By Lori Leath Smith Each year at this time, some of the area’s top high school, collegiate, amateur, professional, Special Olympics athletes and individuals who have fostered youth activities are honored during the annual All Sports Association’s (ASA) Awards Banquet. The ASA is a Northwest Florida non-profit organization whose primary...
By Michelle Ruschman When missionaries, Mike and Libby Wild, began making videos with their four sons in 2011, no one in the family dreamed it would one day become Wild Brothers Productions. In less than 10 years, what started as a video series for friends and family in the Niceville area,...
By Melissa Fertitta February marks the 20th anniversary of the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women initiative. Started in 2004, Go Red for Women prioritizes educating women about their risk for cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women, taking a life every 80 seconds, according to the AHA. Each...

New Year, New You?

By Stephenie Craig The holidays are over and New Year messages are here. Change yourself. Change your life. Lose weight. Earn more money. Look younger. Do more. Take better trips. Buy better stuff. Eat differently. You and your life aren’t enough. Spend money to be a better, more acceptable version...
By Lori Leath Smith Anyone can be a Holiday Hero when they help those in need in our community. As always during the holiday season, there is an ongoing need for giving or volunteering. Many children don’t have enough food to eat over a weekend, much less over the holidays...

Missing Christmas

By Gueary Clendenning Christmas is just around the corner. After Thanksgiving, the pace quickens toward the big day! We’ll find ourselves in a big rush, always pursuing one more thing we need to get accomplished. We look for the nearest parking spot in the crowded mall, searching for the perfect...
By Kenneth Books Recovery from addiction is hard. Resources are limited and the lure of drugs and alcohol can be overwhelming. But there is a resource in our area that helps women break the cycle of addiction, get and stay sober and create a normal, fulfilling life for those who...
Welcome the Holidays Through Times Past By Margaret Zonia Morrison Our neighboring county, Walton, will celebrate its bicentennial in 2024. Commemorations like this call to mind history and tradition. Both the stately Wesley House, located at Eden Gardens State Park in Walton County, and the Christmas celebration that has become a welcome herald...
By Will Estell If you’re a fan of the arts—whether visually, musically or through their power of healing, and if you live anywhere in Okaloosa, Walton or Bay Counties, then you’re likely already familiar with Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation (MKAF)—the outreach and events this organization has been bringing to Northwest...
On Sept. 6, Sharing & Caring of Okaloosa County, Inc. commemorated the completion of its recent building expansion project with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house to show off Fort Walton Beach food bank’s new facilities. The project included a 900-square-foot addition to the east end of the building...