Jan. 21 Community News Briefs

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Davidson Realty hosts grand opening today
Davidson Realty, Inc. will host a grand opening ceremony for its new office in Jacksonville Beach today (Jan. 21) at 4 p.m. The event is open to the public and will be hosted at its new location, 1500 Beach Blvd., Suite 215, adjacent to Engine 15 Brewing Company.
“We’re looking forward to being part of the Jacksonville Beach community and meeting the needs of our clients throughout the area,” said Davidson Realty President Sherry Davidson. “We have a great team of agents in the new office who are excited to turn the lights on and open the doors.”
Davidson will provide complimentary beverages like craft beer by Engine 15 and a variety of wines. Finger foods by Blackstone Grille will be served.
At 5:30 p.m., Davidson will draw a winner for its Cooler & Cocktail raffle contest. The prize, which is sponsored by Bank of England, includes a cooler filled with 14 brands of liquors and a variety of snacks. Tickets are now on sale (one ticket for $10, six tickets for $50 and 15 tickets for $100) and will be available up to the drawing. Anyone who checks in on Facebook at the event will also receive a free raffle ticket. All proceeds from the raffle contest benefit St. Augustine Youth Services. Learn more at www.DavidsonCares.com.
Davidson Realty’s Jacksonville Beach office is the company’s second location behind its headquarters in World Golf Village. A new office in the Julington Creek/Mandarin area is also planned for the near future. Davidson is recognized as one of Northeast Florida’s 50 Fastest Growing Companies and Best Places to Work by Jacksonville Business Journal. The firm has also been repeatedly featured as one of Florida’s Best Companies to Work For by Florida Trend magazine.

Church blood drive Sunday
Ponte Vedra United Methodist Church at 76 S. Roscoe Bvd. will hold a blood drive on Sun., Jan. 24, in the church parking lot. Appointments are available every 15 minutes from 9:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Anyone who is in good health, at least 17 years old and weighs at least 110 pounds may donate blood. There is no upper age limit to donate. Those who have visited Panama, Costa Rico and some other countries with a risk of malaria within the past year are not eligible to donate blood.
Contact nflagal@aol.com for more information or to schedule a donation time.

Sports author visits Book Talk Café Monday night
Nathan Whitaker’s life in sports has led to a career surrounded by famous sports figures. He’ll talk about his life in sports and his books written with sports icons like Tony Dungy and Tim Tebow at the Ponte Vedra Library’s Book Talk Café program on Mon., Jan. 25 at 6:30 p.m.
A Gainesville attorney representing NFL and college coaches, Whitaker is also a bestselling author of sports biographies. He’s written six books that have cracked the top ten of the New York Times Bestsellers list, including his first book, “Quiet Strength,” co-authored with Tony Dungy, which became the second-best-selling hardcover sports autobiography ever, and has over two million copies in print.
His most recent book, “Snap Decision,” is a middle-grade novel about friendship and honesty, and is set in North Florida.
Whitaker is a Gainesville attorney who played football and baseball at Duke University (football for Steve Spurrier). He also has master’s degrees from Harvard Law School and the University of Florida, and has worked in the scouting departments of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Book Talk Café is sponsored by the Friends of the Ponte Vedra Library, and offers light refreshments as well as the opportunity to purchase the author’s book. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Registration open for county youth basketball leagues

St. Johns County Parks and Recreation Spring Youth Basketball League is now offering a new program for male and female athletes ages 9 to 14. Registration is open and runs through Feb. 13. There is a $20 non-refundable registration fee to play, and tryouts will be held on Feb. 13 at the Ketterlinus Gym, 60 Orange St., St. Augustine.
New leagues will be broken down by age and gender and will include: boys 9 and 10; boys 11 and 12; boys 13 and 14; girls 9–11 (elementary) and girls 12–14 (middle). All practices and games will be held at the Ketterlinus Gym and Solomon Clahoun Community Center (1300 Duval St.). Practices will be scheduled by individual coaches. Games begin March 5 and run through the end of May. All games will be held on Saturday mornings or afternoons. For more information or to register, call Josh Bratovich at (904) 209-0386 or visit www.sjcfl.us/recreation.