Serving Conway, Belle Isle, Edgewood, Pine Castle since 1998
JULY 2 0 2 4
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JULY CALENDAR
Urban Backyard Chicken Class (Online)
Keeping chickens and producing your own eggs in suburban and urban settings has become a popular hobby! Hens in a coop can be a fun and practical addition to your home garden. Learn how to get started and be successful in this program presented via TEAMS by Orange County Extension Agent JK Yarborough.
Wednesday, July 10, 2024, 10:00am-12:00pm.
$5 fee. Registration required at http://ocextension.eventbrite.com. 407-254-9200.
MED Instead of Meds - 6 Week Program (In Person)
Interested in starting the Mediterranean Diet, but not sure where to start? Presented by Orange County Extension Agent Hillary Ayers, the MED Instead of Meds series of classes will help you go MED by exploring simple steps to eating the MED way. Learn tips, life hacks, and recipes that will help you eat the MED way every day.
6-Week Program, Tuesdays: July 16, 23, 30; August 6, 13, and 20, 2024, 2:00pm-4:00pm. 25 fee. Registration required at http://ocextension.eventbrit407-254-9200.
Diabetes Prevention Program (Online)
Take charge of your life and register for this year-long, research-based lifestyle change program for preventing diabetes. Presented by Hillary Ayers, Orange County Extension Agent, this class is offered virtually by Zoom.
Thursdays, July 18, 2024 - June 12, 2025, 12:00pm-1:00pm – VIRTUAL
FREE! Registration required at http://ocextension.eventbrite.com. 407-254-9200.
Diabetes Prevention Program (In Person)
Take charge of your life and register for this year-long, research-based lifestyle change program for preventing diabetes. Presented by Hillary Ayers, Orange County Extension Agent, this class is offered in person at the Florida Department of Health WIC, 901 West Church Street, Building 1, Orlando.
Thursdays, July 18, 2024 – Jun 12, 2025, 5:30pm-6:30pm – IN PERSON
FREE! Registration required at http://ocextension.eventbrite.com. 407-254-9200.
Back to School Event
The American Legion Post 286 family will be hosting its annual back to school event on Saturday July 27, 2024, from 12:00 -2:00 pm. We are located at 529 E. Fairlane Ave,
Orlando, FL 32809 (407-859-1460). Space is limited to the first 100 children to be registered by sending an email to; post286children@gmail.com. We need the following information when emailing to register your child: age/grade/boy or girl/parents contact information. Child must attend event to receive backpack.
First Time Homebuyer Workshop - ENGLISH 7/19 & 7/26 (Online)
Learn the steps to home ownership and how to obtain an affordable mortgage in this 2-part class offered via Zoom in ENGLISH by a team of UF/IFAS Extension Agents, including Orange County Extension Agent Jenny Rodriguez. The homebuyer workshop meets the education requirements for down payment assistance programs.
Friday, July 19, 2024, 9:00am-1:00pm.
Friday, July 26, 2024, 9:00am-1:00pm.
$10 fee. Registration required at Your paragraph text. 407-254-9200.
Adopt-A-Tree (In Person)
Join our UF/IFAS Extension Master Gardener Volunteers at Fort Christmas Historical Park, located at 1300 N Fort Christmas Rd, Christmas, FL 32709, for our Adopt-A-Tree event! Open to all Orange County residents with proof of residency such as a driver’s license, utility bill, or photo I.D. Each household is eligible to receive two trees, and the trees must be planted on the resident’s private property only. Trees are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, and varieties will vary based on availability, but all will be suitable to flourish in Zone 10A.
FREE! Saturday, July 20, 2024, 8:00am-12:00pm or until trees are gone, whichever comes first. No pre-registration or fee to participate. 407-254-9200.
gARTening Series: Bromeliad Brilliance: Advance Kokedama Making (In Person)Kokedama is a Japanese garden art form that uses a ball of moss to create a plant growing container. In this class, you will learn how to create this spherical plant with a wiffle ball, sheet moss, and bromeliad plant. Join UF/IFAS Orange County Extension Agent Clarissa Chairez and Master Gardener Volunteers to create your own kokedama that you will take home!
Friday, July 26, 2024, 2:00pm-3:30pm.
$30 fee. Registration required at Your paragraph text. 407-254-9200.
July "Pop Up" Plant Clinics (In Person)
Our Master Gardener Volunteers are hosting "Pop Up" Plant Clinics at the Chickasaw and West Oaks Branches within the Orange County Library System this month! Visit our booth for all of your plant care questions.
Thursday, July 11th, 2024, 11:30am-1:30pm at Chickasaw Branch Library.
Saturday, July 13, 2024, 10:15am–12:15 pm at West Oaks Branch Library.
FREE! No registration is neededYour paragraph text
GIANT Annual Blessed Trinity Rummage Sale
Bring your clean, lovingly used donations to our MANY collection dates in June and July (details follow) and then come back to Blessed Trinity Church (4545 Anderson Road, Orlando, Florida, 32812) to shop the GIANT ANNUAL RUMMAGE SALE on Thursday, July 18 (8am - 6pm), and Friday, July 19 (8am - 4 pm), and Saturday, July 20 (8am - 4pm)!
SENIORLIVING | HOUSING
Choosing a Retirement Community
Today’s retirees have many more options than just the sterile halls of a health care-type facility for their golden years.
Many retirement communities now look like regular sub- urban neighborhoods, but with amenities that cater to an older crowd.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
Real estate is all about location, and retirement communities are no different. Except now, instead of considering things such as the job market, you can look at proximity to your favorite activities, cities or friends and family. Some retirement communities offer a host of perks, such as planned travel excursions, classes and sports facilities. Or you may look for one with plenty of outdoor adventures nearby. Decide what’s most important to you and then look for communities that will support your goals.
MAKE A CONNECTION
Look for a community that you feel a connection with. Feeling isolated or lonely car- ries its own health risks, and a place where you feel like you can relate to others and offers plenty of opportunities for socialization is important, espe- cially as you age. Look for a community with a vibrant social life with lots of options. Visit potential new homes for
days at a time to determine whether a community’s lifestyle meshes well with your own.
FIND AMENITIES THAT FIT YOU
Senior living communities may offer amenities that will enrich your quality of life and
free up time so that you can explore new opportunities. Look for resources such as dining programs, outdoor activities, classes, health care facilities, sports facilities and more.
PLANNING AHEAD
Once you’ve found a community that fits your lifestyle now, it’s time to look ahead. Are higher levels of care available if you need it? What sorts of health care facilities are nearby? Are the homes designed for aging in place or will you potentially have to move again? What are the laws in that area regarding end-of-life care and estate planning?
Some communities even help you prepare financially by including benefits such as benevolent associations to assist with unexpected costs and keep seniors living their best lives, longer.
HISTORY
In the spring of 1843 Benjamin F. Whitner Jr., Deputy Surveyor for the territory of Florida, came upon an unnamed lake. His field notes recorded the event as chains (Surveyor talk) to clear open lake, (which being unnamed, I have called Lake Conway).
Why Whitner decided to name the lake is not known. Some historians have assumed that Whitner named the lake after his boss Valentine Y. Conway who was the Surveyor General of Florida at the time. His field notes included a contract with V. Y. Conway which read:
I hereby certify that in pursuance of a contract entered with V. Y. Conway, Surveyor General of the Territory of Florida, being the ____day of ____184_, and in strict uniformity to the laws of the United States instructions of said land, I have surveyed and subdivided into Sections Township 23 South Range 30 East, in the Territory of Florida. And I do further certify that the forgoing and this true and original field notes of this said survey and subdivisions examined aforesaid. Certified this_____day of July, 1843.
Benj. F. Whitner Jr. Dep. Surveyor *
It is left to our imaginations to determine who Conway was named after. Research has not indicated that anyone named Conway had anything to do with the early years of our area nor did anyone by that name live in the region.
So it seems plausible to accept the assumption that B. F. Whitner, a contract surveyor named the lake after his boss, a man who may have never even been to the area.
Between 1843 and 1881 settlers trickled into the area. It appears that the area was originally known as Prospect. A name that was given to the first church in the area. The Prospect Methodist Episcopal Church South was organized in 1874 (now known as Conway United Methodist Church). Church minutes support the use of the name Prospect. For example, the minutes of May 12, 1880 read:
“It was moved and seconded that ...a committee of three to act as a building committee of the Church at Prospect.”
The church further influenced the naming of the area as indicated in their minutes of September 13, 1884 which read:
“On motion by Dr. Enders, the name of the church was changed from Prospect to Conway,” a name which would not only identify the church but the community that grew up around it.
In the early day the heart of Conway centered around the Church which stands in the same place as it did in 1885 at the corner of Anderson and Conway Roads. However, the term Conway area, region or district were all used to describe a much larger area- one that would encompass everything from Lake Underhill to Narcoossee.
*It should be noted that B. F. Whitner’s contract is a verbatim re-type of the original, blank spaces and all. It appears that Deputy Surveyors would need to have a Judge certify that the contract had been completed before payment requests could be submitted. The nearest Judge was in Sanford, a trip that would take several hours by horseback. It is reasonable to assume that the surveyors intentionally left the blank spaces to be filled in when they had an opportunity to have a judge sign off on the document. Whitner mentions in his notes taking trips to Sanford for just that purpose.
Conway Methodist Church is now know as Conway Community Church.
Fort Gatlin, established in November of 1838, was the first settlement in our area. It was one among a series of forts built to assist pioneers in settling areas still inhabited by Seminole Indians.
Your How should you respond to market cycles?
The movement of the financial markets can seem mysterious. But in looking back, we can see patterns that consistently repeat themselves. As an investor, how should you respond to these market cycles?
It’s useful to know that market cycles are connected to business cycles — the overall movement of the economy. In fact, a market cycle frequently anticipates the business cycle, so stock prices may rise or fall several months before the economy reaches high or low points.
When you invest, though, it may not be a good idea to try to time the market, making buy or sell decisions based on where you think the market cycle is at any given time. Such a strategy could lead to mistakes, such as selling quality investments to avoid losses.
Instead, try to stick to a long-term strategy that’s based on your goals, risk tolerance, time horizon and need for liquidity. And try to diversify your portfolio among a range of investments. While diversification can’t prevent all losses, it can help reduce the impact of market volatility.
Rather than getting stuck in a cycle, follow your own path toward achieving your most important financial objectives.
This content was provided by Edward Jones for use by George Stefanou, your Edward Jones financial advisor at 45 West Crystal Lake St., Ste. 199, 407-249-8307