Bo Turbeville

The Lehigh Community Initiative launched one of the first “partnership networking” dinner last week and Chairman Bo Turbeville said it was a way to bring people from the different clubs, organizations and churches of Lehigh together to provide a way for people to meet one another and network with the aim of bringing the people in Lehigh Acres closer together.

He read a rather scathing excerpt from The Huffington Post online site concerning Lehigh. The story by Raymond Schillinger carried a headline: “Lehigh Acres, Florida: A Parable of the American Dream Gone Bust.”

Turbeville said he didn’t like what he read.

“The tragic fall of Lehigh Acres lacks the glitz of the analogous real estate market catastrophes in Las Vegas or Miami; there are no empty high-rise condos here among the sea of hastily constructed and visually monotonous one-, two- and three-bedroom houses. Only a handful of the now bank-owned lots are well-kept; the rest could double as elaborate dioramas of local flora.

“As for the inevitable day when the housing market finally comes around, it is hard to imagine there will be any significant demand for property in this somewhat rural, landlocked, and unincorporated swath of Floridian swampland.“

With deputy: Lee County Sheriff’s Deputy T.C. Tyus, left, speaks with Bo Turbeville, regarding bringing organizations closer together in Lehigh. Tyus is returning to Lehigh as a deputy sheriff working out of the Bravo Station on Homestead Rd.

The rest of the article can be viewed at: www.huffingtonpost.com/raymond-schillinger/lehigh-acres-florida-a-pa_b_817783.html.

There is also an accompanying video produced by Schillinger telling the story of the economy of Lee County with special emphasis on Lehigh.

Turbeville noted that people in Lehigh and the organizations need to come together to help better the community. He said he was raised in Lehigh and intends to continue to live in Lehigh.

There were about 50 people who attended the partnership networking dinner in the annex of the Lee County Bravo Substation on Homestead Rd.

Turbeville noted that the large community room in the substation’s annex building is offered to groups in Lehigh without any charge. He said he didn’t think a lot of people knew that the Sheriff’s Office welcomed organizations in the community to use their facility, which has a small kitchen.

With physician: Dr. Allah El-Gendy, left, talks with Bo Turbeville at the Community Partnership Networking Dinner put on by the Lehigh Community Initiative. Photo by Mel Toadvine

Turbeville also brought up an issue facing Lehigh that he believes necessitates a type of main center for a Community Calendar of Events, a place where organizations can call to ask about open dates.

He noted that with the size or the community today, it is not uncommon for two organizations, service clubs or churches to have large events.

He said he believes it would be better if things were scheduled at different times and the resources would better help the various organizations in Lehigh.

“Why have two golf tournaments put on by two different organizations on the same day or weekend, he asked.

He said events often overlap and he thought it would be beneficial “to bring everybody together.”

“We all need to network together and share a lot of information about each of our organizations,” Turbeville said.

“We want to find a way to maximize our resources to help the different clubs to help each other,”

Before the dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, those who attended wore name badges that they wrote their names on. Many didn’t know each other and the time for networking was what Turbeville wanted to talk about.

“I think we were successful. We had a good turnout. We would like to see this happen every quarter or so and other organizations could even host them,” Turbeville said.

“I like calling it a grassroots partnership … and we can do things like for instance, beautify that roundabout out on 23rd St. Some have suggested doing away with the weeds in the center and making it more attractive. We can do those things if we all work together.

“A sustainable community can be the result of coming together. I know everyone in here loves Lehigh Acres or you wouldn’t be here tonight. I think by working together we all can do a lot to better Lehigh,” Turbeville said.

To answer the question as to why the 50 people had attended, Turberville said it was “the three C’s – collaboration, coordination and cooperation.“

He asked four questions of the group:

• What does each organization want to accomplish by working together?

• Which kind of organizational relationship is necessary to accomplish these goals?

• Are there resources available for this kind of organizational relationship, such as time, skills, financial resources, community support, commitment, and human participation? If not, can those resources be accessed?

• And finally, is there sufficient trust and commitment to support this kind of relationship?

The 90-minute dinner and discussion ended with survey forms being passed out to everyone who attended which Turbeville hopes will start the ball rolling toward a closer relationship and cooperation concerning events in the community.