If you're looking for the happiest, funniest New Year's Eve party, you'll want to know about the SCLO first annual Collard Greens Cook-Off.

It is a true community event, developed with the help of local residents from a wonderfully creative idea SCLO CEO April Glasco came up with one day.  We have 17 contestants and City Commissioner Willie Shaw, County Commissioner Carolyn Mason, Mayors' Feed The Hungry Chairperson Joel Swallow, and David Thomas from Sam's Club as judges.  Collard greens were donated by Suncoast Food Alliance.  $5 gets you into the happiest New Year's Eve party in town, plus greens tasting, cornbread, and sweet potato pie at 1355 Boulevard of the Arts, between 4 and 6pm.

Who can argue with good home-cooked food, friendly competition, and good, old-fashioned fun just for the sake of it?

Happy New Year!

Following the success of our first project on Gulf Coast Gives, we have initiated another project, intended as enrichment to our life skill class participants.  With your help, we aim to take twelve women to a Women’s Empowerment Conference in Orlando at the end of January.

These are women who have never been to a hotel, a conference, or anywhere independently. The effect this weekend will have on their confidence, their growth, their future, and their children’s future is immeasurable. We’re letting everyone know of this opportunity to help pay for the hotel (4 to a room) and van rental, giving a woman a chance to blossom and change her world.

Our goal is to raise $850 by January 22^nd and we’ve already had a donation of $100.  Any amount you can give will get us closer to the goal and will be very much appreciated.

The second SCLO Women of Wisdom Awards Evening will be held on November 3rd at 6pm in the Community Room of the Sarasota Herald Tribune Building, honoring Pam Carter (JH Floyd Sunshine Manor), Shirley Walker (Goodwill), and Pastor Robinson (Living Hope) for their huge contribution to our community. 

These special Women of Wisdom have shown they are strong, safe, survivors – matching the goals of the SISTA Project and therefore it seemed fitting that our SISTAs host the Women of Wisdom Awards Evening. These newly empowered young women surprised themselves by being able to plan the event from the start, which included interviewing the three honorees who served as their role models. 

As these SISTA Project graduates are now able to be mentors to younger ladies in the community, their involvement in the Women of Wisdom evening serves two purposes. Firstly, it reinforces the importance for the graduates to have a strong, selfless role model and of gaining the confidence to become mentors themselves.  Secondly, it also gives the SCLO volunteers a project they can take ownership of, giving them the satisfaction of following something worthwhile through to completion. 

Please call 360-8660 to rsvp if you are able to join us on November 3rd to celebrate the accomplishments of these three very special women.

I joined the SISTA program last year, not knowing that it would become the foundation of me learning to be the strong woman I always wanted to be.  I found myself being over excited to see what we would be doing in class each week.  And as time progressed I became able to say that some of my most memorable, life changing moments were brought on during my most appreciated experience at SCLO!

Through Second Chance, we were able to attend a Woman Act Now Women’s Conference in Orlando that bonded all the young ladies that had a chance to go.  It also gave us our ‘voices’; we all took something special away from that powerful experience.  It reinforced much of what we had been learning in the SISTA Program.

I think I speak for all the participants of the SISTA Program when I say that the skills, encouragement, wisdom and love we received from Second Chance helped us to apply all the things that we learned in SISTA to our daily lives.  I consider myself blessed to have been able to enjoy the SISTA Program and SCLO as a whole because all the women I encountered encouraged me to be the best ‘me’ that I can be.  On behalf of the women in my community that SCLO has blessed and to all those supporters who made it possible for the women to participate in the SCLO programs, I thank you for changing our lives.

Thanks to new volunteer, Daniel Miller, who responded to our Facebook cry for technical help, a new video is up on our Youtube channel.  We'd love to know what you think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6YdLv7VlWg

Sound was provided by another great volunteer, Ed Ericsson.

Dear SCLO,

I wanted to tell you how emotional it was for me when I dropped toys and kids’ clothes off at your office today.  A woman there asked to hug me and I was just so touched and overwhelmed by the true thanks she felt toward me, I found myself driving back up to Ellenton in tears..but happy tears.

I'd had a terrible week and a book I read recently said if you are feeling sad, go do something for someone else and that will lift you up. And I'm here to say it truly did.

Now that I know right where you are I won't be needing the drop off location in Lakewood Ranch anymore.  I didn't know earlier that you needed diapers and personal hygiene items for your clients. So now I'm pledging to you that at least once a month I will be coming down with donations for SCLO.

 Thank you for helping me to be a better person.

This is an email received from a donor who visited our office for the first time this week.  It was so nice for the staff and volunteers to receive this feedback (as well as the donations of course).  We felt that her comments are a gift to us.

The SCLO Women of Wisdom Awards Evening will be held on April 7th at 6pm in the Community Room of the Sarasota Herald Tribune, honoring Valerie Buchand, Carolyn Mason, and Jone Williams for their huge contribution to our community. 

A group of clients who graduated from the SISTA Project, an empowerment and health education program, have formed an upper level group called Big SiSTAs. Our Women of Wisdom, Valerie, Carolyn, and Jone have shown they are strong, safe, survivors – matching the goals of the SISTA Project and therefore it seemed fitting that our Big SISTAs host the Women of Wisdom Awards Evening. These newly empowered women surprised themselves by being able to plan the event from the start, which included interviewing the three honorees who served as their role models. 

As these SISTA Project graduates are now able to be mentors to younger ladies in the community, their involvement in the Women of Wisdom evening serves two purposes. Firstly, it reinforces the importance for the graduates to have a strong, selfless role model and of gaining the confidence to become mentors themselves.  Secondly, it also gives the SCLO volunteers a project they can take ownership of, giving them the satisfaction of following something worthwhile through to completion. 

Please call 360-8660 to rsvp if you are able to join us on April 7th to celebrate the accomplishments of these three very special women.

I am a 34 year old, single mother living with HIV for 9 years.  I contracted HIV three months after my son was born.  Second Chance has been helping me and my family for years but just recent in the last 2 years, SCLO has been having classes to help young women to be strong and safe.  Ms. April has taught me to have self-esteem and to stand on my own two feet without a man.  I love the Second Chance Life Skills Classes too where we learn so much and no one is judged.  Second Chance has helped me to grow into a wonderful single mother.  Thank you, Second Chance.

This testimonial was written by a client who has participated in our life skill classes in the past and who recently graduated from the SISTA Project, a program that is funded through a grant from the Florida Department of Health.

Please make every gift count this holiday season. You can find coupons at more than 1,600 top stores (including Amazon, Macy's, J.Crew, Toys R Us, Best Buy, Gap and more) AND a percentage of virtually every sale will be donated to Second Chance-Last Opportunity.

Just go to GoodShop at http://www.goodshop.com, select our cause and then click over to your favorite store and shop away!

 Or, add our toolbar to your browser at http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar - and your purchases will earn a donation for us even if you forget to go to GoodShop first!

 There's no easier way to support us this holiday season!  Please spread the word.

We are blessed to have a number of people and businesses supporting SCLO by organizing toy drives or other collections or donating proceeds.  By supporting these businesses and their initiatives you'll be directly helping struggling families and individuals in our community.

James Griffith Salon, 4011 Clark Road, Sarasota is collecting diapers and feminine hygiene products.  During December they will also be a collection point for toys.

People's Pottery is holding an open house on Sunday, December 19th between 2:30pm and 4:30pm when 20% of their sales will be given to Second Chance-Last Opportunity.  This is an annual event and we hope people will come out to do their holiday shopping and support this great store and SCLO. (St. Armand's Circle)

The Sarasota Farmers' Market is holding a toy drive on Saturday, December 11th.  There will be a collection point at the intersection of Main and Lemon between 7am and 1pm.  We'll be at our regular booth that day too, outside the Gator Club, so don't forget to stop by to say hello!

Shapes Total Fitness, 8219 Cooper Creek Blvd, Lakewood Ranch is a permanent collection point for food and toys.

The following businesses are additional drop off points for unwrapped toys until December 17th:

Butterfly Effect, 451 N. Orange Avenue (Citrus Square)

Nicole Salon on Palm, 65 S. Palm Avenue

Palm Cafe and Grill, 1756 N. Honore Avenue (at 17th Street)

Starbucks, 3571 Bee Ridge Road

Thank you for supporting these businesses, and SCLO!