Lisa D’Cato
Poinciana Writer

Happy New Year!! Here’s hoping 2011 is a year of all things good. Do your part, too. Just hoping and wishing may not get you far. Of course, always try to keep a positive attitude, but work at keeping your family safe, healthy and provided for. Take pride in your home and community by keeping it maintained. Appreciate the good things you have and work at making the not-so-good things better. Here’s to a great 2011!
This year’s Santa’s Helping Hands was a tremendous success. Thanks to residents, businesses and organizations, this long-standing Poinciana tradition had a remarkable year. Holiday spirit is still alive and well in Poinciana.
Three trucks from The Association of Poinciana Villages (APV) Community Service Department helped to deliver bags of food. Twenty families had Christmas dinner donated by APV. Through money donated by individuals and organizations, Santa’s Helping Hands was able to purchase $40 in Publix gift certificates to these same families. Teenagers, often forgotten in most holiday drives, were given $50 gift certificates to Walmart.
A total of 47 Poinciana kids were given gifts.The Poinciana Area Council collected toys (the group loaded their Poinciana Christmas Parade float with them then donated the toys). The Poinciana Ladies Club donated gifts and the Association of Poinciana Villages donated toys and food.
“This was the old Poinciana feeling when we were all family out here,” Bon Treblay, coordinator of Santa’s Helping Hands, said.
That’s a good feeling to begin the New Year.
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The first meeting of 2011 for the Poinciana Ladies Club will be Monday, Jan. 10. This 7 p.m. meeting will be at the Poinciana Community Center, 395 Marigold Ave.
Each January, the ladies enjoy a “Brown Bag” game. Members and guests are asked to bring a gift valued at $10 and bring it in a brown paper bag.
For more information about the Poinciana Ladies Club, call Irene Gilbert at 863-427-9733.
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The Committee for the Advancement of Poinciana (CAP-2010) has spent this last year working with both Osceola and Polk counties to determine how much income has been generated through taxes and impact fees and how much of that is appropriated to Poinciana.
CAP-2010 is ready to share these findings with the community with two meetings scheduled for Jan. 18 and Jan. 20. The Jan. 18 meeting for Villages 1, 2 and 5 will be at New Dimensions High School, 4900 Old Pleasant Hill Road. The Jan. 20 meeting for Villages 3,7 and 8 will be at Palmetto Elementary School, 315 Palmetto St. Both of these meetings start at 7 p.m. Residents are invited to attend any of these meetings. Stay informed.
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If you have any Poinciana news or information that you would like to share, call Lisa D’Cato at 407-846-7122, e-mail news@osceola
newsgazette.com or fax 407-931-3390.