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MacDonald Center to hold drawing

Tribune photo by GEORGE H. NEWMAN

MacDonald Training Center CEO Jim Freyvogel, right, and director of external affairs, Veronica Prostko, left, met at the Red Rose Inn and Suites dining room July 21 with area business men and women to plan a fundraiser for the center. Clockwise from Prostko are volunteer chair Jim Chancey, Central Florida Construction Co. co-owner and project sponsor Annie Carapezza, training center community relations coordinator Rita Hattab, training center director of development Marianne Monoc, Central Florida Construction co-owner and project sponsor Jimmy Carapezza, Simmons Career Center instructor John Alleman and volunteer and project vice chair Vicki Hawthorne.

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By GEORGE H. NEWMAN

gnewman@tampatrib.com

Published: August 5, 2009

PLANT CITY - Volunteers and officials at the MacDonald Training Center are working on a fundraiser to help the disabled adults served by the organization.

The training center is hoping to raise at least $15,000 by selling tickets for a drawing for a children's playhouse that will be worth $4,000 to $6,000. Second prize is a $500 gift certificate for the Red Rose Inn and Suites in Plant City. MacDonald officials are working on a third prize.

Tickets will be sold for $5 each and go on sale this month, said Veronica Prostko, director of external affairs at the MacDonald Training Center and project organizer.

Students at Simmons Career Center in Plant City will build the playhouse.

Simmons Career Center teacher John Alleman and Central Florida Construction Co. owners and project sponsors Jimmy and Annie Carapezza are designing the playhouse.

The playhouse, which will be designed with a peaked roof and about an 8-foot base, will be rigidly constructed and designed to code for outdoor use, members of the fundraising committee said.

"Taking a project from an idea to a finished custom playhouse will be a great learning experience for the students at Simmons," Prostko said. "Their involvement in the project will enhance their skill levels, help prepare them for future employment and add to their life experience."

MacDonald Training Center CEO Jim Freyvogel sees many benefits in the project for the center, which operates James Ranch, a training facility for disabled adults off Cork Road in Plant City.

"By offering something of great value for a small donation, the playhouse project will give us an opportunity to inform people in the community about the MacDonald Training Center in general, and the students and programs at our James Ranch facility in particular," Freyvogel said. "Working with friends in the community to benefit individuals with disabilities will encourage us all."

The tickets will be sold countywide by committee members and through the center's Web site, www.macdonaldcenter .org.

For information, call Prostko at (813) 870-1300, ext. 301.

Reporter George H. Newman can be reached at (813) 731-8161.

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