minor surgery.  With further regard to this Parks Dept. meeting, I just really wanted you to know, if you didn't notice, the chairs you were sitting on at that meeting were not the chairs you've sat on before. These, my friends, are new and much improved (padded), procured just recently by a Hillsborough County Mini-Grant which bought not only the chairs, but the irrigation system, plants and all other materials for our new curb appeal. 

I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the Wellswood Community to thank Hillsborough County and in particular, Wanda Sloan and Jennifer Boyd, and The Children's Board of Hillsborough County for the funds that helped with this project.

Lastly I would like to thank my hard working Board of Officers and Directors, made up of many different and talented people.  First, Ada Pyles, who has been serving this community longer than most of us have lived in it.  Ada who I can always count on for anything at any time; Bob & Jean Kilgore long time board members (remember their spaghetti and cookouts) always there to help also.  I truly think Bob lost 10lbs on Charge Saturday working to improve our curb appeal; Chris Cano, our political connection and our other young hard-working member who brings you the local candidate forums, and has provided much needed help with the USF volunteers, and our web site. Even though Chris lost his father after a long suffering illness he still has contributed so much to his community; Chef Dominick Perrone, another young member of our gang...you've shared in his culinary delights and you keep coming back for more, Laurie his wife, leads our WCA Girls Scout Troop which the great Maddie, his daughter, attends; Then there's Miss Kitty Wallace, whose number of years on the board keeps her young at heart, strong in spirit, and a fantastic addition to this board also available for the many tasks that confront us; lastly I wish to remember Nancy Lemus who too soon passed away last year and who is sorely missed by many, not only me, and the members of this board, but by her family, friends, and community.

Please come and join us at your General Membership meetings and your Neighborhood Watch meetings. They are the second Monday of Every Other Month respectively. We will post as usual as they approach on the calendar.