The guest is always right

Reuniting with friends makes daily routines feel like celebrations

BRIAN MCMILLAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Your Town

Lazos De Amor Donates 36 Blankets For The Sick

The Lazos de Amor campaign has collected 36 blankets for donation so far in 2023.

The blankets were blessed by the Rev. Rob Trujillo at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church on April 13 and donated. A third of the blankets went to the local hospital, another third to the church’s parishioners and the

Pets Up For Adoption

The Flagler Humane Society is located at 1 Shelter Drive on U.S. 1 in Palm Coast. It is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Adoption fees vary based on the animal, and the shelter has both dogs and cats up for adoption.

Anyone who is interested in adopting or has questions about the process can contact the Flagler Humane Society at 386-445-1814 or apply online at flaglerhumanesociety.org.

Twice in the past few weeks, my family played host. And that means we let people get away with anything. For example, I usually avoid Silly String at any cost. I would climb a tall mountain to escape from it. I would certainly be opposed to spending my hard-earned money to buy multiple bottles of it and let 15 small children spray it all over my patio. And yet, because those small children were guests at Luke’s 5-year-old birthday party, I made sure everyone had the chance to make a mess, which I cleaned up with a smile on my face.

remainder to those sick or in need in the community, according to a press release from the campaign.

The blankets are made by volunteers from the Hispanic Club and the Portuguese American Cultural Center. The blankets are donated to those with a myriad of illness, including cancer, diabetes, addiction or depression.

John Merced Sr., who began Lazos de Amor, also known as “Healing Blankets,” recently received one to support him while he receives chemotherapy treatments for cancer, the press release said.

To donate blankets, or yarn to create blankets, contact Maria Elizabeth Frazão Pereira at 386-446-0356.

Similarly, I usually tell my own children to drink water from the tap, rather than giving them water bottles. But when family friends visited for the weekend recently, I happily handed them bottles of water, knowing that they would, in many instances, drink 13% of the water and leave the bottle on the counter for me to pick up later.

In both cases — after the birthday party and after our friends had left — I felt tremendous gratitude, not because the house was quiet again but because of the good memories we were able to make in my home. I found myself looking forward to

POWER OF THE PURSE LUNCHEON NETS ALMOST $31,000

The Women United Flagler’s annual Power of the Purse luncheon raised $30,790 for women and children in Flagler County.

Linda Mahran, president of Women United Flagler, said they sold out of all 160 seats two weeks ahead of the April 24 luncheon. This was the organization’s 15th annual Power of the Purse but its first one back in person since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

“The community was ready to come back in person,” she said. Mahran said the luncheon in-

Anyone could have seen this coming.

Now they want to pay for the massive stormwater and road repairs in the fee environment. It’s government by fees. This isn’t like the entry fee at Washington Oaks Park; big fee increases are completely inappropriate for the utility bill.

These issues require immediate attention by the City Council and city manager. The city has a Planning, Landscape Architecture, Stormwater, and Road Departments, all with highly paid employees. If the stormwater and road repair needs are indeed the fiasco that we are seeing, then somebody has not been doing their job.

Any type of city expansion plans should be put on hold immediately and indefinitely for at least two years so city resources can be focused on doing the best job possible to remedy this problem and get our roads, our drainage, our sense of well-being, and our city back in order.

JEFFERY C. SEIB Palm Coast

seeing everyone again. In the case of the visit from our family friends, who had flown to Florida from out of the state, I was already starting to plan the next reunion. But then I realized that, someday, my wife, Hailey, and I will spend lots of money and travel time just for the chance to be around the same dinner table again with our own children as adults, re-enacting the old routines and rhythms of life that we are acting out now when they’re children.

Someday, these routines will feel sacred, not stressful.

Someday, I will hand my grandchildren bottles of Silly String, if that’s what will make them happy.

Do I need to wait?

Or can I make tonight’s dinner and dishes and bedtime routines feel more like a reunion?

cluded a raffle, a silent auction and a $5 bargain bin of nice, gently used purses. Attendees who won, depending on the raffle or auction, walked away with either one of six designer purses — each sponsored by a different local business — or one of 60 baskets filled with items donated from local businesses.

The theme of this year’s luncheon was “April showers brings...” and the luncheon itself was decorated with centerpieces and displays donated by Art Among the Flowers, Mahran said.

The money raised from the luncheon will be donated to local nonprofits in Flagler County that support women and children.

PALM COAST

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Veteran Of The Week

James Farrell



Branch of military: U.S. Air Force (retired)

 Dates of service: 1956-1979

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Rank/occupation: Master Sergeant / Aircraft Loadmaster  Hometown: Freeport, Long Island, New York

Ernie, 9, is