ALEXSTRONG FOUNDATION HOSTS BASS TOURNAMENT TO SUPPORT YOUNG NOLA SALLING

The AlexStrong Foundation is hosting its seventh annual Bass Tournament to support a local Gibsonton kid battling leukemia on Saturday, May 13.

Nola Salling has been battling leukemia for two years now since being diagnosed at 5 years old. She is receiving treatment from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Tennessee. Salling and her family are hoping she can get healthy enough to receive a bone marrow transplant to help fight the cancer.

“This is our seventh annual fishing tournament, and with these tournaments, and other fundraisers and the support of the community, we have been able to donate over $150,000 to local families in need,” said AlexStrong founder Lori Sumner.

The Bass Tournament will take place at the Grape Hammock Fish Camp on Lake Kissimmee, located at 1400 Grape Hammock Rd. in Lake Wales, for $60 per boat for one or two participants. The tournament will start at first safe light, followed by a weigh-in at 2 p.m. Participants can preregister on Facebook or register in person the morning of the event. Each pair can catch up to six bass, and first through third-place winners will receive a cash prize.

Ag Teacher Timothy Cribbs Made His Mark At Durant And Beyond

By Linda Chion

By Lily Belcher

Following the fishing tournament, the AlexStrong Foundation will host a rafe. The rafe will have a mix of fishing/hunting gear, gift baskets, gift cards, kid items and other prizes.

In addition to raising money for Salling through the tournament and rafe, the AlexStrong Foundation is accepting individual donations and corporate sponsorships. Sponsor logos will be displayed on a banner at the event. All donations and sponsorships are tax-deductible.

“We are so thankful to the people that continue to donate and help support our mission to pay forward all the kindness that was shown to our family when Alex was sick. We love keeping his memory alive by helping other families,” said Lori.

The AlexStrong Foundation was started in memory of Alex Sumner, who died of cancer in 2017. The foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports families with children facing life-threatening illnesses. The money raised at the Bass Tournament will go to the Salling family to help fund treatments.

For more information on the AlexStrong Foundation or this year’s Bass Tournament and rafe, visit its Facebook page or contact Lori at 813-493-2557.

“In loving memory of Timothy H. Cribbs,” read a display last month at the Florida Strawberry Festival featuring a life-sized photo of agriculture education teacher Timothy H. Cribbs of Plant City, who started his career at Durant High School the same year the school opened.

The year was 1995, and Cribbs was a few years into his teaching career with Hillsborough County Public Schools. Cribbs died on December 14, 2022, at age 61, having been an ag teacher for 39 years.

“He was always 24/7 agriculture and working with the kids, and I know he took pride in helping to develop future leaders,” said Scott Brooks, who as a junior high student met Cribbs, then a teacher, at Turkey Creek Middle School. Like Cribbs, Brooks attended the University of Florida and after graduation taught with Cribbs at Durant High School. Brooks now works for Hillsborough’s career, technical and adult education department.

That Cribbs had a decades-long impact on his community, his colleagues and the children he taught and mentored was apparent at his funeral service, which Brooks said was run like an FFA meeting, complete with speeches and opening and closing ceremonies. “Young people, former students and ag teachers who left the area, they all came back for Tim’s funeral,” Brooks said. “Durant students had on their FFA jackets while students from other schools did the same. It was spot-on, and it was Tim.”

While many photographs of Cribbs were in view at the Florida Strawberry Festival, none were larger than the life-sized photo of Cribbs at the Durant FFA display that shows him hunched over, kicking up his knee, bowing his head, grinning widely and clenching a fist, signifying another triumph.

“Tim was larger than life, one of the most competitive humans I’ve ever been around,” Brooks said. “A lot of people want to win competitions and they want their trophies and the glory that comes with it. But very few are willing to do all the work that it takes to be the best.”

When it came to Cribbs, a seasoned ag teacher and Florida FFA advisor, “it’s kind of a legacy of his, how many people he made champions,” Brooks said. “Saturdays, Sundays, after school, before school, during lunch, he gave so much of his personal time to help so many of these kids become successful.”