Deep Into Crawfish With the Rotarians

The Broussard family and friends cooked up some 2,000 pounds of crawfish in Lithia this weekend, at the third annual Crawfish Festival at FishHawk hosted by the FishHawk Riverview Rotary Club.

  It's been a busy week for Tammy Broussard, who flew to New Orleans on Wednesday, traveled to Abbeville Wednesday night, drove back the next morning with "crawfish, tamales, roux, sausage and other Cajun goodies" and then headed back to FishHawk on Friday, in time for Saturday's Crawfish Festival at FishHawk, now in its third year. There, her husband, Michael Broussard, tended to his duties as Rotarian head chef at the annual fundraiser for the FishHawk Riverview Rotary Club. "It's more fun than it is taxing," said Tammy Broussard, at the May 18 fundraiser in Park Square at FishHawk Ranch. "And everybody who is involved wants to do it, to bring money back to the community." Michael Broussard remembers how the event got started, over a …

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Cooking Up Crawfish at FishHawk

The FishHawk Riverview Rotary Club will present its third annual Crawfish Festival in Park Square in FishHawk Ranch today, May 18, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The festival will feature more than 2,500 pounds of steamed crawfish fresh from Louisiana.

Rotarians Hear Plug for Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive

Stacey Efaw talked about the May 11 food drive at a meeting hosted by the FishHawk Riverview Rotary Club.

  Stacey Efaw, the executive director of the Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO) in Brandon, spoke to the FishHawk Riverview Rotary Club on April 29 to discuss the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive set for May 11. "We need volunteers at the Seffner, Valrico, Brandon and Riverview post offices," she said. The food drive, she added, "gives us about at least half of the food we need for the year." Last year, about 80,000 pounds of food was collected locally during the one-day food drive, which is billed as "the largest one-day food drive in the nation and probably the world," according to notice of the event on the United States Postal Service's Web site. Every second Saturday in May, letter carriers when they deliver the mail volunteer to pick…

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FishHawk-Riverview Rotarians Discuss Annual Projects

At a meeting designed to draw new member, invited guests got a rundown on activities and events presented annually by the FishHawk-Riverview Rotary Club.

  At the Feb. 25 meeting of the FishHawk-Riverview Rotary Club, a recap of annual activities and events was presented to the invited guests, with an open invitation to join the service club. One Rotarian discussed the history of Rotary International, which this year celebrates its 108th anniversary. Tracing the roots of the service club from its humble beginnings as the initiative of Chicago attorney Paul Harris, Lindstrom noted how the club started as a "trustworthy club of people to do business together" because, in Harris' view, business had become "too impersonal and immoral." The local club this year has taken on Rotary International's water project as its focus, which aims "to provide clean water around the world." "Simply put, about…

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Valrico Rotary Club Set for Pig-A-Palooza

Ready for some southern-style barbecue? Clear March 9 on your calendar then, for the second annual Pig-A-Palooza Southern Style BBQ, presented by the Valrico Rotary Club at Rotary's Camp Florida in Brandon.

  The Valrico Rotary Club, which serves the Greater Brandon area, has announced the March 9 date for the 2013 Pig-a-Palooza Southern Style BBQ to be held at Rotary's Camp Florida in Brandon, an 18-acre camp for children with special needs. The camp, at 1915 Camp Florida Road, off Lakewood Drive, north of Brandon Boulevard, "is situated between two lakes, which gives a breeze all year round, and the grandfather canopy blocks the sun to keep the temperature down, even in the middle of the summer," notes the Valrico Rotary Web site. The event is from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The cost is $25 for adults, including a child under age 12 with the donation of a non-perishable food for ECHO. Admission for children ages 13 to 18 is $5. Tickets for active …

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FishHawk Riverview Rotarians Don Crawfish Hats for MadHatter's Tea Plug

The FishHawk Riverview Rotarians are gearing up for their annual Crawfish Festival, which explains the crawfish hats they plan to wear at the MadHatter Tea Party presented by the Brandon South Rotary Club.

  Gearing up for their annual Crawfish Festival at FishHawk, the FishHawk Riverview Rotarians sported crawfish hats at their Feb. 11 meeting at Beef 'O' Brady's on Bell Shoals Road in Valrico. The group announced that anyone planning to attend the sixth annual MadHatter Tea Party, scheduled for Feb. 24, 2013, at the Cross Creek Ranch in Dover, should wear the hats in support of the upcominc crawfish festival. Quote of the week came from Rotarian Mike Meegan, who was eating a plate of shrimp. Quipped Meegan: "Is it bad form to be eating shrimp while wearing a crawfish hat?" For Greater Brandon residents, both events are fun ways to support Rotarian causes. The MadHatter Tea Party is a major annual fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Brandon …

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Rotarians Get Update on Riverview's St. Joseph's Hosptial-South

St. Joseph’s Hospital-South is under construction on Simmons Loop Road in Riverview. The FishHawk Riverview Rotary Club learned more about the hospital at the clubs Feb. 11 meeting at Beef 'O' Brady's on Bell Shoals Road.

  The FishHawk Riverview Rotary Club got a rundown on the upcoming St. Joseph's Hospital-South in Riverview, under construction on Simmons Loop Road, just east of Interstate 75 and west of U.S. Highway 301. At the group's Feb. 11 luncheon meeting at Beef 'O' Brady's in Valrico, on Bell Shoals Road, the Rotarians heard from Judy D. Martin, director of development and community outreach for the hospital, who said residents can look forward to "good quality for reasonable prices." The hospital is schedule to open in 2015. The hospital features a unique "racetrack" design, she said, which "offers a lot more privacy for the patient." The clinical staff is in the center, with patient rooms around the edge, to which access is gained through an …

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Rotarians Give Check for All Persons Playground Water Feature

The water feature for Rotary's All Persons Playground at Clayton Park in Brandon took a major step forward toward completion with the awarding of a check Nov. 26 at the Rotary Club of FishHawk-Riverview meeting at Beef 'O Brady's in Valrico.

  John Sullivan, a former president of the Brandon '86 Rotary Club, and now a member of the Rotary Club of FishHawk-Riverview, who spearheaded the push for a water feature at Rotary's All Persons Playground at Clayton Park in Brandon, accepted on behalf of the effort a $2,500 check from his current club, which he said provides "the last piece of the puzzle that will last a long time." That "piece" involves the funds necessary for water and electric hook-ups. There was money to build the water feature, but not to turn on the power or the water, said Sullivan, in a video shot at the Nov. 26 meeting of the FishHawk-Riverview Rotary club at Beef 'O' Brady's on Bell Shoals Road in Valrico. "As long as we could dig the hole and have the spouts, …

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