This semester, community-minded St. Petersburg College students took part in the inaugural Jane Till Nonprofit Startup Series. Participants received eight weeks of training on how to launch a nonprofit idea of their own, and then competed at the campus level to see which plan was most promising.
http://youtu.be/Js36i1xCgRg
The overall SPC champions of the series are the brother and sister team of Lawrence Weglarz and Pam Lindemann, whose charity organization, Expunge U.S. Veterans, will assist veterans with minor criminal histories with expunging or sealing their records.
Their aim is to “restore honor and dignity to veterans and their families.” The removal of minor criminal history will provide better employment, educational and community engagement opportunities for vets.
As the series champions, Weglarz and Lindemann received $5,000 in startup capital from the Applied Ethics Institute of St. Petersburg College.
Campus champions were:
- Dwain Ream (St. Petersburg Gibbs)
- Lawrence Weglarz and Pam Lindemann (Seminole)
- Fatma Hedeia (Clearwater)
- Fallon Rhoden (Tarpon Springs)
Their proposals included the community services of low-cost spaying and neutering of pets, helping immigrant women assimilate into American culture, and services helping the needy become more financially stable. Each campus winner received a $500 award for their efforts.
The campus winners faced off April 30 on the Clearwater campus at the collegewide finals to pitch their plans to a panel of community judges.
The competition was created to honor the late Jane Till, who served as Associate Professor in the Applied Ethics Institute at the St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus. She lived by the personal philosophy that emphasized that a person does well in life by doing good things that benefit others.