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Being a good neighbor meant pitching in
By ANNE LINDBERG
© St. Petersburg Times, LEALMAN -- Marcie Lauster's community involvement began inadvertently when her stepson needed a project to earn the rank of Eagle Scout. They went down to the Lealman Park on 54th Avenue N, built one picnic table set, then rebuilt and painted others. Looking around at the park, Lauster noticed it needed to be maintained. She discovered that the Optimist Club of St. Petersburg kept up some of the parks there. Soon Lauster was hard at work, establishing a Lealman Optimist Club to care for the local park. The Optimist Club, though now defunct, also came in handy when community leaders wanted to open a Lealman Family Center to house programs for poor children and families. A non-profit corporation was needed to be the parent organization for the family center. The Lealman Optimist Club obliged. The family center has grown so much it is looking for larger quarters, and Lauster is still working to improve her community, never missing a chance to perk up the quality of life. Recently, she left a meeting with other members of the Lealman Community Association at the Denny's on 34th St. N only to reappear moments later, a smile beaming across her face. She had bumped into a member of a local veterans post and, in the course of the conversation, found out the group had a baseball field. Sure enough, Lauster got an agreement that Lealman kids could use the field in exchange for some maintenance. "This community needs, needs, needs," Lauster said. "Somebody had to step forward and, I guess, make the initial move. I wasn't seeing anybody else doing it unless a big issue came up. . . . I'm not one to sit in my house and complain. You have to get out there and hit the street and make it change. You can't expect it to change on its own." For Lauster, redevelopment and community activism is all about neighborliness, families and creating a place where everyone can be safe. Sometimes, she said, the government falls down on its duties to supply that safety and services to the people. It's times like those, that people need to be involved. "If we share a space, an area, it's like family," she said. "You've got to get along. . . . The Lealmanites feel they're not getting help from the people who should help them." The only way to change that, Lauster said, may be for Lealman residents to have a vision of their future and to work toward it. "We're either going to have to form our own government or choose a government that's already formed and work hand in hand," Lauster said. Name: Marcie Lauster Age: 49 Background: Moved here with her family from Michigan in 1961 after her father died; lived in Pinellas Park for about six months; lived in Kenneth City until she graduated high school; married and moved to Tennessee and North Carolina; returned in 1977 and lived in Pinellas Park; moved to Lealman in 1981. Goal: "I'd love to see the type of atmosphere that used to be in Lealman. Very close neighborhoods. Neighbors knew neighbors. . . . I'm really hoping with all of our efforts that Lealman is going to be a safe place for the kids, the elderly." Accomplishments: A founding member of the Optimist Club of Lealman, Neighborhood Crimewatch leader, worked to help rejuvenate the Lealman Community Association and serves as a co-vice president; helped establish the Lealman Family Center.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
