Thank you to all who participated in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the 
Jose Marti Parades.

We had a beautiful float decorated in red, white stars and blue. There were 
many happy children riding in the float with Mrs. Brown doing a wonderful job 
as lead waiver and DJ. Mr. Emilio Palma's truck and our red convertible were 
decorated with ribbons, bows and signs such as "Living the Dream at Frank C. 
Martin Elementary". We had many children and parents walking as well. We 
were really out in force to show our colors and pride for our school where we 
are continuing Dr. Martin Luther King Junior's dream.

Special thanks go out to Mary Alexander , our parade coordinator, who got 
the ball rolling and kept it rolling through her calls to get everyone 
motivated. She began by asking Miami Air Conditioning and Refrigeration 
Inc. owner Jeff Saltzman for the use of his trailer, without which, Marc 
Rodriguez would not have had anything to take countless hours building the 
floats structure on. Marc solicited help from Dad's committee members, 
Hilton Palma Lima and Emilio Palma who added the skeleton to the structure. 
Members of the Grandparents and Parade committees joined in on the Saturday 
before the parade to decorate the float with the donations of crape paper 
from our Dade Partner, Real Way School Supplies. We even had Boy Scouts 
from other schools join in to help. During our Friday coffee, we had 
volunteers from several other committees including, Room Parents, Lunch 
Bunch, Health, Holiday Gift Shop, to name a few, make decorations for the 
float. After we were finished decorating the float Zee and Charles Phillips 
gave up a part of their garage for three weeks so that we had a safe and dry 
place to store our float in. This endeavor truly encompassed a vast array of 
interested volunteers who came together to create a beautifully patriotic 
float.

A small group of F. C. parents and children set out again the following 
Saturday to enter our float in the Jose Marti Parade that traveled down 
Flager Street in the heart of Sweetwater. Our theme for this parade was 
"Education will set you Free at Frank C. Martin Elementary". Since our float 
had ample room, children from schools in Sweetwater were asked to ride, 
which they did with great pleasure. Frank C. really knows how to spread the 
joy. F. C.'s PTA president also elicited many smiles by handing out American 
Flag Posters that were donated by Sweet Printing. And our Dade Partner, 
Craig Kalil, from Aballi, Milne, Kalil, Escagedo, P.A.. donated water to 
keep our children and volunteers hydrated in the hot weather during both 
parades.

The biggest THANK YOU TO MARC RODRIGUEZ who was there to pick up the trailer, 
there to create a plan, there to shop and donate materials, there to build 
and decorate, there to pass out pencils at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 
parade, there to drive the float at the Jose Marti Parade, and finally when 
the time came to take apart the float and return it to the Saltzman's, Marc 
was there. Without his continued support this event would not have 
materialized.

I feel truly blessed to have been able to be a part of this wonderful 
experience. Although much of the work was shared by a relatively small number 
of volunteers, the joy that our float brought to both spectators and 
participants combined was worth the effort.

Thanks again to all who participated!

Donna Kalil
PTA President
Frank C. Martin Elementary