Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a federal holiday and a national day of service more than 40 years ago.
Ernest Hooper and Briana Mays with United Way Suncoast stop by to talk with Florida Matters about the opportunities for service and the need for volunteers in the Tampa Bay region.
Plus, some of you may be trying Dry January: abstaining from alcohol for a month after what may have been a round of boozy holiday parties at the end of the year.
Later in the show, you’ll hear a conversation with Caitlyn and Mike Smith, co-owners of Herban Flow non-alcoholic and functional beverage store in St. Petersburg, and Matt Veronesi, bar manager at Willa’s in Tampa about how bars, restaurants and bottle stores are adapting to customers looking for non-alcoholic cocktails and other drinks.
MLK Day and volunteering
When it was added to the list of federal holidays in 1983, MLK Day was conceived as a national day of service to honor Dr. King’s legacy.
But it can be tough for people to find time to volunteer on the holiday itself, so United Way Suncoast invites volunteering through a week of service.
“There's so many people coming out to volunteer, but there is always a need for more volunteers,” said Briana Mays, philanthropic engagement specialist with United Way Suncoast.
“Dr. King said we must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. And it's so amazing how these quotes that are 50 and 60 years old can still resonate,” adds Hooper, chief communications officer for United Way Suncoast.
Volunteer opportunities include sorting food at Feeding Tampa Bay’s Causeway Center warehouse, serving food at Feeding Tampa Bay's cafe, and packing education supply kits for teachers and students.
Volunteers also staff United Way’s free tax preparation service for households earning under $79,000, which will take applications later this month.
Mays will spend MLK Day volunteering at feeding Tampa Bay, and said it’s inspiring to see how people turn out to serve the community.
“I feel like it is my responsibility to take part in that, not only to honor Dr. King and his legacy, but to continue to advance his agenda in that there is infinite hope for America and for Tampa Bay,” Mays said.
Dry January
Earlier this month, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on a link between alcohol and cancer. He wants Congress to change the health warning labels on alcohol so consumers learn about the cancer risk. He told NPR that alcohol is the third leading preventable cause of cancer behind tobacco and obesity.
The warning is timely, as people may be leaning into Dry January, a trend that started more than 10 years ago in the UK as a public health campaign.
And reducing your risk of cancer is not the only reason to try going without alcohol for a month, said Sylvia Crowder, who has a PhD in nutrition and is a researcher in Moffitt Cancer Center’s Health Outcomes and Behavior Program.
“It can also have a lot of mental health benefits, reducing anxiety, improving your mood, physical health benefits, so you have a better liver function. And also, of course, if you cut out alcohol, you're also cutting out a lot of excessive calories,” Crowder tells Florida Matters.
To get through the month successfully, Crowder said try to set realistic goals and track your progress. And try finding some like-minded people: look on social media, like facebook or instagram, for communities to support you and keep you accountable.
Listen to the full interview with Dr. Sylvia Crowder here:
If you're doing dry January this year, you might have noticed bars and bottle stores are embracing the trend and offering more ways to be social and sober.
Caitlyn and Mike Smith own Herban Flow, a bottle store that sells non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits, and functional drinks infused with THC, mushrooms and herbs. They opened their first location in Tyrone in 2023, and a second location in downtown St. Petersburg last year.
“It’s kind of a mix of a passion project and us also wanting to have that accessibility of non-alcoholic drinks,” said Caitlyn, who was diagnosed with endometriosis at the age of 16.
“Alcohol was one of those things that did not work with my body, and my partner is almost celebrating five years of sobriety, and so much of socializing is based upon drinking. And we missed having that. So we were like, why is nobody doing this?”
“When I stopped drinking, I lost all [the] social aspects. I lost friends and everything,” adds Mike.
“So, you know, really going full in on passion and creating a store like this kind of brought life back a little bit more.”
He said they’re looking to recreate the vibe of a beer festival with Herban Flow’s High and Dry Festival later this month, with 70 different vendors.
“If you've ever been to a Beer Fest or a Wine Fest experience, that's something that I really miss,” Mike said.
“The amount of options that are available are exploding right now.”
Willa’s bar manager Matt Veronesi sees more people asking for non-alcoholic drinks during Dry January, and he said restaurants and bars in Tampa have started offering more options without alcohol in the last three years.
Making a non-alcoholic cocktail can be difficult, he said, “especially if you're not fermenting anything in a house or, you know, you're distilling something in house and removing the alcohol. It's almost like taking in various different ingredients without making a sugar bomb at the same time.”
Veronesi said Willa’s is leaning into Dry January, making ginger beer and tonic in house.
“You can add mint, you can add flavorings, you can really open up the door to have whatever you want, just because you have a good base to start with.”
Veronesi encourages people to try Dry January - even if it’s not in January.
“Me and my wife are both in the bar industry, and January is a hard month for us to do it. So we're doing it in May,” he said.
“We're gonna have a full cleanse in May. And you know, at the end of that month, you'll feel the mental clarity and like, the lightness sometimes, that you'll have.”
