UF HEALTH'S DR. MICHAEL LAUZARDO: FAQs ABOUT THE COVID-19 VACCINES VIDEO |
The Alachua County Commission has authorized a new COVID Vaccination Incentive Program. The program runs until September 30, 2021. During this time, Alachua County is giving a $25 gift card to those getting COVID-19 vaccinations. The gift cards will be available at the Florida Department of Health in Alachua County and other participating businesses. The incentive is available for each COVID-19 shot. Johnson & Johnson single shots will receive one $25 gift card, the Moderna and Pfizer shots will receive $25 for each shot, including booster shots.
“My fellow Commissioners and I are very excited that we are now at a 66% vaccination rate for citizens who are eligible to get the shot,” Commission Chair Ken Cornell said. “This incentive is just one more tool to help motivate folks to keep themselves, their families, and our community safe.”
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Covid Vaccination Incentive Program |
The Alachua County Commission has authorized a new COVID Vaccination Incentive Program. The program runs until September 30, 2021. During this time, Alachua County is giving a $25 gift card to those getting COVID-19 vaccinations. The gift cards will be available at the Florida Department of Health in Alachua County and other participating businesses. The incentive is available for each COVID-19 shot. Johnson & Johnson single shots will receive one $25 gift card, the Moderna and Pfizer shots will receive $25 for each shot, including booster shots.
“My fellow Commissioners and I are very excited that we are now at a 66% vaccination rate for citizens who are eligible to get the shot,” Commission Chair Ken Cornell said. “This incentive is just one more tool to help motivate folks to keep themselves, their families, and our community safe.”
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Ken Cornell Appointed Chair of FAC Policy Committee |
Alachua County Commissioner Ken Cornell was appointed to three Policy Committees for the Florida Association of Counties (FAC) this month by FAC President and Wakulla County Commissioner Ralph Thomas. Among FAC’s committees for the 2021-2022 Legislative Session, he will serve as Chair on the Water & Environmental & Sustainability Committee, a member on the Health, Safety & Justice Committee, and a member on the Presidential Select Committee on Broadband.
“It is my honor to serve on these committees,” Chair Cornell stated in speaking of the appointments. “The Alachua County Commission is passionate about the issues that these committees will be tackling. I am committed to bringing that passion and energy to these committees and look forward to serving with my colleagues from around the state.”
As a member on the FAC Policy Committees, Commissioner Cornell will spend the next year curating and guiding policy initiatives that progress the Association’s mission to serve Floridians’ local interests.
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Plant of the Month Program |
Alachua County, in partnership with the Alachua County Extension Office, is pleased to announce the new Plant of the Month Program.
County Commissioner Mary Alford, who had the idea for the program, said in a statement:
Today, I am proud to announce the Plant of the Month Partnership, a collaborative effort between Alachua County, IFAS, the Master Gardeners of Alachua County, and Working Food. Our goals are the following:
- Great tasting, fresh, inexpensive, nutrient-packed vegetables, fruits, and herbs.
- This will spur sustainable change, produce less food waste, have less environmental impact, create healthier soils, and eliminate the packaging and transport of the food products we grow.
- After this year of COVID, we need stress relief, we need sunshine, we need the pride and happiness that comes with producing our own food.
- Growing, harvesting, cooking, and eating food grown at home saves money and helps us be more resilient in the face of any future crisis.
- Finally, food is a need we all share. Politics aside, we can all talk with a neighbor about tomatoes, blueberry bushes, or zucchini. This can bring our community together, help us know our neighbors, and help us exchange knowledge, experiences, and successes together.
Like many of you, when COVID first hit, I wanted to grow something, do something fundamental and essential, and feel safer and more secure. My brother and I planted a garden: we planted fruit trees, vegetables, and blueberry bushes.
Some things we planted thrived. Some did not.
I only produced a couple of mottled tomatoes and sickly squash, and my blueberry bushes all died. But my fruit trees have grown tall and healthy, and sweet potatoes took over my entire side yard! Rather than chalk it up to fate, inexperience, or other mistakes, I was really curious about why some things were so much more successful than others. But I was overwhelmed trying to learn everything at once.
I found others that shared this experience. We were excited to continue gardening but wanted to dig in and really learn about each thing we grew. This program grew out of that need. So many of us grow collard greens in September and strawberries in October, and onions in November. We have foods with cultural heritages like Seminole pumpkins, tomatillos, and roselle, along with pantry staples like potatoes, tomatoes, and onions.
Every month will offer a chance to explore new foods and expand your palate. As we go forward, we want to expand and include recipes for cooking and techniques for preservation. We want to also expand to fruit trees and bushes, herbs, and perennials. It is an exciting program – please grow with us!
First, check out the website. Then, engage and connect on social media and share your successes and your challenges!
Watch for these links to be posted. Then, run right over to a local home improvement, hardware, farm, or seed store and pick up a package of collard green seeds! Or you can stop by and visit our partners and Working Food and pick up a package there.
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VIDEO: Dedicating a Portion of SW 8th Ave in Memory of Joan Canton |
Joan Canton dedicated her life to helping others and uplifting those around her through the South West Advocacy Group. Although Joan passed away earlier this year, her memory lives on in the work of SWAG. To honor her decades of service, Alachua County recently renamed a portion of SW 8th Avenue in her honor.
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County Seeks Religious Leaders for Meeting Invocations |
Alachua County invites religious leaders to provide an invocation at future County Commission Regular meetings. The Commission Regular Meetings begin at 11:30 a.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month.
Alachua County has a tradition of opening each Regular Commission Meeting with an invocation. The Commission follows an invocation policy that does not proselytize or advance any faith or show any purposeful preference of one religious view to the exclusion of others. To maintain this tradition, they are seeking to updated their Invocation Speaker List.
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Motorist Safety Near Stopped School Busses |
Alachua County Public Works is reminding drivers about school bus safety and that as of January 1, 2021, the penalties for failure to stop for a school bus have doubled. The penalty for failure to stop for a school bus went from a minimum of $100 to $200, and if a second offense is committed in five years, the person’s license will be suspended for up to one year. The penalty for passing a school bus on the side that children enter and exit when the school bus displays a stop signal went from a minimum of $200 to $400, and if a second offense is committed in five years, the person’s license can be suspended up to two years.
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Alachua County UF/IFAS Extension Moving to New Headquarters |
The Alachua County UF/IFAS Extension Office will be closed temporarily from September 20, through September 24, 2021. The Alachua County UF/IFAS Extension Office will spend the week moving to their new headquarters (22712 W. Newberry Road, Newberry).
For more information, contact the Alachua County UF/IFAS Extension Office at352-955-2402 or [email protected]. |
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