Volunteer Spotlight

Tony Stoltz is one of our fabulous volunteers with the Leisure Services division. Tony is a former City of Cocoa employee where he spent 17 years serving the citizens of Cocoa in our Public Works Department before he retired in January of 2018. Tony was a Maintenance Worker III/ Locksmith when he retired from the City of Cocoa.

Tony, also known at times as Santa or St. Nick, is always willing to step up and assist when needed. He has helped fill in for the Cocoa Santa on several occasions serving in that role for the Cocoa/Rockledge Holiday parade and the City of Cocoa’s Holiday Tree Lighting event. 

Originally from Indiana, Tony lives in Cocoa with his lovely wife Claudia, where he has five kids, 24 grand kids and 7 great grandchildren.

The City of Cocoa Leisure Services team is very grateful to Tony for always willing to step up and help for our special events.

Jackie Lewis is a long-time Cocoa resident and fitness enthusiast. Jackie has been volunteering and participating in City of Cocoa events for many years but recently stepped up to lead #TeamCocoa in the 2023 Spring Into Fitness Challenge. 

This challenge, formerly known as the Mayor’s Fitness Challenge, is a fun competition among municipalities, businesses, and organizations to see who can recruit participants to practice healthy habits for 8-weeks. The organization that logs the most healthy hours of fitness will be named the most fit. 

Jackie is also a Zumba instructor and volunteered to lead the Cocoa team for this year’s challenge. She took control by helping to spread the word about the competition, setting up multiple fitness class and gathering opportunities, and spreading the word about healthy habits. 

She set-up over 15 different fitness activities for #TeamCocoa to participate in and gain those healthy fitness minutes. She also runs the Facebook group for #TeamCocoa and rallies participants to log their minutes each week.

The challenge ends at the beginning of April. No matter the outcome of the #TeamCocoa results, we know the most enthusiastic and motivated team leader for the competition will be Jackie Lewis.

Jackie is passionate about fitness and enjoys spending time with her family. Jackie’s husband, Major is a City of Cocoa employee with the Utilities Department. 

We thank Jackie for her dedication and commitment to helping our residents stay fit and active. 

The City of Cocoa and Cocoa Police Department once again held another successful school supply drive this past summer. Supplies were collected at all City facilities during the month of July and a collection event was held at the Cocoa Walmart at the end of July. A huge thank you to groups such as the Adamson Creek Women’s Club, Historic Cocoa Village Main Street, and Direct Metal Roofing for their large donations of supplies.

With the large amount of supplies that were collected, dozens of volunteers assisted the City in helping to pack and distribute those supplies. Members of the Cocoa Rotary Club, former Citizens Academy members, Cocoa VCOPs, City employees, members of the community and Councilmembers were on hand to sort and stuff hundreds of backpacks full of supplies. (Volunteers that helped to sort and stuff backpacks pictured above.)

Then with all of the supplies sorted and packed, the City had volunteers once again come out to the distribution event at the beginning of August in Provost Park to help hand out the supplies to those in need in our community. Once again, members of the Citizens Academy, employees, community members and Councilmembers were on hand as we distributed over 150 backpacks in just about 30 minutes.

The supplies collected and distributed to the community helped our students kick off their school year on the right foot. A huge thank you to all of our great contributors and volunteers that came out to assist the City of Cocoa and Cocoa Police Department with this great community effort.