The Sno Rogers Band performing for a Sunday Sampler in Dunnellon
The Sno Rogers Band has gone through a few changes. At the time this feature was produced the members were David McBrady on Banjo, Terry Miller on guitar and Barbara Johnson on bass. The band was known for its high energy!
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During the 2015 Will McLean Music Festival at the Sertoma Youth Ranch near Dade City two of the former members of the Sno Rogers Band, David McBrady (bass) and Terry Miller (guitar) jammed together along with Lee Townsend on banjo and Jordan Cherkinsky on mandolin for old times sake. It was one of those memorable festival campground moments.
The Florida Citrus Commission wants consumers to count on Florida’s ability to provide a citrus product. Not only is that reliability important, but the citrus commission also wants consumers to expect a quality product. To that end, the commission has to come up with clever marketing strategies ways to market the state’s oranges and grapefruit. Donna Green-Townsend talked with the Director of Marketing for the Florida Citrus Commission, Bill Gordon. This story originally aired statewide on the IFAS program, Florida File in 1990.
Orange County is home to thousands of hotel rooms. The amount of trash hauled away to landfill sites costs hotels a lot of money. In 1990 Orange County Energy Extension Agent Jo Townsend talked with Donna Green-Townsend about an award-winning hotel recycling projectdesigned to save the hotel industry money while doing something positive for the environment. This story ran on the statewide IFAS television program Florida File in 1990.
In an effort to increase oyster harvesting in Dixie and Suwannee Counties in Florida, the Florida Sea Grant Program in cooperation with the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute teamed up with 4-H students in a special oyster aquaculture program. As Donna Green-Townsend reports, the project involved placing oyster seeds in a variety of mesh bags out in the Gulf of Mexico. (this feature originally aired on the statewide IFAS program Florida File in 1990)
Following the 2000 college national championship game thousands of Gator fans held up this sign at a celebration in the Odome on campus to encourage Mike Miller to stay at Florida another year.
Mike Miller at the University of Florida
Miller playing for the Magic in Orlando
In March of 2000, University of Florida Sophomore forward Mike Miller sank the final shot in the 69-68 buzzer beater against Butler to take the Gator Basketball Team from the Final Four to the National Championship game. The dramatic win led to a celebratory pile-up on the basketball court. The Gators lost to Michigan State in the championship game. Despite the loss the city of Gainesville held a celebration for the team in the Odome. Despite the pleas from Gator fans to play one more year at UF, Mike Miller went pro with the Orlando Magic. He was the 5th overall pick in the first round of the NBA draft in 2000. As Donna Green-Townsend reports, after another successful year on the hard court, Miller became the NBA rookie of the year. From my audio archives from the summer of 2001
Congress continues to grapple with the difficult issue of immigration. Meanwhile, states like Florida continue to depend on the workers who are vital to Florida’s agriculture industry. Since 1997, Harvest of Hope has distributed more than $1 million dollars in emergency and educational financial aid to migrant farmworkers and families throughout the United States. The Director of the Harvest of Hope Foundation, Phil Kellerman, talks with Donna Green-Townsend about the economic and health struggles of migrant workers.
Since the airing of this special, Kellerman has announced he will be closing the Harvest of Hope Foundation. In an email posted on August 7, 2013 he wrote:
Dear Friends:
This is the final communication concerning the closing of the Harvest of Hope Foundation (HOH). The total amount of emergency and educational financial aid provided to migrant farmworkers and families by HOH was $1,092,591.00.
If you wish to continue to support migrant farmworkers and families, I highly recommend financial donations be made to the following three great migrant-service organizations providing health, legal and educational assistance.
1) National Center for Farmworker Health. www.ncfh.org. Click on “Call for Health – Your Donations.”
3) BOCES Geneseo Migrant Scholarship Funds. www.migrant.net. Click on “Scholarships.”
In addition, I am using proceeds from my private eBay sales to pay for the shipping of donated footwear to migrant families. If you have gently used and/or new shoes, sneakers and boots to donate, please contact me at my new email address which is philkellerman77@gmail.com or call me at 352-262-5421.
Last, in the spirit of HOH, the company “Book iT” (bookit.com.bz) will donate 50% of the sales of donated books to the children of migrant farm workers in textbook scholarships and school supplies at the beginning of each school year. If you have books to donate please contact Todd Williams or Edward Ray by phone at 352-371-9970. You can also email them at todd@bookit.com.bz and edward@bookit.com.bz.
Thank you for all the support given to HOH over the years.And please stay in touch.
Dale Crider performing at the Will McLean Folk Festival in 2012
Donna in Apalachicola, FL 1999
On the WUFT program, “Across the Prairie,” on January 21, 2007 host Cathy DeWitt interviewed Donna Green-Townsend and Dale Crider on the re-release of the 2000 Edward R. Murrow Award-winning documentary, Apalachicola Doin’ Time.
In December, 2006 Heart Phoenix, the Chair of the Peace Alliance organization in Gainesville served as host to members of the National Peace Alliance, the group pushing Congress to establish a National Department of Peace. While in the Gainesville area, the members sat down with WUFT’s Donna Green-Townsend to talk about their personal and professional effort to teach non-violent solutions to domestic and international conflicts. Guests included Phoenix as well as the Executive Director of the National Peace Alliance, Dot Maver; the group’s campaign coordinator, Lynn McMullen as well as the Founder of the National Peace Alliance and best-selling author, Marianne Williamson. The following audio segment is a special broadcast that aired in December of 2006on WUFT from the various interviews with the women listed above.
