For Voices of Hope for Aphasia, a nonprofit working to improve the quality of life for people with a brain condition affecting the abilities to read, write, speak, and understand language, the annual crossword puzzle competition fundraiser, Word
Play 2025, delivers a message about the cause.
The organization’s Executive Director Debbie Yones shares it with the crowd after the competition concludes at each year’s event.
“I say, ‘Wasn’t that fun, using language like that?’” Yones says. “‘Can you imagine
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Debbie Yoneswhat would happen if I took your ability to access language away?’’’
The third annual Word Play is May 15th at Banquet Masters in Clearwater. Tables will compete with each other to solve a puzzle created just for the event by a nationally known crossword constructor. Yones says that Marie Haley, longtime partner of the late nationally-syndicated puzzle creator and Tampa resident Merl Reagle, uses her contacts to get a custom-made puzzle for each year’s contest.
“Our goal is to have a fun night,’’ Yones says.
Last year, a table that included Tampa Bay Rays pitchers Pete Fairbanks and Jason Adam (now with the San Diego Padres) came in second. That event raised more than $140,000.
Tampa Bay's crossword connections
The Tampa Bay area has a deep connection to crossword puzzle creators, says David Warner, a former editor of Creative Loafing and friend of Reagle. Known for his clever and funny puzzle themes, Reagle died in 2015.
Arthur Wynne, an English journalist credited with inventing the modern crossword puzzle, is another famous name in crosswords with Tampa Bay ties. He died in Clearwater in 1945, Warner says.
Yones credits Warner for coming up with Word Play and the idea of “playing with words to highlight the impact of the loss of them.’’
Warner, a New York Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle aficionado and board member of the St. Pete Free Clinic, got the idea from an annual trivia contest fundraiser the free clinic holds. He and his husband, Larry Biddle, helped Yones turn the idea into reality.
“We were talking with Debbie about creating an event that would be a fun
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David Warner competition like that but would kind of reflect more of the concerns of an organization that’s devoted to increasing people’s access to language,’’ Warner says.
The event also honors and remembers Reagle, who Warner knew well while editor of Creative Loafing.
“I always loved how much fun he had with words and how funny and witty he was, so we wanted to bring in that part of Tampa, that connection to crosswords,” he says.
Supporting the cause
The fundraiser helps sustain and expand Voices of Hope for Aphasia’s programs.
Aphasia impacts over 2.4 million people in the U.S., more than twice as many as Parkinson’s disease, Yones says. She says about three-fourths of the cases are caused by a stroke. Aphasia can also be caused by brain injuries and tumors and can result from a form of dementia called primary progressive aphasia. That’s the condition that has disabled actor Bruce Willis, Yones says.
“The disease that causes dementia, if it settles first in the area where we process short-term memory, then we call it Alzheimer’s,” she says. “If the disease settles first where we process language, then we call it primary progressive aphasia.”
People with aphasia caused by a stroke or traumatic brain injury can continue to improve if they stay active and keep using speech, Yones says. That is where Voices of Hope for Aphasia comes in.
“We are not a speech therapy clinic,’’ she says. “The intention of Voices for Hope for Aphasia is to provide opportunities for people with aphasia to continue to use speech, to practice their speech in a more natural environment that promotes group connection, new friendships, and a supported environment to continue to provide those engagement opportunities that result in continued improvement.’’
The organization has six programs. Its core initiative is “Living!” spelled “with an exclamation point,’’ Yones notes.
“Those are our group conversation activities,” she says. “We hold those in person in St. Pete, in Tampa and Dunedin, and also online every day of the week.”
In other programs, the organization offers two-day educational workshops live and online for families with loved ones who have been diagnosed with aphasia; support and social connections for families of people with aphasia; training for people with aphasia to use technology to augment communication; group outings and adventures for the family; and volunteering opportunities for people with aphasia.
“Our goal is to improve the quality of life for the person with aphasia and their family members and loved ones,’’ Yones says.
Event details
Word Play 2025 is 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on May 15th at Banquet Masters, 13355 49th St. N. in Clearwater. Individual seats are $95. A table is $1,000. You can
purchase a ticket at this link. Tickets include one free drink and access to a cheese and cracker buffet during a cocktail hour, followed by a full dinner buffet catered by Banquet Masters.
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Stage Photography of TampaThe 2024 Word Play crossword galaThe event features a silent auction and presentation of the annual Merl Reagle Words for Good Award to Pinellas Community Foundation “for their unwavering support of our mission and their deep commitment to enhancing the quality of life for our neighbors,’’ Yones says.
The awards presentation will feature a video tribute to Reagle to mark the 10th anniversary of his death. In the video, Tampa Bay Times columnist and Poynter Institute writing coach Roy Peter Clark will talk about Reagle.
Winners of the crossword competition receive vouchers for tickets to the event’s title sponsor, The Off-Central Players theater group, a Merl Reagle crossword puzzle book, other prizes, and a trophy to back up their “bragging rights,’’ Yones says.
For tickets and more information about the event, go to Word Play
For more information on the organization, go to Voices of Hope for Aphasia