Milton Rotary Club

We enjoyed a presentation from Mirella Savage who is with United Way of West Florida. Mirella told us about the programs they have to service the Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed community. These households live paycheck to paycheck. Santa Rosa county has 36% of households meet this criteria and 47% in Escambia county. They cover from Escambia county to Washington county with their services. Anyone can call 211 as that is their helpline for community resources.
We appreciate Mirella speaking and for more information you can visit

| United Way of West Florida United Way of West Florida is proud to be a BBB Accredited Charity, meeting all 20 of the Better Business Bureau’s Standards for Charity Accountability. This accreditation reflects our commitment to transparency, ethical governance, and responsible stewardship of the resources entrusted to us.

Chief Jennifer Frank with the City of Milton Police Department spoke to us last week about the dangers of posting to social media. Some of the tips she gave were to be very cautious of "checking in" to vacation spots, restaurants, etc as online thieves can track your movements and know when your home may be unoccupied. She also told us that when you sign up for these apps the agreements contain clauses that allow them access to your camera, audio, etc so you have to be careful due to the information that can be shared in that manner.
Another area to be concerned with is the online games as the information they ask for can be used to figure out passwords and other items to gain online access to your accounts.
It was a very informative presentation and we appreciate Chief Frank speaking to us.

We recently enjoyed a presentation from Chris Heaney and Paige Marcin who are with the Studer Community Institute.
Paige is the director of Building Brains- they help educate parents on building the brains of a child up to 3 years old. She works with the local hospitals to get information to the parents where they receive a brain bag with resources about the program. Parents can get weekly text messages to tell how the child’s brain is developing and fun exercises and this is a free program. The goal of the program is to improve Kindergarten readiness.
Chris leads the Building Jobs program which promotes economic development in a small business way. Chris told us that
small businesses help build communities. Their 3 main areas of focus are custom training, Entrecon and mentoring.
We appreciate Chris and Paige coming and presenting to our club.

Chief Dan of the Santa Rosa Creek Band of the Lower Muscogee gave the club a presentation on the history and traditions of the Santa Rosa Creek Band. They own 95 acres of land on Willard Norris Road with 30 acres being cleared and the remainder is protected wetlands. They also have a 4,000 square foot educational center and recently completed a "round house." The round house is used for ceremonies, teachings and other meetings and the nearest roundhouse replica is in Tallahassee. Each year the Creek Band host Creekfest which will be November 21st and 22nd 2026. They expect 4-5,000 visitors over the 2 days of Creekfest.
Chief Dan also told us that they have been working with SRC school district to write curriculum for Native American history to be used in K-12 schools.
For more information on the Santa Rosa Creek Band, check them out on FB and also at santarosacreekband.org

We appreciate Jerilyn O'Brien, Principal of Santa Rosa Online school, for her recent visit to share with us about Santa Rosa Online. SR online was established 15 years ago and is for grades 3-12. SR Online is a franchise of FL virtual school and currently has 26 full time teachers and 150 full time students but when you include the part time teachers and students those numbers are much higher. Students may take courses with Santa Rosa Online while attending a brick and mortar school.
For more information, you can go to their website at santarosaschools.org/o/sro.

Glad to support Bagdad Elementary and their teacher appreciation week! Thank you for all you do for the students!!!

Kevin Riley- SRC Emergency Management-spoke to us last week about spring weather safety. Kevin is a planner for SRC Emergency Management and has been in his current position for several years. Some of the spring weather events he discussed were- rip currents & other beach hazards, tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, lightning, flooding, heat safety, wildfires, hurricanes. Kevin encouraged everyone to “know your zone” for evacuation routes in case you find yourself needing to evacuate.
Kevin also mentioned that there are items that are not taxed if used for hurricane supplies. He closed by listing the shelter locations, meant to be used as a last resort, and that there is a special needs register for those that have special needs during a disaster. We definitely enjoyed the presentation and for more information, visit their website at santarosa.fl.gov/974/emergency-management.

We are proud to continue support Santa Rosa Adult high school with a donation to help students with the cost of their caps and gowns. Great work doing being done at Santa Rosa High!

We would like to thank Jenni Elzweig who is the program director for Valerie's House of NWFL. Valerie's House provides grief support and healing activities for children and families navigating life after loss. They are not a formal counseling center, but a community, where stories are shared, friendships are formed, and hope is found. They serv both Santa Rosa and Escambia counties and have 6 full time staff. Jenni told us that unsupported grief leads to many issues- 30% of children in Florida's juvenile detention system suffered the loss of a parent or sibling. Their services are free and their vision is that no child will grieve alone. If you would like to volunteer or help in any other way, go to valerieshouse.org.