Community In The Know

The Punta Gorda Mercantile storefront. JERRY BEARD / FLORIDA WEEKLY

PG Mercantile asks for help after flooding

Punta Gorda Mercantile, 10169 Tamiami Trail, Punta Gorda — a local, veteran family-owned small business — was closed unexpectedly on Sunday Feb. 11. The owners, Shannon Ball and her son, Blake Ball, arrived at their 9,000-squarefoot store to find it fully flooded.

If you’re not familiar with the store, it is an eclectic shopping experience housing 200-plus vendors and consignors offering more than 100,000 items in total. Each vendor booth is their own individual small business where they display items for customers to browse and shop. All purchases support their small businesses, and PGM manages those transactions for the vendors.

Unfortunately, due to this flooding, PGM will be closed while repairs are completed to the building. What this means is that these small businesses will lose sales that are essential to their livelihoods and success.

The owners are reaching out to the community to ask for help.

BROOKS

They have started a GoFundMe campaign

( www.gofundme.com/f/punta-gorda-mercantile-flood-recovery ) with a goal of $5,000, so that assistance can be given to vendors to repair their booths, and to compensate for damaged merchandise and lost sales, as PGM’s insurance does not cover vendor booths. Some of the vendors might have their own insurance, but PGM’s concern is for those who do not.

“We appreciate everyone’s kindness as we try to recover and bring this store back operational so we can see you all again,” said Shannon.

Longtime pastor Rev. Carl Brooks honored

First Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church is honoring the Rev. Carl F. Brooks, turning 76 years old this month, for service to the church as well as the community. With 44 years under his belt, Brooks is the longest serving pastor in Charlotte County. He has shepherded, counseled, encouraged, taught and trained generations of parishioners at First Macedonia M.B. Church.

Under Brooks’ leadership, the church has grown immensely in ministries (physical and spiritual), locally and abroad. Brooks initiated outreach and in-reach evangelism ministry, distribution of food and clothing, as well as other ministries. He has trained leaders to plan and employ an organizational five- step plan for events, ministries and projects. Many new ministries were started throughout his tenure as pastor.

This is the 38th season for the Englewood Methodist Church annual rummage sale. COURTESY PHOTO

The public is invited to the celebration at 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 18, at the church, 411 E. Charlotte Ave., Punta Gorda. There is no fee for the anniversary service, but love offerings/donations will be accepted.

Contact Rev. Kevin Shaw (chairman of the pastor’s anniversary committee) at 910-238-6844, or Rev. Ellison Haddock at 941-457-4820, for more information or questions.

Englewood Methodist Church holds annual rummage sale

From Feb. 22-24, the gymnasium sized Fellowship Hall at Englewood Methodist Church, 700 E. Dearborn, Englewood, will be filled inside and out with thousands of items. This is the 38th season for the biggest annual rummage sale in the area, skipped only in 2021 due to the pandemic.

From 3-6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, is a special Early Bird Pre-Sale. A $5 “Shop Early Admission Fee” charged at the door, that day only, will give shoppers an edge over others in finding prime treasures. There will still be countless great deals with no admission fee on the traditional Friday and Saturday sale days, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23, and from 9 a.m.- noon Saturday, Feb. 24. Affordable food will be available to purchase each day.

Shoppers can browse through furniture, small appliances, electronics, toys, clothes, jewelry, fabrics and crafts, books, artificial flowers, art work, yard and shop tools, hardware, kitchenware, home décor and just about everything imaginable at this bargain-hunter’s paradise.

The Methodist Women initiated this sale and have presented it annually for decades to benefit charitable programs locally and abroad. While members of the Methodist Men have always helped out, in recent years the sale has grown to be a larger joint project of the women and men’s groups. They split the net proceeds evenly to help fund their respective efforts to benefit people in need. Both groups use funds from the sale to award postsecondary scholarships to local youth who attend or participate in activities of the church, which has a seasonal congregation exceeding 2,000. Other programs the Methodist Women support include the local Foundations Pre-School, Englewood Meals on Wheels and the Englewood Community Care Clinic.

For rummage sale information, call Cindy at 847-636-0118. See www.englewoodmethodist.com for directions and information about the church; or call the church office from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday.

“Ding” Darling conservation scholarships available

High school seniors, college students, and graduate students — in or from Charlotte, Lee, Collier, Hendry and Glades counties — pursuing degrees in environmental-related studies are eligible to apply for 13 environmental studies scholarships amounting to more than $25,000 from the “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge (DDWS). Ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 each, this year’s named scholarships include the following: Richard Bailey Scholarship, Mike and Terry Baldwin Scholarship, Dr. Andrew and Laura Dahlem Scholarship,

Dr. H. Randall Deming Scholarship for Conservation and Environmental Studies, “Ding” Darling Conservation Scholarship, Hans and Leslie Fleischner Scholarships, The Mary Elaine Jacobson Memorial Scholarship, Win & Marilyn Kloosterman Scholarship, Barry & Francine Litofsky Scholarship, Tarpon Bay Explorers Scholarship and Jane Werner Environmental Scholarships.

DDWS will award the scholarships at a special ceremony in June at the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island. Now in its 18th year, the DDWS scholarship program presented its first awards in 2006, donated by Tarpon Bay Explorers, the refuge’s official recreation concession. To date, the program has awarded a total of $262,400 to deserving students.

The application deadline is March 31. Interested students can find more information and printable application forms at dingdarlingsociety.org/articles/student-scholarships.

To learn more about the scholarship program and establishing a permanently endowed scholarship, contact Ann-Marie Wildman at wildman@dingdarlingsociety.org .

As a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, DDWS works to support J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge’s mission of conservation, wildlife and habitat protection, research and public education through charitable donations and Refuge Nature Shop profits. To support DDWS and the refuge with a tax-deductible gift, see dingdarlingsociety.org or contact Ann-Marie Wildman at 239-789-8991 or wildman@dingdarlingsociety.org . ¦

The post Community In The Know first appeared on Charlotte County Florida Weekly .