NORTH REDINGTON BEACH — The Board of Commissioners endorsed a fourth-grader’s community service project, proclaimed June as National Aphasia Awareness Month and reappointed seven residents to town boards at its June 11 town hall meeting, where applause broke out at nearly every turn.
During the public input portion of the meeting, Luca Terracciano, a fourth-grader at Gulf Beaches Elementary School and a Redington Beach resident, presented a project he designed to keep the beaches clean. Accompanied by his mother and brother, Luca described the effort, called Better Beach Buckets.
The project centers on a wooden “tree” post hung with buckets that will stand at the steps of Bill Queen Park. Walkers can take a bucket, collect trash along the beach and return it to the post. Luca will empty the buckets each evening.
In the consent agenda, the board proclaimed June as National Aphasia Awareness Month. Mayor Jay Super signed the proclamation and invited Debbie Yones, executive director of Voices of Hope for Aphasia, to speak about the disorder.
Yones was joined by five other members of the nonprofit: John Dingman, who has aphasia following a stroke, and his wife and caregiver, Ann; Timothy Burns, who also has aphasia from a stroke, and his wife and caregiver, Jeannie; and board member Stephen Miller, a former caregiver whose wife had aphasia and has since died.
Aphasia is a neurological communication disorder that often follows a stroke or brain injury. It affects a person’s ability to speak, read, write and understand language but does not impair intellect.
“It’s as if you were suddenly dropped in a foreign country where you didn’t know the language; you didn’t lose your intelligence, just your ability to communicate,” Yones said.
She distributed pamphlets about the disorder to those in attendance. “One in every 136 of your neighbors has aphasia,” Yones said.
Voices of Hope for Aphasia, which operates in Tampa Bay, can be found online at www.vohaphasia.org.
Under new business, the board voted 5-0 to reappoint seven volunteers to the Planning and Zoning Board, Beach Advisory Board and Library Board.
Doug Taylor and Randy Kountoupis were reappointed to the Planning and Zoning Board for three-year terms ending in 2029.
Nila Postupack, Ruth Spears and Veronica Baldanza were reappointed to the Beach Advisory Board for two-year terms ending in 2028.
Commissioner Rick Nagrabski was reappointed as a member and Deb Carson as an alternate on the Library Board for two-year terms ending in 2028. Nagrabski thanked former commissioners Gary Curtis and Richard Bennett for encouraging him to volunteer.