Photos for Headline Surfer / TOP: Families participate in Longwood PD.'s Back to School Event on Sunday, July 31, 2022, in Longwood, Florida. Middle: Mayor Matt Morgan is shown with his wife, Larissa, and their son, Jax. Right: Volunteers and one of the sponsors of the event. Below: Matt Morgan is shown with Longwood Police Chief David Dowda.
By HENRY FREDERICK / Headline Surfer
LONGWOOD, Fla. -- If there's one thing that puts Longwood Mayor Matt Morgan head and shoulders above dozens of municipal leaders, besides the fact that he's close to 7 feet tall, is his graciousness.
"Thank you to our Longwood Police Department for (Sunday's) record-setting 3rd Annual Longwood Police Back to School Event," Morgan said in a Facebook post. "This was by far, the most attended back-to-school event they have hosted it at our community building."
The line for this event even before the doors opened at 8 a.m., went all the way around the sidewalk of the Longwood Community Building, and all the way back into the Community Building’s back parking lot area," Morgan noted. "They went through 500 backpacks in a matter of hours, and then went through an additional 100 more, in a matter of 30 minutes."
"Thank you to our Longwood Police Department for (Sunday's) record-setting 3rd Annual Longwood Police Back to School Event," Morgan said in a Facebook post. "This was by far, the most attended back-to-school event they have hosted it at our community building."
The line for this event even before the doors opened at 8 a.m., went all the way around the sidewalk of the Longwood Community Building, and all the way back into the Community Building’s back parking lot area," Morgan noted. "They went through 500 backpacks in a matter of hours, and then went through an additional 100 more, in a matter of 30 minutes."
Raffles were held throughout the morning for free bicycles, and laptops, plus there were bounce houses, free food, and the many community partners that had/tables set up outside in the main parking lot in front of the community building.
Morgan thanked Cachè barbershop here in Longwood, for providing free haircuts and expressed his appreciation to the community volunteers and businesses for their contributions.
"This was also the most amount of different sponsors that I’ve ever seen participate," Morgan, the retired pro-wrestler-turned politician. "I would like to thank every single one of them for their contribution, and for any of those sponsors that attended, you could see easily why it was so needed."
Morgan also thanked Longwood Police Explorers 212 and the Lyman Football Team for helping work the event alongside the Longwood Police Department.
Sponsors included Dan Newlin Attorneys, Kustom, Publix Supermarket Charities, Bryan Builders, Orlando Health, Cachè Barbershop, Automated Building Control Systems, Energy Air Inc., Sir Speedy Printing, Longwood First Baptist Church, Longhorn Steakhouse for countless free hamburgers and hotdogs, and Ladies 327, Inc. for providing the kids' zone.
While Morgan waxed poetic in his Facebook post about the sponsors and volunteers who made this third annual back-to-school event so successful, it was a citizen who summarized the sentiments of many in Longwood as to an individual whose leadership has led to the many successes this suburban city outside of Orlando has experienced in recent years.
"I love the direction our great community is taking thanks to the superb leadership of our mayor, Matt Morgan," Longwood resident Joyce Frantzen wrote.
About the Byline Writer: Henry Frederick is a member of the working press and publisher of Headline Surfer, the award-winning 24/7 internet news outlet launched in 2008 along the I-4 tourism corridor in greater Daytona Beach to Orlando from Lake Mary, Florida via HeadlineSurfer.com. Frederick has amassed 115 award-winning bylines in print & online. He earned his Master of Arts in New Media Journalism from Full Sail University in 2019. He was a breaking news reporter (metro cops & courts beat) for the Daytona Beach News-Journal for nearly a decade. And Before that worked the same beat for The Journal-News/Gannett Suburban Newspapers in Rockland/Westchester counties, NY, dating back to 1989. Having witnessed the execution of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Florida's death chamber and covering other high-profile cases such as the George Zimmerman murder trial, Frederick has appeared on national crime shows on Discovery ID, Reelz, and the Oxygen Network series "Snapped" for his analysis. AWJ: