Thursday, January 17, 2013
Life Amplified Community Showcase takes place Saturday, Jan. 19 at the Tampa Pitcher Show.
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Thursday, January 17
It all started with a conversation. Last year, Patch reporter Deb Kelley interviewed Tampa Pitcher Show founders Wayne and Cindy Valenti and their daughter Karianne about their 30thanniversary in the Carrollwood community. During their chat, Kelley asked if the venue had ever hosted a spoken word event. The family was open and eager. Kelley immediately volunteered. The event titled "Life Amplified All-Ages Spoken Word Community Showcase" will be held at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 19 at the Tampa Pitcher Show, 14416 N. Dale Mabry Highway in Carrollwood. "I was a fan of spoken word poetry and already knew a perfect nonprofit to receive part of the $8 ticket price," Kelley said. "I had previously written, produced and hosted fashion shows and a…
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Connie Rose is a voice for trafficked minors.
Right now, as Week of Welcome fades into memory and college campuses are merely days into full operation, naïve freshman, away from home, possibly for the first time, are being watched. Blondes, brunettes, redheads – bespectacled bookworms, pink haired video gamers and underage partiers. Each are new on campus, trying to find their footing in an environment completely alien to them. The Predator Makes His Move The freshman is sitting alone, wishing she had taken a better meal plan. She peeks into her wallet a third time, but she cannot will a $5 bill to appear to buy the latte that is splashed across the coffee shop sign. In a college logoed T-shirt and ripped jeans, young, clean cut, handsome or “hot “as her friends back home would …
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Redefining Refuge will soon open Tampa Bay’s first home for rescued sexually trafficked children.
Trafficking Hope’s website reports there are 100,000 to 300,000 sexually trafficked children in the U.S. and less than 100 beds available in safe houses nationwide. Patch’s first story in January focused on the seedy underbelly of Tampa Bay with the largest rates of sexual human trafficking in the nation and one woman’s plight to open a home for its rescued children. Today, our focus is on a celebration. After five months and with the help of West Florida Wholesale Properties, more beds will soon be available. Redefining Refuge’s founder, Natasha Nascimento’s dream of opening a safe home for trafficked youth is about to become reality. “We are providing the home free for the first six months and after the first six months, they’d pay a …
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Each week, we feature a different nonprofit
On Tuesdays, Carrollwood Patch features a Q&A with someone from a local nonprofit organization to find out how the community can get involved and how the nonprofit got its start. In this week's nonprofit spotlight, we talked to Natasha Nascimento from Redefining Refuge, a local nonprofit that aims to help women and children who have been victims of sexual industry trade, according to their website. Check out the Q&A below: Patch: What is the purpose or mission of the organization? Nascimento: Our non-profit organization is dedicated to fighting for women and children who have been victims of the depraved injustice of sexual abuse, with a prevailing emphasis on the abolition of the domestic sex trafficking of minors. Through strong …
Friday, January 13, 2012
Redefining Refuge will host a gala to raise funds for sexually trafficked children.
In a state catering to tourists, and specifically families with children, there is a sinister underbelly. It’s an unspoken activity that’s heard about in third-world countries, not the home of the Dark Continent and Mickey Mouse. The Tampa Bay area has been identified as a region struggling with the issue of human trafficking. Statistics show that Florida is commonly known among law enforcement officials to have one of the highest rates of human trafficking in the country, according to Shared Hope International, a group that works to eradicate sexual slavery. Locally, two recent initiatives have been put forth in an effort to end human trafficking in Tampa Bay. The first: Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn formally recognized January as National …
Deborah Bostock-Kelley
3:42 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013
We are proud to add one more a capella singer Erin Brea to our talented lineup. more ›