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Snorkeling, fishing, exploring a sub-tropical
island! Twenty-three Police Athletic League young people did all that
and more in Key West from June 11—14, 2007.
“This is
something I wanted to do for the kids that would be different,” said
Leslee Brimer, executive director of Palm Bay Police Athletic League.
To make it happen, she applied for and received a $7500 National Police
Athletic League Youth Enrichment Program (PALYEP) grant.
Officer
Knowing the
grant money wouldn’t stretch far enough for her to take all the kids she
wanted to, Officer Badman began looking for extra resources: “I called
one of the guys I worked with down there [in the Keys] whose family
owned a campground and explained the tight budget. ‘It’s on
us,’ he said!” Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Detective
Henry Hamilton of Boyd’s Campground on Stock Island graciously gave the
group three-waterfront campsites where the kids could see beautiful
sunrises and enjoy the water.
The
first morning there, Sarah Evens, of Historic Tours of America, arranged
an itinerary that included a private Conch Train tour of the island, a
visit to the Key West Aquarium and the Pirate Soul Museum. The kids
heard the island’s history while seeing the sights from the train.
At the Pirate
Soul Museum, the kids learned pirate lore and history of pirates on the
island, and saw actual pirate artifacts. After
lunch at the Hard Rock Café, the kids enjoyed a swim on Higg’s Beach.
Supper was authentic Cuban fare at El Mason de Pepe. “It was a wonderful
dinner,” Officer Badman said, “but some of the kids weren’t so brave
when it came to that [the food].” The Cuban cuisine was not the only
unfamiliar food the kids approached cautiously. “One of the kids
actually paid another kid a dollar to try a conch fritter.”
The next
morning, the Pigeon Key Foundation and Marine Science Center treated the
PAL kids to a free visit to the island. The little four-acre island is
on the Gulf side of the Seven Mile Bridge, just south of Marathon. Bill
Belleville, in a special to the Sun-Sentinel, wrote that Pigeon
Key was “born as a camp for [Henry Flagler’s] railroad workers.”
Belleville
continued: “Seven buildings from the Flagler era ... are still on the
island today. You are never far from the water on this tiny island. Out
on the weathered dock of dilapidated railroad ties behind the bridge
tender’s house, you pick you way carefully out to the end. With no
near-shore pollution from people activities, as on other the keys, the
shallow, clear waters teem with angelfish, triggerfish, and grunts.
There have been reports of grouper, nurse sharks, barracuda, squid and
rays.” The PAL kids saw all this and liked the picnic lunch, also
compliments of the Pigeon Key staff.
That last
afternoon, the kids went fishing and snorkeling for a half-day on the
water with Strike Zone Charters at Big Pine Key. “We got to go out on a
shallow reef for snorkeling, a first for many of the kids,” Officer
Badman said.
Officer Badman
related that Officer Jamey Henderson predicted the kids would not be
swimming, but Badman asked, “Then what are all those kids doing in the
water?” The mother of one of the kids, Quinton Dallas, was concerned
about the water situation before the trip, but Badman had reassured her,
“Don’t worry, we’ll be right there.”
“The kids were
fishing, they were baiting their own hooks, taking fish off. One of the
kids, Mark Boyce, actually hooked a shark which was released back.”
The following
day, the group drove home. “Many of the kids were pooped,” Officer
Badman said. “Later they can look back and say, ‘That was pretty cool.
I was there,’ because so many people can’t [say that]. I would love to
do this again for the kids, or if nothing else, at least help some other
PAL do it.”
Without the
help of the following businesses, the number of kids who took the trip
would have been greatly reduced. “They truly remind me of how generous
the citizens in the Florida Keys and Key West continue to be,” Officer
Badman said.
We offer
thanks to Boyd’s Campground, Fraternal Order of Police #28, Monroe
County Sheriff’s Office, Historic Tours of America, The Hemmingway
House, Key West Aquarium, Pirate Soul Museum, The Hard Rock Café, El
Mason de Pepe, The Famous Ghost Tours of Key West, Pigeon Key
Foundation, Strike Zone Charters, National Police Athletic League, and
the State of Florida Police Athletic League. |
Lin Badman,
transplanted recently to Palm Bay from Key West, became the perfect
planner and guide for the kids’ trip to Key West. She knows Key West
well, as she graduated from high school there and worked for the local
sheriff’s office for thirteen years. “The purpose of the grant, which
was titled Discover Florida, was to provide youth in our
community an opportunity to experience the beauty and wonders of our
state while learning some history of the areas visited,” she said.
Many other people
pitched in to make this a trip to remember. Officers Jamey Henderson and
Greg Hardee of the Lakeland Police Department provided transportation
for the group, which included three of their Lakeland PAL kids. Kathy
Sacino, part-time teen coordinator with Palm Bay PAL, assisted on the
journey. Monroe County Deputies Charlie Cobb and Daryl Hull, through
their connection with the local Fraternal Order of Police, provided
$500, which allowed Palm Bay PAL to buy all the kids matching
Discover Florida T-shirts. Museums, tour operators, restaurants—all
offered discounted prices for the PAL kids. The trip was a go! “It’s
nice to remember how generous a community can be,” Officer Badman said.
“It just warms my heart to know, that even though I’m not a part of that
community any more, these people just jumped at the chance to help the
PAL kids. This is an opportunity that some of the kids will never have
again.”
Inside
the Key West Aquarium, “all the kids got to touch a nurse shark and
other sea life in a touch tank,” Officer Badman said. “One of the girls,
Gabbie, she was just so wonderful,” Officer Badman remembered. “She was
scared to touch stuff. But I got her to the tank and got her touching
stuff, and she just became so brave. It was awesome.” DeVonte Tillman,
from Lakeland PAL, picked up a live conch who extended its body out of
the shell about five or six inches, maybe to check out the kids.
At Mallory
Square, the kids watched the setting sun on the waterfront and enjoyed
the entertainment of street performers, one being an escape artist. As
darkness fell, the kids climbed aboard the Original Ghost Tour (which
was featured on MTV while filming Real World in Key West). They
got more than their fill of scary stories, including the famous one of
Richard, the haunted doll. 
“The people there
were wonderful,” Officer Badman said. “They walked around with the kids
and explained about the cottages and the history of the island.”
Everything
worked out fine after a little instruction and in some cases, a little
coaxing. The kids wore blow-up life vests and had masks and snorkels.
Quinton’s first mask didn’t fit, so Badman exchanged it for him and
that’s all it took—he was off exploring. “A lot of them had never been
in the water, and they were able to snorkel and see what the underwater
life looked like. The reef that we went to was so beautiful.