Quigley House springs into action with two seasonal programs
CLAY COUNTY – Spring has sprung at Quigley House, and that means the organization committed to supporting a safe, welcoming environment for the survivors and families of domestic violence and sexual abuse has a few projects in the works.
First, the home for survivors would like to spruce up the exterior, so it needs materials for spring cleaning, like gift cards, potting soil, mulch, flowers and plants.
To donate, visit quigleyhouse.org.
Also, Quigley House is organizing sponsors and players for its Second Annual Pickleball Tournament on April 2 at Paddle Lands Pickleball Club, 8402 Merchants Way, Jacksonville.
The cost is $120 for a two-person team, and the money will support Quigley House’s support for its services.
To sponsor or play, email development@quigleyhouse.org.
SJR State College contributes to community with Vikings Day of Service
ORANGE PARK – More than 100 volunteers from across St. Johns River State College’s Orange Park, Palatka and St. Augustine campuses joined forces to demonstrate a collective commitment to community service. SJR State partnered Friday with 14 local organizations in the college’s semiannual Vikings Day of Service.
From painting and repairs to stocking shelves and donating blood—and even providing a day of affection for local shelter animals – SJR State put service into action.
Service locations include the Clay Education Foundation and Orange Park High and Life South Blood Drive.
SJR State President Joe Pickens said the college looks forward to its service day held each spring and fall.
“I’m proud of our college community and their eagerness to lend a helping hand to improve our community and for the lives we touch outside of the classroom,” Pickens said. “The camaraderie the day brings draws us all closer as a college family.”
In 2019, SJR State Senior Vice President Melanie Brown spearheaded the event to engage employees and students as volunteers in meaningful service opportunities that address the community’s needs. “This is our seventh year of sustaining service events and growing SJR State’s community involvement,” Brown said. “The reason St. Johns River State College is so special is because of the dedication of our faculty and staff to our students and our communities.”
The college will hold its fall service day in November.
Organizations and agencies operating within the college’s service district of Clay, Putnam, and St. Johns counties are encouraged to submit a service project proposal.
UF/IFAS launches project farming, AgTech businesses
The University of Florida’s Food and Resource Economics Department is launching the Wayne T. Davis Agricultural and Rural Entrepreneurship program in Fall 2026 to help students build agriculture-focused businesses.
The new course sequence teaches agricultural business fundamentals in the fall and culminates in a spring “Shark Tank”-style pitch process where students present full business plans to industry mentors.
Funded by alumnus Wayne T. Davis, the program will equip students to innovate in areas ranging from automation, water use, food preparation, precision agriculture and more.
Growing a business is difficult. Growing an agriculture business can have its own unique challenges that can be daunting for a budding businessperson.
That’s why the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Department of Food and Resource Economics (FRE) is launching a new entrepreneurship program, specifically targeted for students who want to create agricultural businesses.
The Wayne T. Davis Agricultural and Rural Entrepreneurship program will kick off in the fall of 2026 with the course Principals of Agricultural Entrepreneurship, with a follow-up course in the spring of 2027. The class series will focus on the basics of entrepreneurship and business-planning, with a focus on agricultural issues, said Tori Rumenik, an FRE alumna and the program’s creative coordinator. The courses are open to both undergraduate and graduate students as joint classes. All majors across UF system can enroll.
“Agriculture is facing huge challenges, from automation demand to responsible water use, and UF really has the brightest minds in the nation where it comes to agriculture innovation,” she said. “We want to make it possible for them to take those big ideas and transform them into businesses after graduation, but we need to provide the toolkit to do so.”
You might be a redneck if you see Jeff Foxworthy on April 23
ORANGE PARK – Jeff Foxworthy, the top-selling comedian in world history, will bring his iconic act to the Thrasher-Horne Center on Thursday, April 23, at 6:30 p.m.
The standup comedian, author, actor and television host always said he feels most at home on the stage delivering his comedic routine.
Billed as “An Evening with Jeff Foxworthy,” tickets will be available at the center’s box office or at thcenter.org.
He hosted television’s “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader,” “The American Bible Challenge,” the animated “Bounty Hunters,” “The American Baking Competition,” and he narrated the “The Week the Women Left.”
Foxworthy is best known for his “you just might be a redneck” routine (“If you’ve ever been accused of lying through your tooth, you might be a redneck, or If you think the last four words of the National Anthem are ‘Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!’), and along with Larry the Cable Guy, Ron White and Ron Engvall, Foxworthy is known for the Blue Collar Comedy Tour movie, the highest-watched movie in Comedy Central history that’s also sold more than four million copies.