CRESTVIEW — A fast food restaurant's ongoing fundraiser will benefit a 12-year-old boy critically injured in a boating accident.

While Drew Barefield recovers, his family is getting some help from area businesses, including owners of local McDonald’s restaurants.

“Every Tuesday while Drew is still in the hospital is Drewsday in Crestview,” David Costa Jr., of Costa Enterprises, said.

The Costas, on Tuesday, presented the Barefield family with a check for proceeds from the restaurant’s July 21 “McDrew Night.”

David Costa said he and his family were “super excited” about the outcome of the fundraiser, for which they pledged 20 percent of all sales made from 4 to 8 p.m.

“Monday night is not usually busy,” Costa said. “We expected we would do about $3,000 in sales,” which would have yielded about $600 for the benefit.

“Then all of a sudden it started getting some attention,” Costa said. “The managers told me they’ve never seen that many customers on a Monday night in the 10 years that store has been here.”

“The whole community was here Monday, supporting and praying for Drew,” the boy’s grandfather, Clark “Bubba” Barefield Jr., said. “It’s a shame something like this had to happen before the community comes together.”

DOUBLE THE SALES

The store almost doubled its expected sales, meaning $1,166 would go to Drew, “but we decided to bump that up to $1,500,” David Costa said.

The opportunity for her family to help the Barefields “has been a blessing," Helen Costa said. "You have no idea how much this has touched our lives.”

A boat propeller hit Drew Barefield June 28 while he snorkeled in shallow water off Walton County’s Choctaw Beach. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating the case.

Clark “Trey” Barefield III, Drew’s father, said his son's condition is slowly improving.

“He’s getting a little bit better every day,” he said. “We were able to take him outside the last few days. We appreciate everybody’s prayers.”

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Tuesdays are Drewsdays: Fast food restaurant to donate half of Big Mac Meal sales every Tuesday

Local food banks, including Bay Area Food Bank, are preparing for the school year and the fight against childhood hunger.

Winn-Dixie has launched the Summer Backpack Hunger Relief Program in all stores to help the one out of five children in Alabama and Florida who don’t know from where their next meal will come from.

Customers can donate at any store register now through Aug. 19 to help provide meals. Every dollar donated will go directly to regional food banks to help fill backpacks with nutritious, fresh foods.

The food bank serves the central Gulf Coast including Alabama, Florida and Mississippi.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Winn-Dixie, Bay Area Food Bank team up for food drive

We have one final library event before school starts! Come fold and fly paper airplanes Tuesday, Aug. 5 with Guinness World Record holder Ken Blackburn.  Doors open at 10 a.m.  The program begins at 10:30 a.m. and lasts about 45 minutes. 

Registration is not required for this free event, which is open to ages 6 and older. After you fold, you’ll receive a chance to see which plane flies the farthest for a prize!

In addition, Evening Library Time and WSRE PBSKids present Daniel Tiger. Yes, he’s coming to the Crestview Public Library! Doors open at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 26, and Daniel Tiger leaves around 7:15 p.m. Registration is not required, and this event is open to all ages but ages 3-8 will probably enjoy it the most! 

We are throwing a baby shower for the PBSKids character's new baby sister, so please bring any baby item; Healthy Start will receive the donations.

The Crestview Public Library is located at 1445 Commerce Drive, Crestview.

Please call 682-4432 with questions about either program.

Heather Nitzel is the Crestview Public Library's youth services librarian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CHECK IT OUT: Paper airplanes event, Daniel Tiger coming to library

CRESTVIEW — Ken Blackburn, an aerospace engineer and former Guinness World Record holder for paper airplane time aloft (27.60 seconds), will present “Aerodynamics for Dummies: Folding & Flying Paper Airplanes” for the Aug. 5 First Tuesday Series program at the Crestview Public Library. 

This free program is suitable for children ages 6 and up through adult. Participants will get to fold a paper airplane based upon his award-winning design and test fly them outside (weather permitting) for a chance to win one of Blackburn’s bestselling paper airplane books.

Blackburn works as a civil servant at Eglin Air Force Base, performing research on small, unmanned air vehicles.  He and his wife Lauren live in Okaloosa  County.

The program begins at 10:30 a.m.  at the library, 1445 Commerce Drive, Crestview. Juice, coffee and cookies will be served at 10 a.m. when the doors open.  Call 682-4432 for details.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Learn about building the perfect paper airplane Aug. 5 from Ken Blackburn, aerospace engineer

LAUREL HILL — McDonald Campbell’s 100th birthday celebration drew more than 100 friends, family and church family members Saturday.

“It’s very, very cool,” said Kyle Powell, 15, an Andalusia, Ala., cousin twice removed. “It’s exciting to have a family member turn 100 because we don’t have that many people in our family.”

Well-wishers included distant cousins Ralph Carter of Rochester, N.Y., and his sisters Angela and Nancy Carter. Angela and her son, Ben Sprunger, traveled farthest, recently returning stateside from Rwanda and Burkina Faso, respectively.

Campbell’s first cousin and closest living relative, Mary Will Crook, 98, came from Carrollton, Ga., enjoying a weekend slumber party with her cousin as they did many times in their youth.

“Miss Campbell made chicken salad for her cousin,” Joann Hébert, one of Campbell’s caregivers, said. “Her independence keeps her mind alert. It is what keeps her going, even physically.”

FRIENDS AND FAMILY

Tallahassee relatives included cousin Margaret Neal, a nonagenarian who, like Campbell, was raised in Laurel Hill.

“She taught me in high school and she was one of my very best teachers,” Neal said. “I’ve always looked up to her and loved her. I hope we celebrate many more birthdays with her.”

“I saw so many people I taught in high school at my party,” Campbell said. “Some of them have gotten so old.”

Guests included members of Campbell’s Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church, where she is Session clerk emeritus and hosts monthly Women of the Church meetings at her home.

“She’s the one who keeps us going and has all the great ideas for ways we can help in the community,” member Celia Broadhead said. “She’s always so informed about what’s going on in the community.”

Light refreshments included moist made-from-scratch cakes baked and decorated by rising Crestview High School sophomore Jessianne Fortune.

“It was cool that I got to make those cakes for someone so special,” Jessianne said. Event organizer Tracy Curenton “told me McDonald likes pink.”

Jessianne created two cakes covered with pink circular swirls, and a third white cake girdled by a pink fondant belt with a pink oval “buckle” inscribed “100.”

‘A VERY NICE DAY’

Hébert said Campbell makes it a point to select her daily wardrobe, choosing a summery aqua top and complementing blue patterned skirt for her party.

“She tries to do everything for herself,” Hébert said. “She will not let us five girls who work for her do hardly anything.”

Kyle reflected on how his cousin entered a world without television, video games, Internet or cell phones, and thought of how the world will change when he’s 100.

“There will be more technology,” Kyle said. “There will be self-driving cars you won’t have to steer. But there will probably be more wars.”

But everything was peaceful in Laurel Hill as Campbell returned to the home in which she was born following her party.

“It has been a nice day,” Campbell said. “A very nice day.”

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Woman's 100th birthday draws well-wishers from multiple generations

CRESTVIEW — Longtime Crestview Public Library champion Flo Lembeck died Saturday morning, surrounded by her children, after a brief hospitalization.

“We are so sad,” children’s librarian Heather Nitzel said. “She was a fighter for the library …"

Lembeck was the Friends of the Crestview Library's first president. “The Whiz Kid” sculpture in front of the building is dedicated to Lembeck and in memory of her late husband Ted, who also supported the institution.

“When I think about Flo, I remember how she loved libraries and believed that everybody should love libraries,” library director Jean Lewis said. “She was diligent to make sure our library was the very best it could be.”

AVID READER

Lembeck, a former Crestview High School teacher, was also an avid reader, reference librarian Sandra Dreaden said.

“Flo’s favorite genre was mystery,” Dreaden said. “She would be back in the mystery section lapping up those books. She had a giant planner and kept lists of everything she read. She had read the entire Sue Grafton series.”

Each book in the mystery series starts with the next successive letter of the alphabet, Dreaden said.

“When she passed away, she was back at B,” she said. “I told her daughter, ‘She couldn’t only be at B.’ Her daughter said, ‘Oh no, she was re-reading them.’”

Lembeck was instrumental in establishing the Okaloosa Public Library Cooperative in 1998, which permits patrons of any county library to borrow books from any other library in the cooperative, Dreaden said.

‘A MARVELOUS LADY’

After Lembeck was hospitalized at North Okaloosa Medical Center last week, Dreaden visited her.

“The weird thing is, I went to go see her Friday after work,” Dreaden said. “Sunday I went back to take her a bouquet of herbs and flowers and saw her room had been cleared.”

Lembeck’s daughter, Anne Weaver, left Crestview library staffers a note over the weekend advising them of her mother’s death. The note stated that Lembeck’s three children were with her when she died.

“She was just so special,” Dreaden said. “A marvelous, marvelous lady. If there is anyone this community should thank because we have a library like we do, and a cooperative like we do, it was Flo Lembeck.”

Funeral services for Flo Lembeck are 10:30 a.m. Thursday following 9:30 a.m. visitation at the First United Methodist Church of Crestview, 599 Eighth Ave. Lembeck will be buried beside her husband, Ted, at Barrancas National Cemetery at Naval Air Station Pensacola. The Crestview Public Library will be closed in memory of Lembeck during her funeral so that staff may attend.

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Longtime Crestview library champion, 'a marvelous lady,' dies

CRESTVIEW — Micah Brannon knows firsthand what it's like when the community rallies for a common cause.

The 14-year-old's cousin, Drew Barefield, is recovering from a June 28 boating accident, an apparent hit-and-run that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is still investigating. A boat propeller hit the 12-year-old while he snorkeled in shallow water off Walton County’s Choctaw Beach.

Meanwhile, countless North Okaloosa residents have supported the family by organizing fundraisers, donating money, wearing T-shirts or wristbands, or simply changing their Facebook profile picture to a graphic that states, "#prayfordrew."

The Barefields will receive more support during a 3:30 p.m. check presentation Tuesday at the McDonald's fast food restaurant on North Ferdon Boulevard in Crestview. The restaurant's owners, owners, Costa Enterprises, will announce how much they raised after agreeing to donate 20 percent of last Monday's 4-8 p.m. sales. Emmanuel Baptist Church youths called the benefit "McDrew Night."

“It’s phenomenal seeing all of the support behind the family,” Micah said. “Just seeing all of the people wearing the T-shirts supporting Drew (and) nobody told them to; it’s just great.”

Drew's sister, Savannah, who joined Micah and cousin, Moriah, for the McDonald's benefit — also expressed appreciation.

“This is so humbling, to see all of these people supporting him,” she said. “My family feels so blessed.”

Dennis Ealy, area supervisor for Costa Enterprises, said many thanked him for the fundraiser.

 However, "it’s really not needed, because this is something that we really want to do,” he said.

HOW TO HELP

Fundraisers for Drew Barefield, a 12-year-old recovering from a June 28 boating accident, are as follows:

•Chill, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. July 26: 20 percent of yogurt sales at 2218 S. Ferdon Blvd., Crestview, will benefit the Barefields.

•Gordon Martial Arts, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 2: The West Oakdale Avenue parking lot in Crestview will facilitate numerous vendors. Bring booth supplies such as a tent, tables and chairs. Details: 682-5214.

•Half Boston butts are available; call Mercedes Jones, 826-2014, to order 10- to 14-pound roasts. Payment is due Aug. 5; pickup tentatively is Aug. 8 and 9. Pick-up sites will be in Crestview, Laurel Hill, Milton, and possibly Niceville and Destin.

•BBVA Compass Bank's Drew Barefield Donation Account is accepting contributions.

•Paypal users can send monetary donations to hattiebrannon@gmail.com.

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Fast food restaurant's owners schedule check presentation for Barefield family

CRESTVIEW — Countywide geocaching, a road rally and TV spots are among ideas considered for Okaloosa County’s 2015 Centennial.

“We have so many wonderful experiences in Okaloosa County,” public information officer Kathy Newby said during the last Friends of the Crestivew Public Library meeting. “We’re not going to re-create the wheel. We are gathering information on those events and things we already have: festivals, parades, museums and all of that.”

Ideas include: creating a map of Okaloosa's city, state and county parks, museums, historic sites and places of interest; organizing an Experience Okaloosa Road Rally, with participants receiving stamps on a passport or finding clues as proof of visiting each site; and a geotour with an accompanying geocache hunt, Newby said.

The county Parks Department already has a geocache trail, with a link for geocache fans on the department’s website.

Other ideas include “100 Minutes of History” TV spots similar to the “Bicentennial Minutes” broadcast during the nation’s 200th birthday.

“One Hundred Miles of History,” another idea broached during brainstorming sessions, would be a map participants follow to significant sites in the county’s history.

Two photo-filled county history books are also in the works, with one published by the North Okaloosa Heritage Association and the Baker Block Museum, and one published by the Crestview News Bulletin, the Northwest Florida Daily News and the Destin Log.

WANT TO HELP?

Okaloosa County officials welcome suggestions for events and activities celebrating the county’s 2015 centennial. Send ideas to county public information officer Kathy Newby, 651-7515, knewby@co.okaloosa.fl.us; or Crestview Mayor David Cadle, 682-3812, davidcadle@cityofcrestview.org.

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Hotspot map, road rally, geohunt among Okaloosa centennial ideas