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Reader Exchange
Bring the skeleton key out of your closet
By LINDA D. COLE and INGRID L. KOHLER
Published May 20, 2006
If you have any skeleton keys in your closet, one of our readers needs your help. Actually, Patricia Yohe of Valrico is so eager to get into her old oak roll-top desk that she might consider having someone pick the lock if she isn't successful in her search for a skeleton key. For a few silly moments the staff enjoyed a giggle, imagining a column that began with the words "Calling all burglars . . ." Obviously there has been too much viewing of too many episodes of Law & Order in some quarters. The term "slim jim" was even uttered, whatever that means . . . Either a skeleton key or a burglar is likely to be an improvement over the two locksmiths Patricia called to do the dirty deed: They said they would come, but never showed up. If you have the key to solving Patricia's problem, please call 813 476-2752. A reader recently inquired about where to donate pop tops that had been saved from soda cans. The person who asked had been saving them to benefit a young relative's school, but the lad had graduated and the tabs were still piling up, with seemingly nowhere to go. For those with the same question, here are a few suggestions we received from readers. The Shriners Children's Hospital in Tampa applies the donated tabs toward helping cover another kind of tab - the cost of kidney dialysis and cancer treatments. The Shriners international office, at 2900 Rocky Point Drive, in Tampa, will happily accept your tabs. For drop-off hours and locations, please call (813) 281-0300. In addition to accepting the can tabs, the Shriners will provide folks with labels that may be placed on containers to be placed in schools, clubhouses, churches and other public places. Information about the Shriners program came from reader Joanne, who found the topic quite timely: Her organization had been told there was no benefit to be derived from saving these tabs for any group, and many that had been collected were tossed into the trash as a consequence. Other outlets for the tabs that were mentioned in our mail are the Ronald McDonald House in St. Petersburg and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, which uses the tabs to buy and train guide dogs for the visually impaired. So, drink up, folks, and keep on collecting those can tabs: The soda you sip can help some good causes, in addition to refreshing you. Janice Forman's Stitchin' group at the University of South Florida in Tampa welcomes with eager fingers all donations of baby yarn. The members are making baby blankets, sweaters, bonnets, booties and other infant essentials for local shelters. Please call Janice at (813) 974-5685 if you have any yarn left over from your baby projects. Mary from Pinellas Park is learning to quilt, so she would be interested in any quilting supplies, including fabric scraps, that you never used because you pooped out halfway through your first big quilting project. Please e-mail marys7558@tampabay.rr.com or call (727) 215-5650 to arrange a time for Mary to pick up the items. Martha Viele's printer bit the dust, and her new printer doesn't use the same cartridges, which are HP black No. 15 and color No. 78. The color cartridge has been removed from its package to be tried in the new machine, which kept rejecting it, so it has never been used. If you are interested in picking up these cartridges from Martha, who lives in Clearwater, please e-mail marthagv@verizon.net. Dorothy of St. Petersburg needs a replacement container, carafe, pitcher (you know, the part the food goes into) for her elderly Waring blender, CC-8H, model 1186. If you have one whose motor predeceased it or know where to obtain another carafe, please write to Dorothy in care of this column. Thank-you note "Wow! Not only was I offered dough blade paddles, but also entire bread machines," writes Stephanie Cain, who recently wrote to the column to see if she could locate a paddle for her machine. "I turned down offers from the nicest people, from St. Petersburg, Inverness, Weeki Wachee, and beyond . . . It is truly amazing what readers can come up with. Has there ever been an unfulfilled request?" Thanks for the letter, Stephanie; we suspect that a few folks each week fail to make the match they hope to, but the experiences reported to us by successful petitioners like yourself are enormously gratifying to us as well, and typically very heartening. Fun anecdotes are often shared, and occasionally even new friendships have been forged. Send requests to Reader Exchange, Floridian, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg 33731 or e-mail cole@sptimes.com Requests will be accepted only by mail or e-mail. This is an exchange column, so we will not run items that are for sale. Readers must agree to publication of phone numbers, including area code. ON THE WEB: An interactive version of Reader Exchange is available at itsyourtimes.com.
[Last modified May 19, 2006, 09:13:20]
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