Introducing Getting to Know You

As previously published by Shaun Ryan

Every person has a story. We’ve all heard that, but how often do we consider the stories of the people we encounter each day, stories that remain unspoken because no occasion to share them arises? And should such an occasion present itself, how much closer would people feel after listening to one another? What worlds would open up? What things would we learn?

It’s the question at the center of a program launched recently at The Atwater, an apartment complex in the heart of Nocatee.

It began when Paula Felici, an Atwater resident for a year and a half, identified a need among her neighbors, a need to learn more about one another and become a true community.

Her answer was “Getting to Know You,” a forum for residents to tell others a bit about their lives, hobbies, adventures and more. Begun in January, it was an immediate success and has since inspired Felici and her neighbors to welcome friends, family and the community at large to attend the presentations.

“We’ve had some unbelievably interesting guests,” Felici said. “We are in awe of some of our residents here. I’m very proud of the program.”

A diverse program

The Atwater is, by all accounts, a special place. Having opened just five years ago, it has won The Recorder’s Best of the Best of Ponte Vedra multiple times. Occupancy stands at 98%, according to Felici.

Marcus Patterson, currently a leasing consultant there, said he was surprised when he first visited. Everyone was welcoming. Everyone was smiling. This was nothing like some of the places he had worked over the previous seven years.

Patterson said “Getting to Know You” provides people a “safe haven.” They don’t have to remain in their homes, isolated.

It aligns with Patterson’s motto: “Live life, be happy and enjoy life.”

The first presenter was a lawyer who was given a Lego piano kit and found a way it make it play music. About 20 people attended his speech, many with questions about his creation. Soon, people were volunteering to speak or recommending others they knew who had interesting stories to tell.

Kerry Burkhart-Weed and her husband had been living at The Atwater for a little more than two and a half years when “Getting to Know You” kicked off. She hadn’t gotten involved much in her community, but Felici’s program changed that.

“Her activities are really pretty interesting,” Burkhart-Weed said. “People are so diverse and have such an interesting background. So, it’s been nice coming to her events.”

At Felici’s encouragement, Burkhart-Weed — who is a UF IFAS Florida Master Naturalist — gave a presentation on a topic about which she has a great passion: preservation of the Florida sandhill crane.

A longtime volunteer with the Florida State Park System involved in shorebird and manatee monitoring, sea turtle educational tours, wildlife rescue and more, Burkhart-Weed had an encounter while living in Vero Beach, observing a family of Florida sandhill cranes in their nest. It fixed the species on her personal radar.

She went on to become the advocate behind the four signs posted on Nocatee Parkway about a year and a half ago educating motorists about the need to watch for these threatened birds, which often cross the roadway with their young. It was a long process to get the signs approved. She had to present data to both the county and to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. With the support of St. Johns Regional Audubon and Nocatee’s community manager, she got the signs placed in strategic locations.

The importance of protecting Florida sandhill cranes has become more evident as construction and development have increased dramatically in St. Johns County. Roads separate the cranes’ habitat, forcing them to travel back and forth between the uplands where they nest and the wetlands where they feed and roam.

Because the young cannot fly for their first two and a half months, neither do the parents; crane families walk everywhere together.

But educational signs are just a part of Burkhart-Weed’s advocacy. She also distributes postcards bearing interesting and important crane information to area businesses, which in turn make them available to customers.

And taking a cue from The Joffrey Ballet in Chicago, which choreographed a ballet based on the movements of the whooping crane — a famous but altogether different species than the sandhill crane — Burkhart-Weed hopes to convince a local troupe to create and stage its own ballet, this one on the behaviors of the Florida birds.

Her presentation at The Atwater was very successful.

“Everybody did love her presentation,” Felici said. “There were people that already knew about it and were here because they were interested in it. But there were just as many people who knew nothing about it, and they were really fascinated.”

Burkhart-Weed, who served an eight-week internship last year at the International Crane Foundation in Sauk County, Wisconsin, knows her stuff and intends to present a follow-up session in the near future.

“I’m hoping to bring more love to them,” she said of the cranes.

Positive outcome

Another program speaker was Anthony Lizano, director of talent and culture for The PGA Tour. He has given three presentations so far and residents have been asking when he is coming back.

At one point in his life, Lizano had found himself asking what his purpose was — everyone else around him appeared to have one. The answer eluded him for about two years.

“One day, it just came to me,” he said. “I’m very passionate about humans. I love people! I truly do. … so it came to me that my life purpose is to help others reach their full potential.”

It was a topic he explored during one of his presentations: purpose and joy.

Lizano sometimes hears from people who feel their lives are boring, that they simply do the same thing every day. His solution: Do something different!

“Maybe volunteer at Assisted Living,” he suggested to one attendee. “Adopt someone who lives there, because you would bring them great joy.”

Lizano has a very dynamic quality — the kind found in the best motivational speakers — that captures his audience’s attention, which may explain his appeal to the residents of The Atwater. He encourages others to live in the present moment.

“Don’t worry about the past,” he said. “The past is gone. What can we do today to make an impact in your life? What can we do to instill that in your everyday living?”