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ANNE BROACHEA concerned parent raises money by placing plastic flamingos in neighbors' yards to aid a teacher with cancer.
WESLEY CHAPEL - After dark, their mission begins.
It requires low voices, stifled giggles and the occasional sprinkler dodging.
Oh - and 14 plastic flamingos.
They call it "flocking," and it's mischief of the charitable kind.
For the past couple of weeks, residents of Colhaven Village at Meadow Pointe have been paying $15 to have the flamingos planted in their neighbors' yards. They're accompanied by a note exclaiming, "YOU HAVE BEEN FLOCKED!!!" and listing the neighbors responsible.
All the money raised goes to Joann Davis, a special education teacher for more than 20 years at Sanders Memorial Elementary School in Land O'Lakes. After suffering from a number of health problems, Davis was diagnosed with cancer during the spring.
Shelayne Witte, who calls herself "chief flocker," came up with the idea after noticing a cluster of the birds in a neighbor's yard.
"She didn't necessarily look like the pink flamingo type," Witte said. "She said her church was doing it as a fundraiser for their youth group."
Witte had heard about Davis' troubles while volunteering at Sanders, where her 9-year-old daughter, Paige, just finished third grade.
"I thought this would be a good way to teach the kids to give back," said Witte, a sales director for Mary Kay cosmetics, which has a new shade of blush called pink flamingo. She and Paige have lived in the Heron Point community in Land O'Lakes for about two years.
Since school let out, they have been staying busy with their flocking responsibilities, which Witte hopes to make into a summer project. So far the bulk of their orders have been within Meadow Pointe, but she expects the drive will spread to other neighborhoods.
She and Paige pile a couple of neighborhood children and the flamingos into her silver Pontiac Grand Prix, with a MK signature written in bright pink letters on the side, and head out to fill orders.
She said some Meadow Pointe residents recognize her now and wave as she approaches.
"It's becoming a part-time job," she joked.
But it's not the sort of neighborhood where you'd expect to see the birds, made famous in John Waters' 1972 flick about a tacky Baltimore landscape.
"I called and asked what I had to do to get them out of my yard," said Deborah Catterton, a real estate agent whose Colhaven Village lawn was flocked Thursday evening.
The answer? Nothing. Witte promises to pick up the birds for free within 48 hours. Neighbors are encouraged, though not required, to buy a new round of flocking for a friend.
Catterton said she has paid to have two of her neighbors flocked. "It's a way to help someone in need," she said.
Witte said they had hoped to raise $150 to $200 for Davis, but they've already topped that.
On Wednesday, she brought a check for $350 to Sanders. Davis is spending the summer with family out of town, but principal Tammy Kimpland said she would forward the money to her.
"She's a very loved and cared-about teacher here," Kimpland said, adding that the faculty organized spring fundraisers - a spaghetti dinner and a change-collection drive - that raised $5,300 for the teacher.
A large chunk of the $350 came from a barbecue organized by Patricia Krania, a friend of Witte's who lives in Meadow Pointe.
Krania, a legal nurse consultant, offered barbecue guests door prizes but encouraged them to give a donation in exchange. She also helped to get the word out about the "flocking" drive and signed up to flock six of her neighbors.
"I'm ready to flock a bunch more," she said with a laugh.
Only one house gets flocked at a time, and Witte has four more to tend to after a weekend business trip. She and the kids will be out there in the dark, whispering, giggling and unloading a cluster of fuchsia and Pepto-Bismol pink.
INTERESTED?To "flock" a friend, call Shelayne Witte at (813) 996-2207.