- April 25, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
Dear editor,
It seems silly to reflect on a grocery store closing. Part of me is thankful for a closing of a big-box grocery store which let the greed of late-stage capitalist growth and profit get ahead of itself. On the other hand, Lucky’s filled a desperate need in a community with little ability to make healthy food choices. In all though, the closing of Lucky’s in Ormond Beach marks a reversal of comfort and health for our family and in particular our son.
Our son is a wonderfully intelligent and loving kid. He’s also neurodiverse and his body and brain react to common, GRAS (generally regarded as safe) ingredients found throughout the food we eat as Americans. These ingredients include food dyes, preservatives, artificial flavors and more. We painstaking read labels of foods we buy every week.
When these additives enter our son’s bloodstream, he faces incredible challenges. Over the years, we’ve learned that our sweet boy doesn’t know what is happening to him, and that is scary on its own. It lasts for days and weeks. Every accidental ingestion of these unnecessary ingredients sets us back weeks, if not months.
When we arrived in Ormond Beach in May 2018, for nearly a year, grocery shopping was a time-consuming and emotionally draining experience. Until Lucky’s.
I still remember the day Lucky’s opened in Ormond Beach. I got a text from my wife that she and the kids were openly crying in the store — in delight. Our son was reading labels of cookies, granola bars, treats and other “normal” foods kids enjoy. He was so happy. “I can eat almost anything in this store, Dad,” he told me later that day with tears in his eyes. I cried with him at his relief and feeling of being a “normal kid.”
Lucky’s filled a need in our community. The news of its closing set our family back on its heels again.
Our hope is for a company, with heart, to fill the vacant storefront we’ll soon see beachside. Perhaps it will be market that offers good, safe, and wholesome foods as Lucky’s did for a very short time. There’s already chatter in the community about local stores that could benefit from the space. I hope that’s true. On a broader note, I also hope this high-traffic area empty storefront doesn’t signal more stagnation in a community that is trying to reinvent itself.
Mike and Maggie Berta
Ormond Beach
Dear editor,
Since 2005, many of us who love the water and boating have been asking for an expansion of Cassen Park. Every other municipality in Volusia and Flagler County have added resources to their water access areas, except us.
Ninety-percent of people who like boating are people like myself who own boats smaller than 20 feet (not rich by any means) and spend anywhere from four to six days a month on the water. My wife and I recently went to the Halifax Art Festival by boat, thanks to new dock space built next to ISB bridge. The Cassen Park expansion will give us 270 feet of floating dock on the north side and over a 100 feet of breakwater on the south side and allow us to get visitors via the water.
Every weekend, hundreds of boaters are out on the waters looking for a place to stop and visit. Many friends who boat said they can’t wait to come to our area and walk to all the local restaurants and galleries on Granada. I can see in the future where expansion of the bait shop and adding a small outdoor dining area would benefit us as well. While I will concede this city is a little slow at times to act, I am so thankful we have a city manager and commission that is dedicated to seeing that our city is expanded with the needs of the majority, not just a few who want to go back in time or stay as we were.
Rick Rivers
Ormond Beach
The post was updated on Thursday, Jan. 30.
