• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
MENUMENU
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • FlaglerLive Board of Directors
    • Comment Policy
    • Mission Statement
    • Our Values
  • Live Calendar
  • Submit Obituary
  • Submit an Event
  • Support FlaglerLive
  • Advertise on FlaglerLive (386) 503-3808
  • Search Results

FlaglerLive

No Bull, no Fluff, No Smudges

MENUMENU
  • Flagler
    • Flagler County Commission
    • Beverly Beach
    • Economic Development Council
    • Flagler History
    • Mondex/Daytona North
    • The Hammock
    • Tourist Development Council
  • Palm Coast
    • Palm Coast City Council
    • Palm Coast Crime
  • Bunnell
    • Bunnell City Commission
    • Bunnell Crime
  • Flagler Beach
    • Flagler Beach City Commission
    • Flagler Beach Crime
  • Cops/Courts
    • Circuit & County Court
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • Federal Courts
    • Flagler 911
    • Fire House
    • Flagler County Sheriff
    • Flagler Jail Bookings
    • Traffic Accidents
  • Rights & Liberties
    • Fourth Amendment
    • First Amendment
    • Privacy
    • Second Amendment
    • Seventh Amendment
    • Sixth Amendment
    • Sunshine Law
    • Third Amendment
    • Religion & Beliefs
    • Human Rights
    • Immigration
    • Labor Rights
    • 14th Amendment
    • Civil Rights
  • Schools
    • Adult Education
    • Belle Terre Elementary
    • Buddy Taylor Middle
    • Bunnell Elementary
    • Charter Schools
    • Daytona State College
    • Flagler County School Board
    • Flagler Palm Coast High School
    • Higher Education
    • Imagine School
    • Indian Trails Middle
    • Matanzas High School
    • Old Kings Elementary
    • Rymfire Elementary
    • Stetson University
    • Wadsworth Elementary
    • University of Florida/Florida State
  • Economy
    • Jobs & Unemployment
    • Business & Economy
    • Development & Sprawl
    • Leisure & Tourism
    • Local Business
    • Local Media
    • Real Estate & Development
    • Taxes
  • Commentary
    • The Conversation
    • Pierre Tristam
    • Diane Roberts
    • Guest Columns
    • Byblos
    • Editor's Blog
  • Culture
    • African American Cultural Society
    • Arts in Palm Coast & Flagler
    • Books
    • City Repertory Theatre
    • Flagler Auditorium
    • Flagler Playhouse
    • Flagler Youth Orchestra
    • Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
    • Palm Coast Arts Foundation
    • Special Events
  • Elections 2022
    • Amendments and Referendums
    • Presidential Election
    • Campaign Finance
    • City Elections
    • Congressional
    • Constitutionals
    • Courts
    • Governor
    • Polls
    • Voting Rights
  • Florida
    • Federal Politics
    • Florida History
    • Florida Legislature
    • Florida Legislature
    • Ron DeSantis
  • Health & Society
    • Flagler County Health Department
    • Ask the Doctor Column
    • Health Care
    • Health Care Business
    • Covid-19
    • Children and Families
    • Medicaid and Medicare
    • Mental Health
    • Poverty
    • Violence
  • All Else
    • Daily Briefing
    • Americana
    • Obituaries
    • News Briefs
    • Weather and Climate
    • Wildlife

Feed Flagler Raises $25,000 as Don Fleming Reminds Suzanne Johnston Who’s Sheriff

November 23, 2011 | FlaglerLive | 12 Comments

Tax Collector Suzanne Johnston's Turkey Wall of Fame, showing big donors to Feed Flagler. (© FlaglerLive)

Note: The Feed Flagler community celebration, with free meals offered at 11 locations across the county, begins at 3 p.m. today, Wednesday, Nov. 23, until 6 p.m. Go to the foot of the article for locations.

The final number is in: Feed Flagler, the third annual countywide Thanksgiving food and cash drive and free banquet for 4,000 people, raised $25,000 this year, largely on the strength of a spirited duel between Flagler County Sheriff Don Fleming and Tax Collector Suzanne Johnston, who accounted for $17,000 of the total.

Johnston was last year’s fund-raising winner, raising $3,400 mostly through tip jars set at all her counters at two locations in the county. She claimed the trophy and vowed to hold on to it this year. But the sheriff hadn’t been part of the contest last year. He joined this year–and promptly opened the bidding by putting in $5,000 from his budget’s drug-forfeiture money, and putting Johnston on notice: he intended to win that contest.

And he did. Fleming and the sheriff’s office raised $9,100 to Johnston’s $8,100.

“I gotta tell you,” Fleming said this morning, “that Suzanne Johnston, she can raise money.” Fleming said he managed to raise the sheriff’s office’s share past the initial $5,000 through donations from vendors that work with the county jail, the Police Benevolent Association, and many individuals. He had no intention of losing, keeping his totals secret, as much as was possible, to not tip off Johnston.

When Johnston remitted her donation check to county officials this morning, she reportedly said: “Tell the sheriff I’m going to give him the trophy in 9,100 pieces.”


Johnston was being entirely facetious of course–and continued to be when we spoke with her moments ago: “I can’t believe they’re going to take our trophy from us,” she said, but all for a good cause. “It was fun. But you know, if it hadn’t been for the sheriff we wouldn’t have collected the amount of money we did, because it was a real fun competition. We’re all very lucky that our residents are as generous as they are, to help us do this.”

She added: “I guess they’ll come get this trophy soon. What I hope to do is get some handcuffs and handcuff the trophy to the table. That’s what I should do.”

The money she turned over to the county wasn’t a check but actual cash, and on her way there, a sheriff’s deputy signaled that he might hold her up and take the money to add to the sheriff’s stash. But she made it to the county offices unscathed.

FlaglerLive was no slouch either in the fund-raising department, though we came in a distant third, raising $2,200. Thank you, readers.

“We should have joined forces,” Johnston said. True enough: had the tax collector and FlaglerLive combined forces, the sheriff would have been defeated. Maybe next year.

Today’s 11 locations offering free Thanksgiving meals from 3 to 6 p.m.:

  • Bunnell Elementary School, 305 N. Palmetto, Bunnell.
  • Hidden Trails Community Center, 6108 Mahogany Blvd. in Bunnell, hosted by Grace Tabernacle Ministries.
  • Pellicer Community Center, 1380 County Road 2007 in Bunnell, hosted by Westside Baptist Church.
  • Espanola Community Center, 3055 County Road 13 in Bunnell, hosted by St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church.
  • First United Methodist Church, 205 Pine Street in Bunnell, co-hosted by God’s Family Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
  • Buddy Taylor Middle School, 4500 Belle Terre Parkway in Palm Coast, hosted by the school district.
  • St. James Missionary Baptist Church, 609 State Street (U.S.1), Bunnell.
  • Hammock First Baptist Church, 5382 Oceanshore Blvd. (State Road A1A), in the Hammock.
  • Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, 75 Pine Lakes Parkway South in Palm Coast.
  • Wickline Center, 800 S. Daytona Avenue in Flagler Beach.
  • First AME Church of Palm Coast, 91 Old Kings Road North, Palm Coast.
What Suzanne must give up. Click on the image for larger view. (© FlaglerLive)
Print Friendly, PDF & Email
You and your neighbors collectively read our articles about 25,000 times each day (that's not a typo) with up to 65,000 daily reads during emergencies like hurricanes. Flagler County residents rely on FlaglerLive for essential, bold and analytical journalism that cannot be found anywhere else. But we depend on your support. Please join our December fund drive! If you donate the cost of a scoop of ice cream, you will be helping us continue to provide comprehensive local news and honest, serious journalism for our community. If you can donate more or become a monthly donor, even better. Donations are tax deductible since FlaglerLive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit news organization. Donate by clicking anywhere in this box. Think of it as buying a scoop, in every sense of the term!  
All donors' identities are kept confidential and anonymous.
   

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gretchen Smith says

    November 23, 2011 at 1:32 pm

    This is amazing news, particularly when you think about how these contributions will help our local food pantries during the holiday season. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this year’s efforts whether they donated money, volunteered or collected nonperishable food. What a great accomplishment!

    Reply
  2. Jim Guines says

    November 23, 2011 at 3:34 pm

    The nicest place to live is in Palm Coast during times like these.

    Reply
  3. Oneofthe10%whovoted says

    November 24, 2011 at 11:53 am

    Thrilled to see what the sheriff is doing, but wondering why he is not also busy fighting crime? It is going up. And that IS his primary job in this community.

    Congratulations to all.

    Reply
  4. Kip Durocher says

    November 24, 2011 at 3:18 pm

    During times like these the nicest place to live is in Flagler Beach !
    Good Job all around!

    Let’s try for $30,000.00 for Christmas.

    Reply
  5. Riley says

    November 24, 2011 at 8:24 pm

    Sounds more like a shakedown of the vendors as opposed to donations. I think we need the DA to investigate.

    Reply
    • FlaglerLive says

      November 25, 2011 at 10:54 am

      Riley, we shook down FlaglerLive readers too. They happily contributed. The DA should be investigated for staying out of the competition.

      Reply
  6. some guy says

    November 25, 2011 at 8:47 am

    The nicest place to live is in Palm Coast during times like these.

    During times like these the nicest place to live is in Flagler Beach!

    sounds like the nicest place to live IS FLAGLER COUNTY

    Reply
  7. Cindy D. says

    November 25, 2011 at 3:26 pm

    It seems that if someone has hit hard times and they have the ability to receive donated food, they won’t have to resort to stealing to feed their family, hence the crime rate stays down. What do you think Oneofthe10%whovoted?

    Reply
  8. Oneofthe10%whovoted says

    November 25, 2011 at 5:09 pm

    I would agree. I donate everytime I shop because I know that people are hurting. However, this does not seem to have anything to do with our current crime rate, which is not staying down.

    That is going up because there are no jobs and no hope for those with no jobs. We need to give people a purpose. That is our biggest problem.

    Reply
  9. TLC says

    November 25, 2011 at 6:04 pm

    Nice to know that the sheriff is using funds to donate to the community….making the deputies who actually fight crime sacrifice for his media benefit. Many deputies are making only $15.00/hr and have not had a raise in 3 years…losing their homes and vehicles to repossession. At least he is still making over $3000.00 a week.

    Reply
  10. Thanks! says

    November 27, 2011 at 10:29 pm

    Thanks for thinking of the community Sheriff Fleming. Your thoughtfulness is appreciated! Since you hold the hand cuff key, I am sure you will have no problem claiming your trophy.

    Reply
  11. Oneofthe10%whovoted says

    November 28, 2011 at 8:01 am

    Let us not forget the sheriff is also running for reelection.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Advertisers

  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents
  • WNZF Creekside Festival

Recent Comments

  • TR on Town Center Fills In Slowly: Palm Coast Council Approves First 66 of 161 Homes at ‘The Retreat’
  • Concerned Citizen on At Post-Segregated Assemblies Town Hall, Superintendent Bridges Conversation Beyond Walls and Outrage
  • Danielle Brown on Sean Barry, 33, Found Hanging at County Jail and Dies at Hospital. He’d Been Waiting for a Drug-Treatment Bed.
  • Deborah Coffey on No Plans Yet for Florida Health Departments to Offer New Covid Vaccine Even as It Rolls Out in Other States
  • Skibum on Contrasting with Depa Case, Judge Dismisses Charge Against Autistic Female Who’d Assaulted Teacher at Matanzas
  • Laurel on The Supreme Court’s Conservative Supermajority Reconvenes. Beware.
  • endless dark money on How the Federal Government Shutdown Would Affect You
  • Elise Gilbert on Contrasting with Depa Case, Judge Dismisses Charge Against Autistic Female Who’d Assaulted Teacher at Matanzas
  • Laurel on How the Federal Government Shutdown Would Affect You
  • Pogo on How the Federal Government Shutdown Would Affect You
  • Laurel on How the Federal Government Shutdown Would Affect You
  • Pogo on DeSantis Will Debate Gavin Newsom in Georgia in November
  • got a question on At Post-Segregated Assemblies Town Hall, Superintendent Bridges Conversation Beyond Walls and Outrage
  • Atwp on How the Federal Government Shutdown Would Affect You
  • Atwp on At Post-Segregated Assemblies Town Hall, Superintendent Bridges Conversation Beyond Walls and Outrage
  • Lorraine on Town Center Fills In Slowly: Palm Coast Council Approves First 66 of 161 Homes at ‘The Retreat’

Log in