THE HAMMOCK
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 1, NO. 17
Protests draw thousands PAGE 3A
FREE ON NEWSSTANDS | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2025
Beverly Beach campground seawall ‘beyond repair’ RV Resort seawall crumbles after storms, causing over $3 million in damage. FDOT works on county sand. 6A
Honoring Sheriff Staly Operations Center to be renamed after Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly. PAGE 5A INSIDE MYSTERY STORE
Massive 171,000-square-foot retail store proposed for SR 100 lot in Palm Coast. PAGE 6A
PIRATE’S MARK
Leo Peters sets school record at FPC-Matanzas Senior Day swim meet. PAGE 7B
INDEX
Business..................... PAGE 5B Calendar..................... PAGE 2B Cops Corner................PAGE 2A Crossword.................. PAGE 3C Letters.......................PAGE 12A Public Notices............ PAGE 5C Sports......................... PAGE 6B Tributes .......................PAGE 7B Real Estate................. PAGE 4B
Vanilla Ice, Bronx House serve up smiles The rapper and local pizzeria joined forces for the second annual Slices for Smiles fundraiser for terminally-ill children. ALEXIS MILLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Bronx House Pizza and rapper Vanilla Ice hosted the second annual Slices for Smiles event on Sunday, Oct. 19, in The Hammock, aiming to raise $200,000 for the Little Smiles Foundation. The Little Smiles Foundation, a Florida-based nonprofit, serves terminally-ill children and their families. Their efforts include delivering toys to hospitalized children, sponsoring trips to Disney, providing meals for families and adding new resources to local hospitals. Last year, the organization helped install two sensory rooms at AdventHealth Daytona Beach. The foundation has impacted more than 3,000 children in the Palm Coast area through its work with AdventHealth and Halifax Health. Bronx House Pizza owners Brad
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The Bronx House Pizza owners Bruno DiFabio and Brad Beam were excited for the second annual Slices For Smiles event.
Group selfie action with Vanilla Ice. Photos by Alexis Miller
Beam and Bruno DiFabio said the event not only brings smiles to children’s faces but also unites the community in support of a meaningful cause. Bronx House Pizza opened in 2019 and has since expanded to 13 locations, with more under construction. The Hammock location is located at 5384 N. Ocean Shore Blvd. Each store is operated by team members who have been promoted from within the company. Beyond Slices for Smiles, Bronx House contributes year-round to local food drives, homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters and other community charities. “What’s unique about us is we really like to give back to the community and not just at events like this,” DiFabio said. “Once a year, we give 100% of sales to a local charity. Our local charities can be women’s shelters that are in favor of preventing violence to men, women and children; homeless shelters; adolescent homeless shelters; the Salvation Army; and food banks. We also do food drives
with elementary schools where we give them pizza parties in exchange for the children bringing in donations from their house. It’s part of our core to be a great neighborhood partner.” At last year’s inaugural Slices for Smiles event, Bronx House raised more than $125,000 for the Little Smiles Foundation. “The following day, we went to Halifax Health and their pediatric unit and took the money and were able to bring children toys and gifts and clothes, and went to AdventHealth in Ormond to their pediatric unit and did the same thing,” Beam said. “Over the course of the past year, we’ve continued a friendship and relationship with both of the hospitals, feeding the nurses during Nurses Week, bringing meals and feeding the families of children that are there. And not only that, but they built two sensory rooms in both hospitals over the course of the past year with the money that we raised last year.” Special guest Vanilla Ice, whose real name is Robert Matthew Van Winkle, returned this year to help
raise awareness for Little Smiles, surprising attendees with a live performance in the rain. Fans of all ages joined him on stage to sing and dance. “Little Smiles means everything to me,” Van Winkle said. “It’s neat to see that there are so many people from Palm Coast and St. Augustine that actually come out and have a heart and they bring their appetite. It’s one of the greatest things ever, and to see it firsthand when you walk through those hospitals like I do — we take these kids out of those environments and put smiles on their faces instead of tears.” Vanilla Ice’s signature phrase, “Smiles are contagious,” was printed on the event’s pizza boxes. The Little Smiles Foundation also hosted a booth with free merchandise and information about their mission. Special event T-shirts were sold throughout the evening, with many signed by Van Winkle himself during the meet-and-greet portion of the event.
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