On May 19, the Brandon Historical and Preservation Society held its first meeting at the GFWC Brandon Junior Woman’s Club. The purpose of this meeting was to bring together like-minded community members who have an interest in the history and preservation of the Brandon community.
“This must be a community organization with diversity,” said society member Karen McGinnis. “When I decided to dedicate myself to spearheading this initiative, I thought to myself that we first must come together as a community, brainstorm and begin to develop a plan of action for a mission, and I needed to know if there would be interest from the community to do this venture.”
The responses McGinnis received were much more than she expected.
“With the Moseley Homestead just next door to us on Limona; all the rich, forgotten history right here; and the amount of people showing interest in participating, it just makes sense,” McGinnis said. “There is something about history and nostalgia that causes us humans to have a feeling of happiness, warmth, wholesomeness and peace. It’s something nontangible, a nostalgic feeling words sometimes cannot describe to be able to just go back, even in our minds and memory, to times when things were much different.”
There are many people in the Brandon community who are natives and are very interested in coming together to continue on with the legacy. “There are also many people who are just good stewards of history in general, some calling Brandon home and some not, that just want to make a difference,” McGinnis said. “There are many things that we can do as a community and work together to recognize our heritage, preserve what we have left and contribute to the community by working with other local programs and initiatives. This is why we had the first meeting, to see what the community wants. At large, it just brings us together for the good of Brandon history.”
McGinnis hopes more people will want to become members of this new organization.
“It is definitely in its infancy,” McGinnis said. “Everyone is welcome, Brandon native or not, with history to share. Ideas about historic preservation? Willingness to volunteer and advocate? If you are interested in helping in any way as we brainstorm and develop the Brandon Historical and Preservation Society, we invite you to participate.”
If you’d like to become a member of this new organization, you can contact McGinnis at 813-770-5976 or via email at bhaps@yahoo.com.
