Paradise Center plans for socially distanced gala

The Paradise Center is due for a gala, but as is the norm since the pandemic began, the celebration will be socially distanced.

“The board of directors and I decided it’s just not safe yet,” Executive Director Suzy Brenner said. 

Instead, Brenner and her board decided to hold a socially distanced version of the gala, with silent auction items scattered around the center and vases nearby for passersby to drop their bids into. Brenner and Community Outreach and Marketing Manager Donna Sharp Blaney reached out to previous supporters and local small businesses, such as Design 2000, Nature’s Gem CBD and the Lazy Lobster, as well as members, to get items for the auction. Members showed up with designer bags and paintings they were no longer using. 

“Very quickly people were like, ‘Yeah, absolutely,’” Brenner said. “Everybody, especially our small businesses had such a hard year. It’s nice they continued the tradition of supporting us.” 

The gala was supposed to be March 14 with a luau theme, but now that it’s in the Paradise Center and will end on St. Patrick’s Day, Brenner and Sharp Blaney have decorated the tables in green. 

“We asked everybody to save the date for a luau, so we decided we’d call it ‘In Lieu of a Luau,’” Sharp Blaney said. 

“Next year maybe we can have the ‘Better Late than Never Luau,’” Brenner said. 

At this time last year, the center was also celebrating its recent move into its permanent home at 546 Bay Isles Road. The building has come a long way since then, for building owner the Tidewell Foundation has joined up with the Paradise Center to bring four medical offices in the adjoining spaces at 540 and 544 Bay Isles Road. At the one-year celebration of the medical center in October, there will be another anniversary celebration, Brenner said. 

Even since the pandemic, they’ve been able to keep up the community that’s come together over the years to stave off loneliness on Longboat Key by hosting small, outdoor exercise classes, discussion classes and virtual events. 

“It’s such a beautiful building and it’s right in the center of what we sort of call the village center,” longtime board member Carol Peschel said. “It’s the ideal location.” 

Peschel has taught the center’s mahjong class for about five years and has appreciated that the center has stayed open in a capacity during the pandemic. Most of the mahjong players are longtime regulars, like Peschel, and many of them are people she’s taught over the years.

“That’s what it’s all about,” Peschel said. “We know that loneliness and isolation are one of the biggest issues in any community, but especially on Longboat. But this does provide a safe, special interactive place and I think it’s really important to a lot of people, and I know it’s important to me personally.” 

Brenner has gotten the contract for the renovation of the building’s recreation room and hopes to be able to host bigger events and invite more community members to the center during the summer as the pandemic winds down. 

“A lot of our regulars are telling us they’re getting the vaccine, but Donna and I aren’t eligible yet,” Brenner said. “As soon as we feel safe, we’re going to do larger events. We’re hoping by the time it’s super hot out we can have that big rec room done for yoga and movies.”