Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Porter family sees dream for community taking shape

By Kyle LoJacono

When Don Porter was growing up in what is now Wesley Chapel, his family was one of six living in the area. Today it has nearly 60,000 residents and will soon have its first hospital.

The groundbreaking for the Wesley Chapel Medical Center was Dec. 14 and Don vividly remembered what healthcare was like in the area decades ago.
“Our family bought the land for Wiregrass Ranch in 1941,” Don said. “In 1943 a B-26 (airplane) crashed and the whole crew died because there were no doctors or hospital out here. Then when I was growing up on the ranch we had a rider who was thrown from his horse and he broke his neck. That happened at 9 in the morning and it took until after 9 that night for doctors to get here to see him.
“Our family is proud to be a small part of the hospital coming to Wesley Chapel,” Don continued. “It’s been part of a dream to see this whole area develop.”
J.D. Porter, Don’s son, agrees with his father.
“We love this area and it’s time we had a hospital,” J.D. said. “This is a necessary and important step to give the self-fulfilling need to have a place to live, work and play.”
John Harding, president and CEO of Adventist Health System’s (AHS) Tampa Bay Region, said talks to build the hospital got going three years ago as a joint venture between University Community Hospital (UCH) and AHS. The two companies merged Sept. 1.
“In the mid ’90s, UCH and Adventist started talking and moved forward with this a few years ago,” said Harding, of Lutz. “I never thought we would have merged before the hospital was built. It was back then when we figured out it is better to work with each other instead of against each other. I want everyone to know it was actually Norm Stein. He took the first critical steps to make this happen.”
Stein retired as the president and CEO of UCH when the companies merged.
“If you take a helicopter ride above here, and I did two times, and fly over, you see a Super Target and Super Walmart,” Stein said. “I said that area needs a hospital for sure if it has those two.”
Stein added that he will soon be living just north of the facility and jokingly said it was nice for AHS to build him a hospital.
After the groundbreaking, Harding said, “I’ve been working on this for three years and was responsible for putting the design together. It is just a beautiful day that is finally here. Not only for Adventist Health System, but really for the community. Even though we have a hospital in Zephyrhills, it’s about 15 miles away, and UCH in the south, when it comes to any kind of injury, time is extremely important. Having this hospital for the community of Wesley Chapel, we just couldn’t be more glad to be here and serve this area.
Brian Adams will become the facility’s president and CEO in January. He is currently the chief operating officer of Florida Hospital Altamonte, part of AHS.
“Not everyone in a community uses the library,” Adams said. “Believe it or not, not everyone goes to the malls. But at some point everyone is touched in a community by the hospital.”
“This is a really exciting project for the Wesley Chapel community to have the doctors and physicians they want right by their homes,” Adams continued. “We’re actually right across the street from Seven Oaks where my home will be. Just having opportunity to be part of what’s happening in Pasco County, I’m thrilled to be part of it.”
The hospital will take from 18-24 months to build and will use a design that brings a natural element to healthcare while keeping loved ones close by.
“Studies prove patients recover better in an environment that allows them to relax,” Adams said. “Nothing is more relaxing than nature. The rooms in the hospital are also designed so the family can stay with the patient. That’s the other piece that’s important to healthcare today — to have rooms that are designed to be a part of the care. So in addition to a great view, families will have the ability to stay with together.”

Wesley Chapel Medical Center
Location: just north of SR 56 on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard
Size: 200,000-square-foot facility, 52 acres
Project length: 18-24 months
Proposed cost: $121 million
Beds: 80 initially with plans to expand to 300
Services: obstetrics, pediatrics, women’s and men’s services, general surgery, an emergency department with helicopter pad, a comprehensive medical fitness program, orthopedics and sports medicine.

Gaither’s Colton Shepard wins hospital contest

By Kyle LoJacono

As the names of the children up for Kids are Heroes award were read Dec. 13, Gaither High senior Colton Shepard was calm because he was not expecting to win.
“We got to hear all the stories of the kids who were nominated and I didn’t think I had a chance,” Shepard said. “They read the names in alphabetical order, so when they skipped my name I was surprised because it meant I was in the top three.”

Then they announced Lutz resident Geena Allen came in third for the 13 to 18-year-old category, followed by Odessa resident Jonathon Bermudez in second. St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital has been awarding the honor each year since 1996, and Shepard is the first Gaither Cowboy to take first place.
“I was blown away,” Shepard said. “The really cool thing is patients at the hospital judge it. It’s a jury of your own peers who pick you instead of adults.”
Shepard was up for the award because his actions saved a mother and child from a burning vehicle. He was walking home from a friend’s house in June when he saw the aftermath of a car accident near the intersection of Dale Mabry and North Lakeview Drive, just south of Lutz.
The car was on fire, but that did not stop Shepard. He ran across the road, kicked in the windshield and got the mother and child out safely.
Shepard is a member of Gaither’s JROTC and he credits his quick actions with what he has learned through the program.
Shepard’s JROTC instructor Senior Chief Ed Donohue submitted Shepard’s name for the honor after learning about the award from principal Marie Whelan.
“I thought what he did was heroic,” Donohue said. “For him to put himself out like that; a lot of people wouldn’t have done that, especially a teenage kid.
“He’s done a great job for us,” Donohue continued. “He’s responsible. Volunteers a lot of his time to the unit. Makes good grades. He’s a real good kid.”
Gaither’s JROTC commanding officer Joseph Scott, a senior, said no one in the unit believed Shepard when he told them about what he did.
“We’re all really surprised when we heard what he did for that family,” Scott said. “We didn’t expect it out of him. To be that courageous to jump into action like that. When he first told us we had our doubts. We just thought he was messing around with us. He’s a comical kid and likes to joke around all the time.”
The award Shepard received for winning is sitting in one of Gaither’s trophy cases.
Shepard said he plans on attending the University of Tampa and join its ROTC program. After graduating he wants to join either the Navy or Air Force for a four-year term, and then become a law enforcement agent.
Bermudez, a senior on the Sickles High cross-country team, was nominated for the honor after he bought new running shoes for Abdin Fator, a sophomore on the squad. Fator was born in Sudan and moved to the United States in 2003. Bermudez used the money from his 17th birthday to buy Fator the new shoes and acted as a mentor for him all year.
Allen, an honor roll student, was up for the award for helping turn another child’s life around. She was asked be a teacher to check on an upset student in the restroom, and found a child had taken a large amount of medication. Allen stayed with the other girl and convinced her not only to get the medicine out of her system, but also to seek help.
More than 1,000 children from across Tampa Bay have been honored through St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital Kids are Heroes program. About 100 nominations were received for the honor this year.

By Tammy Sue Struble

Former Tampa Convention Center leader John Moors is the new executive director of the Dade City Chamber of Commerce. He started the job last week, replacing Nita Beckworth, who was relieved of the position last month.
During the Thanksgiving holiday, the office struggled a little with staffing. However, according to Joey Wubbna, the current chamber president, everything has been running smoothly since.

“About nine chamber board volunteers took turns on different days working in the office,” Wubbna explained. Along with three full-time staff in the office, they have handled Beckworth’s absence.
Wubbna said the chamber received about 20 applications for the position. The chamber board interviewed the top three selected from the group Dec. 6.
Moors, from New Tampa, has a strong background in the hotel/hospitality business. Although the former Tampa Convention Center head, Moors has ties with Dade City. He was an adjunct professor at Saint Leo University and has served on the Advisory Council for hospitality and tourism at the university for about five years.
“So, I am not unfamiliar with the area,” Moors said.
After about a decade at the convention center, he left in March citing health reasons — which Moors said have not slowed him down. He expressed confidence that health issues will not affect his work at the Dade City Chamber.
At 58, Moors states that the Dade City position, “Doesn’t feel like it’s any less pressure” than the convention center job. In fact, he has been busy doing different things since he left the Tampa job.
Moors has been very active in business associations and charity organizations. “I most recently just finished as volunteer coordinator for Moving Hillsborough Forward,” he said, referring to a recent transportation initiative for increased transportation services throughout the county that voters defeated.
He remains involved with the Paint Your Heart out Tampa project where approximately 3,000 volunteers paint 100 houses in one day.
“It is primarily for fixed income seniors who couldn’t afford to do it otherwise,” Moors explained.  He has also been involved with the United Way and chaired Leadership Tampa Alumni through the Greater Tampa Chamber.
Moors is looking forward to his new position as executive director at the Dade City Chamber of Commerce; he was ready for a change.
“It is a new and exciting challenge,” he said. “I certainly buy into a focus on the past with an eye to the future. I believe this community is moving in the right direction.”

New Boyette Road opens, lanes shift

By Kyle LoJacono

Drivers passing through the construction site to widen SR 54 in Wesley Chapel likely noticed a big change during the last few days.
The $105.2 million project, the most expensive in Pasco County history, is widening the 3.2 miles of highway from I-75 to Curley Road to six lanes. The project passed the symbolic halfway point Dec. 15 when the traffic pattern shifted and the new portion of Boyette Road opened.

“We worked extra hours to make sure it was done by that time,” said Robert Shepherd, Pasco chief project manager. “We’re actually much further than halfway done because virtually all the utilities have been moved and only about 40 percent of the time has passed.”
The original contract called for the job to take 21 months and be done by the beginning of March 2012. Shepherd estimated more than 60 percent of the widening is finished, but hesitated to give a new completion date because, “Anything can happen in construction.”
Along with the traffic shifts, the new entrance to Boyette Road opened Dec. 15. The new street was part of the SR 54 contracted, which is being completed by Pepper Contracting Services Inc.
James Widman, Pasco chief engineer, said the new portion of Boyette was created to greatly reduce the amount of traffic on the winding Boyette Road.
“The (Pasco) commission wants to make the roads safer by straightening roads and intersections like Boyette,” Widman said. “Our engineering study of the area from (2004) showed the S-curve in Boyette to be dangerous and the project is working to create a straighter road for most of the traffic.”
The older entrance to Boyette was the easiest way for many people to get to the Wesley Chapel District Park, the largest county recreation facility in east and central Pasco. The stoplight at the older entrance has also be removed and replaced by a new traffic signal at the new intersection of Boyette and SR 54.
Shepherd said the traffic shift and opening of the new entrance of Boyette would have been done a few weeks earlier if the cold weather had not delayed things.
“You can’t do a lot of road work when it is cold,” Shepherd said. “The asphalt won’t harden and there are other problems with working in cold weather.”

By B.C. Manion

While many people have been busy in recent weeks wrapping presents with seasonal paper and decorative bows, some students and staff at Land O’ Lakes High rolled up their sleeves last week to donate a life-giving source.
They took part in the school’s blood drive, led by the Class of 2012.

Five Florida Blood Services’ bloodmobiles pulled into a space in front of the school’s gym, with students and staff dropping in to donate their blood.
It wasn’t the first time the school had conducted a blood drive. In fact, earlier this school year the high school received two awards from Florida Blood Services. It was recognized for registering the highest numbers of new donors and was recognized for collecting the most pints of blood in one day, with a total of 169 pints.
The awards are traveling honors, which go from high school to high school, and the school is extremely proud of receiving them, said Annette Noack, faculty sponsor of the Class of 2012, which leads the school’s blood donation efforts.
The class officers are very involved in the effort, Noack said. They recruit students to donate blood. They make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to serve to blood donors and also dole out bananas, doughnuts, cookies and other foods to fortify those giving blood.
Those donating blood must be 16 or older, must weigh at least 130 pounds and must eat before and after they give, Noack said.
She credits Principal Ric Mellin for making it possible for the school to get involved.
“He’s our biggest cheerleader. He is just so pumped,” she said. He’s all about involving students and in giving them advice and support, she said.
Noack is proud of the students who help make the event happen and also for those who donate their blood.
“What a beautiful legacy for these kids.  Our community needs to know that there are kids who are taking time out of their day to help save lives,” Noack said. “Look at them, they’re just so amped. I’m so proud of them.”
Besides free food, donors also received a pair of boxer shorts.
Those are popular with both the girls and the boys, students said.
The event also included music and a magic performance by Doctor Thayer, who teaches mathematics at the school.
Besides helping to coordinate the event, Noack leads by example. She was among the first to board the bloodmobile to have her blood drawn.
Her son, Cheyenne who is the class treasurer, said his mother’s dedication inspired him to get involved.
“My mom — she sees a bloodmobile on the road — she just pulls in and gives blood,” he said. He admits he was a little nervous about giving blood himself. “I thought the needle they use was (the size of) a turkey baster,” he said.
He now knows he was wrong. “It wasn’t that big. It didn’t hurt at all.”
Florida Blood Services collects blood to supply local hospitals to meet the need of their patients. The blood  is used to support treatments for organ transplants, open heart and other major surgeries, cancer and other disease, joint replacements, burn and accident victims.
Human blood has three components: red blood cells, plasma and platelets.
Red blood cells carry oxygen to your cells. They are given to trauma and surgery patients. They also are given to people with blood disorders, such as sickle cell disease and anemia.
Platelets control blood clotting and must be transfused within five days of donation. They are used to stop bleeding associated with surgery and cancer.
Plasma carries nutrients and clotting factors. Plasma is given to transplant recipients, newborns, organ transplant recipients and those with clotting disorders.
Donations can last anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours, depending on the type of donation that donors are making.
Besides wanting to repeat their award-winning ways, the class officers leading the school blood drive efforts see greater meaning in what they are doing.
“It’s important to be involved in your community,” Rebecca Dallman, secretary for the Class of 2012. “It’s important to give blood. It’s really not that hard, It’s really convenient. I don’t see why anybody wouldn’t do it.”
“We’re saving lives. I think that is what’s most important,” said Molly Robinson, class president, who, ironically is unable to donate blood because she’s anemic.
There are some challenges, though.
Some students are afraid, some don’t meet the weight requirements and some simply forget about it.
Others don’t participate because of concerns it could interfere with athletic performances at practices or games later that day, said Angelina Bruno, class vice president.
She doesn’t think that’s a good enough reason not to donate blood.
“I think people’s lives are more important than school sports,” Bruno said.

Need a reason to donate blood?
–    One donation can provide four transfusions for newborn babies.
–    A small child with leukemia can need 30-40 donations.
–    Accident victims can use up to 100 units of blood depending on the injury.
–    Cancer patients need blood products ongoing as part of their chemotherapy or radiation treatments.
–    Burn victims, in severe cases, can use 20 units during treatment.
–    Ninety percent of all people who live to the age 70 will require a blood transfusion.
–    Men who donate regularly reduce their risk of heart disease by 80 percent.
–    On average, the Tampa area has only a three-day supply of blood for its local hospitals.
–    A single donation, which takes about 30 minutes, can help save the lives of three patients.

Source: Florida Blood Services. For more information go to www.fbsblood.org or call (800) 682-5663

By B.C. Manion

It’s not a bit uncommon for churches, schools and other organizations to have food drives around the holidays, but students at Learning Gate Community School in Lutz are helping to feed the hungry in a project that lasts nearly the entire school year.
Students are collecting food for Feeding America Tampa Bay.

The project teaches the children many valuable lessons, said Jennifer Weis, one of the fourth-grade teachers involved in the effort. The other two teachers whose classes are directly engaged in the project are Jennifer Boroff and Suze Meredith. All together, there are 64 fourth graders pitching in.
The project that was launched last year by Cissy Stanko, the school’s garden teacher, and the fourth-grade teachers were so inspired by the project they stepped in to take it over this year.
Besides collecting food for the hungry, the children are learning about compassion — as well as reinforcing mathematics, writing and health lessons, Weis said.
“We loved that they could be involved in a year-long project,” Weis said. “We loved what it stood for.”
The goal is to collect one can of food from every student and staff member each month, bringing the total to 624 each month, Weis said.
If they meet that goal, all the students will enjoy a “free dress” day in lieu of the school’s uniform, she said.
The students advertise their food drive through posters and the fourth-grade classes have divided responsibilities for collecting the foods from different grade levels.
Students in her classroom are thrilled to be involved with the project.
“It’s really fun to help. It’s nice to do,” said 9-year-old Miranda College, who thinks there’s a good chance the school will achieve its goal. “I think we’re going to get there.”
“We’re helping to feed hungry people who have nothing to eat,” said Dominick Coniglio, also 9.
Nine-year-old Madison Kocialkowski, said she’s glad her school is helping the poor.
“I feel really bad — just like everyone should — for the homeless people,” she said. “They don’t have what we have.”
They’ll keep track of their progress by coloring in a chart, Weis said. They’ll also practice making pie charts, showing how much food they’ve collected in various categories. They’ll practice making estimation of the food by weight. And, they’ll write about their experiences, too, Weis said.
The project also reinforces lessons on the need for good nutrition and why their bodies need fruits and vegetables, Weis said.
And, it gives children a chance to contribute, she said. Many of these youngsters have no first-hand experience with poverty and are unaware that there are people who are truly hungry, Weis said. This broadens their scope, and she hopes will help them develop an appreciation for community service.
In addition to the canned goods they collect, the school is sharing some of the produce it grows in its garden.
Children at Learning Gate grow vegetables from seed, which they transplant into the garden and they work in the garden to help take care of the plants.
They grow all sorts of things, said students in Weis’ class. They grow peas, pumpkins, squash, lettuce, pole beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, eggplant, cabbages and mustard greens, they said.
They also grow rosemary, basil, mint and other herbs.
They’ll use some of that bounty to feed the hungry.
During its first month, the school collected 1,260 pounds of vegetables, making a sizable dent in its overall goal of collecting 3,000 pounds of food this year.
In December, a short month because of the holidays, the school went way over its quota, collecting 1,079 cans.
Last year, it set a goal of 1,500 pounds and slightly exceeded 3,000 pounds.
The project is just one more example of how Learning Gate promotes hands-on learning, Weis said. She hopes other schools will set up similar programs to help feed the hungry — while driving home life-long lessons for students.

Students at Learning Gate Community School collect specific foods or necessities each month to help the hungry.

Month            Focus
November        vegetables
December        fruit
January        cereal, powdered/canned milk
February        soups
March            pasta/rice
April            nut butter
May            toiletries

Learning Gate is located 16215 Hanna Road. Info: (813) 948-4190 or www.learninggate.org.

New corporate headquarters gives space for other services

By Kyle LoJacono

When Florida Medical Clinic opened its newest facility in 2009 on SR 54 in Land O’ Lakes, it was with an eye toward the future.

It was built to easily allow for several expansions, and the first of those got under way Dec. 6. The $3.5 million project is adding a 30,000-square-foot administrative building that will become the business’ new corporate headquarters.
Currently, Florida Medical is headquartered at a few locations in east Pasco County, including Zephyrhills.
“I have mixed emotions a little bit because I’ve been in Zephyrhills for such a long time, but this will be the first time I can put all of the administrative functions in one location,” said Florida Medical Clinic CEO Joe Delatorre, who started the company in east Pasco 17 years ago. “Right now there is a lot of lost time going back and forth to meet with all these different people. This will be very nice to be more centrally located.”
Florida Medical spokeswoman Janet Wing said the headquarters should be open by late summer 2011.
With the timesaving, the movement west will open up room for more services in Zephyrhills.
“We need more space for (same-day surgery) expansion, clinical rheumatology expansion and urgent care expansion all in Zephyrhills,” said Delatorre, who currently lives in Wesley Chapel. “This new facility will free up the space for those expansions in east Pasco.”
The first of those future projects is for same-day surgery, which will be a 12,000-square-foot expansion expected to begin in the first half of 2011. Rheumatology facilities will grow by 7,500 square feet, plus a tentative plan to make a 7,000-square-foot addition to urgent care.
In addition, after the new headquarters are built, Delatorre said they will likely add another 18,000 square feet for more medical services to the Land O’ Lakes facility.
“We can’t add any more physicians right now in Land O’ Lakes,” Delatorre said. “We’re brimming.”
Delatorre said Florida Medical has 110 physicians and another 40 employees who extend doctor’s ability to heal, such as nurses.
“The best thing to say is we are a progressive, multi-specialty physician-owned practice,” Delatorre said. “You can come to one location and have many health issues taken care of.”
Florida Medical currently has 17 facilities operating in Lutz, Land O’ Lakes, Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills, Dade City, New Tampa, Carrollwood and North Tampa. Delatorre said Florida Medical’s proximity to hospitals like Florida Hospital Zephyrhills, Pasco Regional Medical Center, St. Joseph’s Hospital-North, University Community Hospital and the future Wesley Chapel Medical Center is one of its strengths.
“If you see one of our doctors, you can go to basically any of those hospitals,” Delatorre said. “That helps with insurance issues for the patient. … Also, with our electronic health record it integrates all of our facilities, so it’s seamless to go from one facility to the other.”
Florida Medical put its electronic medical records in place since 2006. It not only allows their doctors to see a patient’s health history, but also to see all the medications they might be taking.
“Just the medications alone for our seniors, a lot of time they don’t remember which ones they’re on,” Wing said. “Here the history is all in the records so the physicians make sure nothing interacts with something else they’re taking.”
As for any future expansions beyond what he listed, Delatorre grinned a little and said, “I have plenty more. Pasco County is an extension of Hillsborough County and there is a lot of activity going on here. We’ve been here for 17 years and developed a good reputation and recruited some great physicians. We are uniquely located in these markets and I think there is more to come.”

By Kyle LoJacono

Baseball and scouting have been two of the biggest influences on Owen Sarwatka and the Lutz resident has come up with a way to combine the two.

Owen, 16, is in the final stages of earning his Eagle Scout award and for his final project, he and his Tampa Catholic High baseball team and coaches will teach the sport to children in the Little League Challenger Division. The program allows physically and mentally disabled kids ages 4-21 to learn about and play baseball.
“I wanted to do something to help the community and spread the love of baseball,” Owen said. “I’ve played for about four years and want everyone to have the chance to play.”
Owen, who is a pitcher and catcher, came up with the project idea while watching MLB Network. A special on the Challenger Division was on and he said it looked like a great program.
“That’s when I learned I wanted to do something for the Challenger Division, but I really got things going because George Steinbrenner inspired me,” Owen said. “He gave back so much to the community and when he died this year I knew I had to do something kind of in his honor to help the community he did so much for.”
Both the Bloomingdale and Northside Little League Challenger Divisions will participate in the event, which is called Everyone Can Play, Jan. 15 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. There will be various stations demonstrating different parts of baseball with Tampa Catholic players and coaches. Those interested in participating must sign up by Dec. 31.
“Our biggest thing is giving everyone a chance to play baseball,” said Northside coach Frank Reyes of Lutz. “I’ve been a coach in the Challenger Division for 15 years and saw how it helped my son. He’s 20 now and has Down syndrome and baseball was a way for him to make friends. I’ve worked in mental health research, mainly with kids, for many years and this program really helps.”
Reyes said the biggest improvement for those who participate in the program is it helps them work with other people. The Northside league is located in the neighborhood across the street from Gaither High and most of the players are from Lutz, Land O’ Lakes, Odessa and Carrollwood. They currently have two Challenger teams that play out of the location.
Reyes said he is also trying to create a stronger link between the Challenger Divisions in the area and connect more people to the program. For more information, call him at (813) 974-7415.
The most important thing to Sarwatka is teaching the sport to the kids, but the Tampa Catholic baseball coaches think it will be just as beneficial for the team.
“We thought it would be something great for Owen and for the team,” said Crusaders hitting coach Paul Russo, who is also Owen’s adviser for the project. “Every player at Tampa Catholic will be a part of it. It will let them work with special needs kids and let them appreciate their own health. I think it will also be a team-building event for them.”
Russo also has a special connection with special needs children. He was the area director for the Miracle League, which is similar to the Challenger Division, for several years. His also taught similar students.
“Watching these kids show their spirit playing this game and getting enjoyment out of it is well worth the effort to teach them,” Russo said. “It’s very special to see and I know the players will get as much out of it as the kids they show the game to.”
Owen, a sophomore, is new to Tampa Catholic this year after spending his freshman year at Tampa Bay Tech.
“All the coaches were on board before they even had all the details,” said Suzanne Sarwatka, Owen’s mother. “Everyone at the school has been amazing with helping. The key club, administration, the cheerleaders, the team. Everyone has been helping and spreading the word about it.”
On the baseball field, Owen will start the 2011 season on the junior varsity team to improve his four pitches — a fastball, slider, curveball and changeup. The Crusaders reached the Class 3A state semifinals last season, losing to eventual champion The Bolles School.
Owen has been in Boy Scouts of America for about five years. He has been in three different troops and is finishing the program as a lone scout, which means he is doing the final achievements on his own.
“It’s helped me with leadership qualities,” Owen said. “Leadership is the biggest thing and also with communications skills.”
For more information on Everyone Can Play or to signup as a participant or volunteer, visit www.everyonecanplay.org.

Everyone Can Play
Where: Bloomingdale Little League
Address: 2215 Bloomingdale Ave. Valrico
When: Jan. 15
Deadline: signup by Dec. 31, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Website: www.everyonecanplay.org to signup, volunteer or donate

By B.C. Manion

Three windows were broken at the Old Lutz School building and $3.50 was stolen when vandals broke into the building on Dec. 5.

It may not seem like a big deal to people who are unfamiliar with the school’s history, but the structure — which opened in 1927 — is a point of community pride.
Generations of Lutz residents went to school there before it was closed in the mid-1970s and at one point it was nearly knocked down to make way to widen US 41. The community rallied around it, sparing it from the wrecking ball, and it now serves as a gathering spot for various events.
A group of citizens has formed the Friends of the Old Lutz School Building to raise money to cover the cost of insurance, electricity and general upkeep.
And their pride in the building is strong.
That may be why the break-in, which occurred sometime shortly after 6:30 on Dec. 5, has drawn a strong reaction from that group.
It seems senseless that someone would cause between $500 and $1,000 worth of damage just to steal $3.50, said Phyllis Hoedt, who is co-chairwoman of that Friends of the Old Lutz School Building.
The incident was reported to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and dusting was done for fingerprints, Hoedt said.
The break-in occurred sometime between 6:30 and 7 p.m., Hoedt said.
Gary Rogers was helping to bring back some items from the Lutz Arts and Crafts Festival that had been held at Lake Park, Hoedt said.
When Rogers realized he had forgotten his keys to the school, he went home to get them. When he returned to the school, he found the broken windows.
The group suspects that two boys are responsible because Rogers saw two boys running nearby when he returned.
The schoolhouse is brightly decorated now and open for an annual Christmas house. The event is free, but donations are welcome, Hoedt said.