Osprey Observer Valrico December 2019 by Osprey Observer

Two Sections, 36 Pages of Community News

Valrico

33 12 C E L E B R A T I N G

December 2019 Volume 16, Issue 12 Ph: 657-2418 1 7

Y E A R S

O F

P U B L I S H I N G

Local Student Creates Video Game For Blind & Visually Impaired Kids

P O S I T I V E

C O M M U N I T Y

Brenda Wade Team Partners With Local Businesses To Donate $18,000 To Local Charities

By Barbara Kern

By Taylor Wells

This is the season of giving and Brenda Wade and her Real Estate Team have focused on giving back to the community in small and large ways, year after year, season after season. They have given over $65,000 in the last seven years through their ‘Partners in Giving’ events, plus additional giving exceeds $10,000 annually to other local charities. Brenda believes in giving back where she lives and works and said, “We are so fortunate to live in a great community and if everyone gives a little, no one goes without.” One of their favorite ‘giving back’ events of the year is their ‘Partners in Giving’ fundraiser. Brenda and her team just hosted their Seventh Annual ‘Partners in Giving’ event where Brenda and her agents spent a day learning from business associates who donate money to the chosen charity. Brenda matches every dollar the business partners contribute so together they have a larger impact in the community. The Brenda Wade Team wants to be the most knowledgeable and giving team in real estate, and to work together with likeminded companies and individuals to give back to our community. Brenda said, “Our goal was to exceed the $12,600 amount we raised last year, and we were so very excited to raise and donate $18,000 divided between two local charities, Seeds of Hope, Inc. and LifeCare. Seeds of Hope has been in the Brandon/Valrico/Lithia community for over nine years and began with local resident Leda Eaton helping her then high school students receive meaningful com-

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Rome Nardin, age and visually impaired, 12, is a student at but he found that, while Navigator Academy of interesting, there was Leadership in Valrico no humor in them, so who was born with he made sure his game severe hearing loss had funny commentary and fitted with hearing while players proaids since the age of gressed through it, 2. However, his hearalong with sounds to let ing loss hasn’t players know when they stopped him from intereached a certain level. grating into main“There are sounds stream schools since as you’re going through kindergarten and the level that let you working hard every know if you jump corday on his speech rectly or hit the wall, but and language proRome always has the Rome Nardin, age 12, cessing. commentary going on developed a video game called When he heard with it, which is like, Please Listen for blind and visually impaired kids as his that his school would ‘Hey, what are you science fair project at Navigator doing?’” said Amy be having a science Academy of Leadership in fair, Rome immediateNardin, Rome’s mother. Valrico. ly knew what he His friend, 12-yearwanted to present. His experiences old Ian, enjoyed playing the game, and love for video games inspired saying, “It's silly. I liked it.” him to make one, titled Please While the game is very short, Listen, for blind and visually impaired Rome said he could see the chalkids. lenges of video game design. “I know what it is like to someMoreover, he said he might develop times feel left out and have a harder Please Listen further later on, such time doing what many people can do as adding more levels and making it every day. I wanted blind kids to more interesting. have a video game that was fun for “It takes a lot of work to develop them to play,” said Rome. a good game. But I hope to do more The goal of the game is to find a in the future,” he said. missing dog by following its barks Rome did so well in creating his while overcoming obstacles along the project that he can enter it in the way. With two months to develop it, SDHC Regional Science Fair in Rome did the coding and sound 2020, and he also has a chance of design for the game himself, with entering the Florida state science some help on the voices from his fair. father. For more information on Rome had researched what Navigator Academy, visit http://navigames were available for the blind gatoracademyvalrico.com/.

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munity service hours. That was the beginning of the FishHawk Turkey Trot and from that Seeds of Hope was created to use the money generated to help alleviate local hunger. The organization has maintained its original commitment to providing meaningful community service for students but has grown as an organization to combat hunger in three ways by providing weekend backpacks of food for school children, boxes of food to families on Thursdays, and a weekly mobile pantry aimed at short term food relief. Eaton is proud of the impact the charity has had, “Before Hurricane Irma, we were a food relief organization. After Hurricane Irma, we added disaster relief to our resume. It’s not something I ever would have planned but am so thankful we were there. Larger organizations with cumbersome rules and regulations couldn’t do what we did. We targeted the people who needed/deserved help, took people shopping for personal items, provided daily hot meals, washed clothes & provided showers. So many volunteers stepped up. It was amazing to be a part of the overwhelming groundswell of community support.” For more information, visit www.sohopefl.org. LifeCare, now called Choices, is all

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