Dinner for the Tampa Bay Vegetarians 10/26/21

There will be a second non-official dinner of the Tampa Bay Vegetarians at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 26, at Aroma Indian Cuisine, 351 West Bay Drive, Largo 33770.  Our first such dinner meeting was held at Zom Hee Chinese Restaurant in Seminole with 13 attendees. Then in September, we had a Planning Committee meeting at Panera Bread in Largo. Since we cannot plan our usual TBV dinners with a guest speaker, special menu, etc., until we are sure that enough of our members feel comfortable attending, we will each order from the menu.  In order to have enough seats ready, however, we will need to have all attendees sign up in advance so that the restaurant will have our table(s) ready for the correct number of people.

If you plan to attend, please sign up by going to our blog, www.tampabayvegetarians.com, and clicking on the CONTACT button. We will look forward to seeing you!

SPECIAL PLANNING MEETING 9/28/21

 Dear Members of the Tampa Bay Vegetarians,

There will be a special planning meeting on Tuesday, September 28, at 7:00 pm in the private Community Room at the rear of Panera Bread in Bardmoor Plaza, 10801 Starkey Road, at the corner of Starkey and Bryan Dairy in Largo/Seminole.  Although our previous planning meetings have always been around noon on a Saturday, several of our members have requested that we try a Tuesday evening.  IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ATTEND BUT PREFER A SATURDAY DURING THE DAY, PLEASE LET US KNOW RIGHT AWAY!  We want to have a day and time that suits as many members as possible so that we will have a good turnout!  Our Tuesday reservation can be changed without a problem

In order to be allowed to use the meeting room, we have to show the manager that we have spent at least $75.00 for food and/or drinks  For that reason, we ask that if you purchase something, please let us collect your receipts so that we can show all of them to the manager before leaving.  We can return your receipt to you before you leave.  We have never had a problem with this but if we don't spend enough, we can buy a gift certificate for the balance and charge it to the club if necessary.

Although we have not had a TBV dinner since February of 2020 due to the Covid-19 virus, we did have a trial get-together at Zom Hee on July 27.  In attendance were 13 people.  Naturally, with so few of us, we couldn't have one of our regular TBV dinners with pre-planned menus, special price, and a guest speaker.   The question now is how many of you are interested in resuming our regular TBV dinners.  By the way, if you paid your dues for 2020, you are paid up through 2021, and we can discuss the dues for 2022 at our meeting.

In addition to making decisions as to when to start our regularly scheduled dinners on the fourth Tuesday of every month (except in November, when Thanksgiving usually forces us to have it on the third Tuesday), we need to get your recommendations as to restaurants, and we need to get volunteers to perform the various duties connected with the dinners.  For this reason, we need as many of you as possible to attend!  PLEASE LET US HEAR FROM YOU!

SAD NEWS REGARDING POPULAR TBV MEMBER

 Raymond Burnett 1927-2021

Services will be held at the Bay Pines VA Cemetery on Friday, September 3, 2021, 9:40 am (meet at the circle by the cemetery admin building).  Services will be followed by a Celebration of Life at Lake Seminole Park shelter number 5 (which was one of Ray's favorite places to see the squirrels, fish, turtles, and birds).  Let's have a good turnout from the Tampa Bay Vegetarians to show Ray's daughter Allyson how much we will miss him.

Eternal Optimist!  Unconditional Love!  Supportive!  Trustworthy friend! Selfless!  Eternally Hopeful!
Ray enjoyed swing dancing, the senior center, nature observation, Tampa Bay Vegetarians, walking daily, spending time with family and friends, and thanking the Lord daily!
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to BoysTown.org (800) 217-3700, a charity close to Ray’s heart.   

Please enjoy some of Ray’s favorite sayings and words to live by!   

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened!”
“Let’s be glad for what we had when we had it.”
“You did the best you could under the circumstances and what you thought was right at the time.”
“I can keep a positive attitude or I can kick myself.” 
“Let’s thank the Lord!”
“Let’s hope for the best!”

We'd like everyone who plans to attend the services and celebration of life for Ray to let us know so that Allyson, Ray's daughter, can tell the VA how many cars to expect for the services and also to make sure that there is room for everyone at shelter 5 at Lake Seminole Park.  

Allyson also requests that everyone wear a mask and observe social distancing for the safety of all present.

Unofficial Dinner for Tampa Bay Vegetarians and Friends

 Dear Members of the Tampa Bay Vegetarians and Friends,

How is everyone out there? We are thinking of you, and our hearts go out to everyone during this time and the past fifteen months.

As of now, the Tampa Bay Vegetarians have not yet resumed regular dinner meetings due to the fact that the last attempt to get people together for a planning meeting was not successful.  Many of our members didn't feel comfortable going out yet at that time.

Some of us are hoping that since many people have now received vaccinations against the Covid-19 virus, we may soon be able to resume our normal monthly schedule of dinners with speakers.  In the meantime, a few of us would like to get together for an unofficial dinner at Zom Hee (ONE OF OUR FAVORITES) on Tuesday, July 27, at 6:30 pm.  The address of Zom Hee is 9015 Park Blvd. North in Seminole.  It is just west of Starkey/Park Street.  Each of us will order his or her own meal from the menu.  If you would like to attend, please let us know by contacting TBVdinner4u@gmail.com.  We need to know how many to expect so that the restaurant can have enough places reserved for us.

Please stay safe and healthy and remember to take care of each other. We have the greatest group of members in the world, and we are sending you love and light every day.

We look forward to hearing from you and hope to see you soon. One small step at a time.

PLANNING MEETING OF THE TAMPA BAY VEGETARIANS

 Dear Members of the Tampa Bay Vegetarians,

We seem to be emerging from a long period of isolation.  Several members have been in contact with us to say that they are interested in resuming our monthly vegetarian dinners.  Before we do that, we definitely need a planning meeting because we haven't gotten together for the past fourteen months and we have a lot to discuss.  The dinner at Queen of Sheba in Tampa in February of 2020 was our last dinner meeting.

We have had most of our planning meetings at the Panera of Bardmoor, which is located in Largo/Seminole at the corner of Starkey and Bryan Dairy.  They will allow groups once again to use the Community Room at the back of the restaurant, but they are limiting the number of occupants to 15.  We need to know how many of you are interested in resuming our dinners.  If so, how many of you are willing to attend a planning meeting?  It will be inside the restaurant, not outside.  Likewise, our dinners are almost always held indoors.  If that is a problem with you, let us know.  It is probable that most of our members are vaccinated against the virus, but we aren't sure of that.

We have been told that the Community Room is available every day of the week for the present, although it used to be available to reserve only on Saturday and Sunday.  PLEASE TELL US WHICH DAYS YOU ARE AVAILABLE TO MEET AND AT WHAT HOUR(S).  Contact us at tampabayvegetarians@gmail.com.

We look forward to hearing from you and hope that you are all well.