Page 11 - Martin Downs Bulletin - January '24

Martin Downs, Page 11

holiday happeNiNgS

New Online Drive, More And they delivered on their commitment, she said.

Sponsors Make It A Bright “Their network of realtors provided three gifts for each
of the 120 children they sponsored.”
Christmas For Children In Of the more than 1,000 children who received gifts,
201 were from Indian River County, 78 were in Martin
Foster Care County, 123 were from Okeechobee County, and a
whopping 516 were from St. Lucie County, CCKids’
A boisterous “Yahoo!” rang out from behind a largest service area.
makeshift desk full to brimming with toys, packages and Many of those gifts were collected and delivered by
stacks of paperwork. Rytech Restoration Services, which has donated its trucks
The 2023 Making Christmas Bright/Guardians for and drivers to the program for more than five years.
New Futures Angel Program had just reached 100 percent “It’s an enormous undertaking, but we get it done
of children matched with toys – and Amparo Gomez, A mparo Gome z, t he thanks to the leadership of Guardians for New Futures and
lovingly referred to as the Christmas Queen by her Christmas Queen for the many, many groups and individuals in the community
volunteers and colleagues, was excited. CCKids’ Making Christmas Portia George, CCKids who sponsor children,” Kaiser said.
“We did it!” she cried. “All children on the list are Bright Program, inspects family support worker, helps
taken care of!” toys collected from local case managers get toys to
sponsors. their families. real eState

The list in reference is long, composed of all children
in the Communities Connected for Kids’ (CCKids)
Circuit 19 dependency system and another 251 from the Treasure Coast Real Estate
community – all told, 1,169 children.
“It was an amazing year – one of the best,” said Report
Christina Kaiser, community relations director for
CCKids. The project, a partnership between CCKids and Can We Put On The Brakes In Martin
Guardians for New Futures, got a boost this year from an County?
infusion of new sponsors and the addition of an online
toy drive. By Jim Weix
The online component alone, collected nearly 500 toys. Much to the dismay of
“It was a last-minute addition, but it was an incredible many, including myself,
success because it gave people who are homebound or Martin County and the
who prefer not to shop in stores the ability to contribute,” City of Stuart seem
Kaiser said. determined to allow the
Those toys were sent directly to CCKids service development of every
centers to help fill the need for children who entered the inch of available land.
dependency system after individual toy-request forms As someone who has
were turned in earlier in the fall. been selling real estate
New sponsors – 16 onboarded this year – also helped in Martin County for 22
the program reach its goal. “Keller Williams is a great years, I have seen booms
example,” Kaiser said. “They were new this year, but they and busts in the real estate market. The one thing that
Keller Williams collected toys for 120 children in foster care. asked us to give them all remaining unmatched names.” has always made Martin County stand out was our
controlled growth and quality of life. Martin County
had this thing called a Comprehensive Growth Plan
and they stuck to it.
I realize that growth is going to happen, but unlike St.
Lucie County, Martin County at least was attempting to
have it planned out. Then our Martin County commissioners
suddenly voted to change our land use rules which would
allow more large-scale development in our western areas.
I’m not a NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard), but it scares
me to see Martin County following the growth plan of St.
Lucie County, which is pretty much none at all. One of the
major selling points when selling property in Martin County
was Martin County was not like St. Lucie County.
That is why people would pay on average $100,000
more for a home in Martin County.
I first woke up when the go-ahead was given for the
1,500-acre Atlantic Fields north of Bridge Road.
“There’s an assault going on against rural Florida,”
said Gil Smart, the executive director of Vote Water, an
environmental group focusing on clean water. Smart
saw Atlantic Fields as a foot in the door for eager
landowners whose property can now sprout homes instead
of horticulture.
“It said to developers, this county commission, if they
approved this project, they’ll approve your project as well
and the gold rush is on,” Smart said.
And he was right about the “gold rush” being on.
There is another 4,000-home development approved
in western Palm City.
Call me unrealistic, but I remember when the only
business between Stuart and Fort Pierce on Federal Highway
1 was the store with the giant conch shell. You could go
quail hunting off Becker Road.
Feel free to call me if you would like to discuss
your options. I can be reached at (772) 341-2941 or
jimweix@jimweix.com.
Jim Weix is a broker associate with The Keyes
Company. Jim has 25 years of experience selling real
estate full-time. If you have questions or want the
services of an experienced expert, you can reach Jim at
(772) 341-2941 or jimweix@jimweix.com.