A.N.A.\u2019s Friends recently hosted more than 50 youth for a Heartfelt Hangout aboard Salty Sam\u2019s Pirate Cruise on Fort Myers Beach, an experience made possible through the generosity of donors and community partners.<\/p>\n
The event gave children and teens an opportunity to transform into pirates for the day while enjoying an interactive cruise filled with sword fighting lessons, pirate games, music, dancing and plenty of laughter alongside Pick Pocket Pete and his pirate crew.<\/p>\n
A.N.A.\u2019s Friends created its Heartfelt Hangout program in 2025 to provide vulnerable youth in Southwest Florida with meaningful experiences, activities and social outings they may not otherwise enjoy. Activities are created with a future question in mind: \u201cWhat was your favorite childhood memory?\u201d Outings seek to create positive, happy memories for children who have experienced challenging moments in their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe watched children become pirates for the day, swords in hand, searching for treasure, laughing with the crew and fully believing in the magic of the moment,\u201d said A.N.A.\u2019s Friends CEO Jessica Stanfield. \u201cThat is exactly what Heartfelt Hangouts are all about. For a few hours, kids got to set sail, be silly, make memories and simply enjoy the kind of childhood adventure every child deserves. Those are the memories they\u2019ll hold onto forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heartfelt Hangouts are open to Southwest Florida youth who have experienced abuse, neglect or abandonment.<\/p>\n
Support for the Heartfelt Hangout aboard Salty Sam\u2019s Pirate Cruise included the venue itself, as well as the Board of Directors for A.N.A.\u2019s Friends and generous community donors who continue making these experiences possible for local children and teens.<\/p>\n
A.N.A.\u2019s Friends relies on support from additional individuals, businesses, foundations and nonprofits to support future Heartfelt Hangout experiences. To learn more, please call 239-245-7787 or visit ANAsfriends.org to make a secure donation.<\/p>\n
About A.N.A.\u2019s Friends<\/p>\n
A.N.A.\u2019s Friends is a nonprofit organization that provides programs and services to vulnerable Southwest Florida children and teens who have been Abused, Neglected and Abandoned (A.N.A.). \u201cFriends\u201d of the organization includes individuals, businesses, foundations and nonprofits that collaborate through partnerships that provide a safer, more nurturing environment allowing youth to heal, grow and thrive. Originally founded in 1984, A.N.A.\u2019s Friends is a United Way Partner Agency that serves youth in the dependency court system across Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties. For more information, please visit ANAsfriends.org<\/a> or call 239-245-7787.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A.N.A.\u2019s Friends recently hosted more than 50 youth for a Heartfelt Hangout aboard Salty Sam\u2019s Pirate Cruise on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-309840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}