Young cooks bring Thanksgiving meals to families affected by Hurricane Ian

Helping others is always the way, especially this time of year.

When Luke Malegni, 15, saw the devastation in Fort Myers after Hurricane Ian he asked his mom, “What do you do when you don’t have a kitchen during the holidays?”

“He’s the one who came to me and said we have to do something,” said Stacie Archer, who volunteers at Luke’s school, Westminster Christian School. She is also the Camillus House “Volunteer of the Year 2022” who hosts food blog Seven Plates. Her nonprofit foundation is at www.Getcooking.org

“He watches the news with me and he’s well aware of the stories of what has happened to families, especially in Fort Myers. He’s been in cooking his whole life and he was very concerned.”

Luke, a freshman, and his friends in cooking clubs at Westminster and Christopher Columbus High School decided to support those families by making Thanksgiving dinners for them.

“Publix donated the cooked turkeys. The students cooked the accompanying sides—stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole and cornbread,” Archer said.

The students delivered the “meal kits” to families in Fort Myers who have no operating kitchens to cook for themselves.

“What I love about this program is that the families can enjoy Thanksgiving in the comfort of their homes or homes of their families as opposed to going to a large community kitchen and eating in a cold multi-purpose room,” Archer said.

Luke said his cooking friends were all on board to help.

“My cooking club friends felt the same way,” he said. “It was easy for us to organize students to make our favorite Thanksgiving casseroles. We wanted to bring homemade turkey dinners to families who can’t do it for themselves this year.”

Poet publishes father’s memoir

Peter Schmitt, longtime instructor of literature and writing at University of Miami, has published six collections of poems. His latest, “Goodbye, Apostrophe,” is filled with remembrances of childhood, and the lessons we all find ourselves experiencing in life.

He recently turned to finally publishing his late father’s book, “Pan Am Ferry Tales: A World War II Aviation Memoir,” 26 years after W. Gordon Schmitt’s death.

“During WWII, an eccentric band of barnstormers, stunt flyers and commercial pilots joined military recruits to form the Pan American Air Ferries based in Miami. These civilian pilots helped develop a strategically crucial and highly efficient system for shuttling aircraft to Allied forces around the world,” Schmitt said.

“This engaging, frequently amusing memoir recounts the close calls and indelible characters my father encountered as a navigator for the PAAF, from Brazil to Africa to the Middle East and beyond. Beginning in late 1942, the PAAF would be enfolded into the U.S. Army Air Corps, and my father was commissioned as a lieutenant.”

“Pan Am Ferry Tales: A World War II Aviation Memoir” is published by McFarland & Company. Peter Schmitt edited and wrote the introduction.

“In the late 1980’s, when he was in his 70’s, my father began his account, standing to type his handwritten draft on an old manual upright Underwood. He reached out to publishers but no one had offered a contract by the time he died in 1996.

“A few years ago I began to very slowly digitize the manuscript, typing a couple of pages at a time over many months. My sole intention was to share the book with a few friends who were private pilots, who might enjoy these wartime stories of flying before computerized navigational assistance,” he said. One of these pilot friends was former colleague Rick Wallach.

“Rick in turn forwarded the document to a friend of his who had published a similar family memoir with McFarland Books. That friend sent the book to his editor there, who contacted me with word of acceptance. More than 25 years after his passing, my father was to become an author,” Schmitt said.

He attributes the book’s publication in 2022 to a resurgent interest in WWII, to an ongoing fascination with the so-called “Greatest Generation”, and to the current popularity of the memoir as a genre. It is available through independent bookstores and Amazon.

Symphonic band to host concerts

The Greater Miami Symphonic Band is celebrating its 44th season with two back-to-back holiday concerts.

Music Director Robert Longfield will conduct a short family concert of seasonal music at 4 p.m., Dec. 11 in the Banyan Bowl at Pinecrest Gardens. Included is a sing-along led by Susie Blank Wolfe.

Next up, the ‘Tis the Season concert will feature the popular “Bells of St. Andrews” Handbell Choir. Gary Green, former music director of the GMSB, will return as guest conductor at 8 p.m., Dec. 13, UM Gusman Concert Hall.

Tickets are $20, and children/student tickets are $5. Purchase at www.gmsb.org or at the box office on concert days. Call 305-273-7687.

Scholarships for aspiring teachers

The nation’s largest alternative certification program to help new teachers as they begin their teaching journey is accepting applications for its New Teacher Scholarship for interested individuals.

Teachers of Tomorrow will award up to 20 scholarships across several states including Florida. The deadline is Nov. 30 and recipients will be announced Jan. 2023.

Applicants must complete the application form and write a short 200–300-word essay on what inspired them and why they think teaching is a worthwhile career. Applicants must enroll in Teachers of Tomorrow by Dec. 15. The scholarship covers the entire program fee, which is up to $6,000, and does not apply to the enrollment fee or other associated costs.

Write to ChristinaMMayo@gmail.com with news for this column.