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Club Puts Heart Into Holiday

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By STEPHEN HAMMILL, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 16, 2008

Updated: 02/14/2008 06:33 pm

KEYSTONE - Pam Fleming looked over her shoulder and watched Madella Robertson put treats into a dozen red cups.

"You need to put more colored paper in there," she said. "Who needs some red hearts?"

On Wednesday, Fleming, Robertson and a dozen other members of the Keystone Service Club brought Valentine's Day cups to residents of the Carrollwood Care Center, a nursing home at 15002 Hutchinson Road.

Earlier in the day, they met at the Keystone Recreation Center to make the valentines.

"Last year we made Valentine's Day cards for another home," said club Vice President Vi Anderson. "This year we wanted to change it up."

The cups, one for each of the center's 120 residents, were filled with practical items - lotion, toothbrushes, soap - along with candy.

It was Anderson's idea to involve the Carrollwood Care Center. She belongs to the Messiah Lutheran Church nearby, which donates money and items to the facility.

"We try to help where we can, and this one seems to need a lot of help," said Harriet Cowdery, who dispenses the money the club raises.

Founded in 1976, the Keystone Service Club meets monthly at Keystone Park, 17928 Gunn Highway. Its motto: to educate ourselves and serve others.

"We donate to good causes," Cowdery said. "For instance, everyone brings an item to the meetings for our raffle."

That money, about $150 a month, goes to Metropolitan Ministries. They send more during the holidays, and in January they donate canned goods.

In recent years, the club has given to the Salvation Army's drug rehabilitation center, the Humane Society and to U.S. troops serving abroad.
Cowdery said the club looks for worthy causes and then tries to come up with original ideas to help.

"Valentines for a nursing home seemed like a prefect fit," she said. The residents are often neglected during holidays, and members get to show off their craftier sides."

"We're trying to get an assembly line started," said Evelyn Knight, the club's inspirational chairwoman and a 30-year member, during the construction phase.
Cowdery showed off walker bags designed by hand for the nursing home's residents.

Local artist LeeAnn Word joined the club in 1979.

"My husband was sick for four years, but now I'm back," she said. "It's a wonderful club. We just need more members."

There club's 24 members stay busy.

Club Treasurer Cora Campbell recalled how a few years back the club sewed blankets and quilts for Boggy Creek, a camp for seriously ill children. "And a few years before that we made blankets for AIDS babies at Tampa General," she said. "We've done so much for such a small club."

Reporter Stephen Hammill can be reached at (813) 865-1523 or at shammill@tampatrib.com.

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