Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Karin King is looking for letters to troops and ‘pocket change’

By Kyle LoJacono

Staff Writer

LAND O’ LAKES — Three years of baking 1,200 cookies each week would cause most people to lose steam, but Karin King is not like most people.

“I’ve only just begun,” said King, who founded Treats for Troops in Land O’ Lakes in 2007. “It bothers me that so many troops in remote war zones do not have access to a PX (store on base) to buy necessities…It bothers me that so many PXes are empty or scarcely stocked.”

Despite the sluggish economy, King had arguably the most successful year in supporting deployed U.S. soldiers. She collected 8,500 pounds of Halloween candy from people across the state and country.

King also sent 1,500 dozen, or 18,000 home baked cookies with the help of the community. King receives help from Ricardo Montero, of Wesley Chapel, who owns a commercial oven and can bake 600 cookies in an hour. Others who help are Jean Lawhead, of Lutz, and Kathy Reed, of Tampa.

Toiletries, coffee and powdered drinks also find their way into the care packages.

Now King is starting a new push to support the troops. The first part of her effort is called Operation Pocket Change. King ships the sweets and supplies with the help of Support Our Troops in Wesley Chapel, and the shipping costs are steep.

SOT spent $35,000 shipping all its boxes to the troops in November, and $50,000 in December. Bob Williams started SOT and said about 2,000 boxes were sent those months.

When asked about what it meant to send so many boxes for the holidays, Williams said it was “One of the most rewarding experiences of my life. After 28 years of sending boxes to our troops I am always amazed at the support from the public and the never-ending gratitude of our troops serving in harm’s way.”

Williams said the cost of shipping this month will be around $25,000. It costs about $1 to ship one pound of supplies to the troops.

“We are asking the community to spare us their pocket change to help offset some of the costs of postage and baking supplies,” King said.

The second part of King’s effort is to send another 1,500 dozen cookies and 6,000 letters to the troops for Valentine’s Day. King sent 3,000 letters to the soldiers for the 2009 holiday season and is looking to “saturate” all the military bases overseas with the help of the community.

“It bothers me that postage is so expensive that their families cannot send them care packages,” King said. “If a home-baked cookie and a card or letter from a stranger is all it takes to get their spirits up, then I will do whatever it takes to continue my quest until they all come home. They are fighting for our freedom. It is our duty to send them what they need.”

The idea for sending the cards came after it was announced at the end of 2009 that an additional 30,000 troops were being deployed to Afghanistan.

Those who want to help bake the cookies without buying their own supplies can do so by e-mailing King at or calling (813) 746-1517.

All the letters and cookies need to be given to King by Feb. 1 so they reach the troops by Valentine’s Day. They can be handmade or store bought, but the envelope must be unsealed.

While King is calling for help with pocket change, letters and baking cookies from the community, she is still looking for people to donate baking supplies and other needed items for the troops.

“It sometimes is the little things that we take for granted that make a huge impact,” King said. “We will not stop until the last soldier has come home.”

Those who donate can receive a tax-deductible receipt. Checks should be made out to Karin King-Treats for Troops and mailed or taken to her. Money is not being collected at the drop-off locations.

King said any other businesses that want to become drop-off sites should also call or e-mail her.

Drop-off Locations

• The Laker/Lutz News, 1930 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., Suite No. 14, Land O’ Lakes
• SunCoast Veterinary Care Center, 20319 SR 54, Lutz, (813) 949-8899
• Ledo’s Pizza, 14432 N. Dale Mabry, Carrollwood, (813) 964-5700

How to Help

Karin King with Treats for Troops
Call: (813) 746-1517
E-mail:

Needed items: Letters to the soldiers; home baked cookies and help with baking; money to help with the cost of shipping and baking supplies; coffee; instant beverages (Kool-Aid, lemonade); tea; hot chocolate; instant soup; toiletries (body wash, shampoo, body lotion, sunscreen) and feminine hygiene products

Web site: www.treatsfortroops.info

–

Bob Williams with Support Our Troops
E-mail:

Needed items: Checks or money orders payable to the Postmaster and sent to P.O. Box 7560 Wesley Chapel, FL 33545 to help pay for postage

Web site: www.ourtroopsonline.com

Retired captain leads congregation at Imagine School

By Kyle LoJacono

Staff Writer

LAND O’ LAKES — To say the Rev. Morson Livingston is out of the ordinary would be an understatement.

Livingston is a retired Army captain who served for three years as a chaplain. He was deployed for most of his time in the military, traveling to such places as Bosnia, Kosovo, Hungary and the Bahamas.

“I joined the Army because I liked adventure and wanted to travel,” Livingston said. “I got both those things and got experiences that most church leaders don’t have.”

Livingston was born in southern India in a city called Kerala and moved to the United States in 1989. After serving, he worked with the Federal Bureau of Prisons Systems. Five years ago, he started St. Jude’s Church, which met at Livingston’s house in Land O’ Lakes.

Then St. Nicholas brought Livingston an early Christmas present. Imagine School, 17901 Hunting Bow Circle, in Land O’ Lakes agreed to let the church meet in the school cafeteria each Saturday in late 2009.

“It was Santa Claus for me,” Livingston said of getting the news. “We were asked to give a presentation to the school kids before Veterans Day. The school also donated letters and food for the troops and then let us use their cafeteria.”

Livingston also founded the St. Jude’s Homeless Veterans Resource Center, which offers help to homeless veterans in Pasco and north Hillsborough counties. Last year, the center had two flag ceremonies and provided food, clean water, haircuts and clean clothes to homeless veterans and their families.

“Many of the veterans don’t react well to what they see and have to do while serving,” Livingston said. “It’s no joke. You have to kill people or you’ll be killed. It’s tough to deal with, and I’m just lucky I’ve been able to adjust back to civilian life.”

The church has had traditional services each Saturday at 5 p.m. and Bible study classes at 6 p.m. for the last four weeks. It added a contemporary service at 7 p.m. each week on Jan. 2.

Livingston leads the traditional service, while retired Coast Guard Capt. John Carland leads the Bible study.

“I’ve studied the Bible for years, and just like Morson I’ve been around the block more than once,” said Carland, who is also the center’s treasurer and program director.

Carland served for 33 years in the Coast Guard before retiring in 1992. He lives in Holiday.

Livingston said he is still deciding who will be the permanent leader of the contemporary service.

St. Jude’s has members from Land O’ Lakes, Lutz, Trinity, Holiday and Carrollwood. Only about 20 people attend the church each week, but Livingston said he hopes the new service will help increase those numbers.

“We are a nondenominational church, and I want us to be both a place where visitors can attend and a place to bring the community together,” Livingston said. “I believe there is just one God, so dividing Christianity up into different groups makes no sense to me. All Christians believe in God, so why argue over little things that don’t really matter?”

Livingston was raised Catholic in India but discovered his new views on religion as a chaplain.

“In the chapels in the military, all the different religions and Christians share the same place at different times,” Livingston said. “I try and bring that viewpoint and all my experience to the congregation. There aren’t many church leaders who have been in the military and worked in the prison system.”

Livingston has a master’s degree in psychology and sociology, which helps him see people in different ways, he said.

“You learn to look at people as an individual with psychology, you see them in a group with sociology and you see them spiritually with religion,” Livingston said.

For more information on the church or how to help the resource center, e-mail Livingston at or call him at (813) 951-2288.

By Diane Kortus

Staff Writer

NEW TAMPA — If 50 is the new 40, then 40 is the new 30. And nowhere is that mantra heard more often than in a plastic surgeon’s office.

“We have ‘Mommy Makeovers’ for women in their 30s and 40s who are done having kids, and ‘Workforce Makeovers’’ for health conscious professionals in their 50s and 60s who want to keep up with younger colleagues,” said Stanley Castor, M.D., a New Tampa plastic surgeon who grew up in Zephyrhills.

“Their body is not how they mentally feel,” Dr. Castor said of his patients, who are primarily women. “They exercise and are in good health and want to do a little something to improve their appearance.”

Dr. Castor opened his New Tampa practice two years ago after leaving The Watson Clinic, a large medical group in Lakeland where he worked for eight years and was the only plastic surgeon on staff.

Married with young children, Dr. Castor yearned for more time with his wife, Colleen, their 12-year-old twin daughters and 11-year old son. The family loves to dirt bike, snow ski and spend time at their vacation retreat in north Georgia.

The only way to make this happen, Dr. Castor concluded, was to open his own medical practice. So he left the security of The Watson Clinic and chose the New Tampa for his new office.

He liked the area’s affluent demographics and the fact there were just a handful of plastic surgeons. Also influencing his choice of location was a desire to return to the Tampa area.

Dr. Castor was born in Tampa and moved to Zephyhills when he was 12.

He graduated from Zephyrhills High in 1982, ranked third in the class. Older brother, Stephen, graduated from the school in 1981 and today is a podiatrist in Ohio. Younger brother, David, graduated in 1984 and sister, Deborah, in 1987. Their father, Abe, was pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Zephyrhills for many years.

After high school, the young Stanley Castor enrolled at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, where he met his future wife. He went on to receive his medical degree from the University Of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, completed his residency in general surgery at Emory University Hospitals in Atlanta and continued his training in plastic surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio.

With his medical specialty training completed, Dr. Castor returned to Lakeland, his wife’s hometown, as a board certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon.

His 12 years experience as a plastic surgeon gave Dr. Castor the confidence to open his new clinic in late 2007 at the beginning of the economic recession. He gave it a gilded name, Artisan Aesthetics, and his wife stepped in to help with office management and marketing.

“I like the fact that owning my own practice gives me more time with my patients,” said Dr. Castor. “I spend 45 minutes or more during appointments and have time to really get to know my patients,” he said.

The most common procedures Dr. Castor performs are breast implants, liposuction and tummy tucks, which patients seek out primarily to improve their self-esteem.

“I really feel better about myself and my self-confidence has improved,” said a Land O’ Lakes patient who asked to remain anonymous because of the personal nature of her surgery. “I used to be anxious about going to the gym and was having trouble getting back in shape.”

The 38-year-old patient, a registered nurse, came to Dr. Castor wanting breast implants after she stopped nursing her third child. “I had thought about it for years and years and was finally ready,” she said.

She researched and met with and several surgeons before selecting Dr. Castor. “I’m a nurse and I was impressed as much by his bedside manner as I was by his experience,” she said.

“He asked me a of lot of questions and made me feel I was as important as his very first case. The time he took with me made me feel like I was a person, not just another patient,” she said.

Artisan Aesthetics
5383 Primrose Lake Circle
Tampa 33647
Stanley Castor, M.D.
(813) 971-2000
www.artisanplasticsurgerycenter.net

Also gives $3,000 to help offset freight costs for 10 trucks

By Marcia Stone

Special to The Laker/Lutz News

LAND O’ LAKES – Hundreds of nudists in Pasco and north Hillsborough counties donated food valued at $36,000 over the holidays to the Suncoast Harvest Food Bank.

In addition, nudists also donated $3,000 towards the freight cost of 10 trucks and 22 pallets of food.

Spearheading the drive was the Pasco Area Naturist Development Association (PANDA), whose members solicited food and money from the area’s full-time and seasonal nudists, as well as visitors to the Pasco’s nudist resorts.

“This money couldn’t have come at a better time,” says Elizabeth Fields, executive director of Suncoast Harvest Food Bank. “We always need canned goods and non-perishables and diapers.

“Our mission is simple — to end hunger in our community. The middle class who are losing their homes sometimes don’t qualify for food stamps and our the neediest right now.”

The food bank supplies nutritious food, household, personal care items and paper products to over 150 charitable feeding programs serving low-income and poverty stricken people in our service area.”

In addition to supporting the food bank, PANDA members do other charity work, supporting blood drives, toy donations, giving to Support Our Troops and assisting nudists who have health or family problems and no where else to turn.

“Last year PANDA donated 51 panda bear stuffed animals to Christian Social Services in Pasco that were given to needy children for Valentine’s Day. This is just an example of our donation program and shows the generosity of the naturist community here in Pasco,” said Paul Brenot, president of PANDA.

“Our grassroots, all-volunteer organization has set out to encourage family values and seeks to make our friends, neighbors and local residents aware of the nudist lifestyle in a positive way,” Brenot added. “Nudists are a very giving group.”

Pasco County has 15 nudist communities, including Lake Como, Caliente, The Woods, Paradise Pines and Paradise Lakes, all in Land O’ Lakes, and City Retreats and Gulf Coast Resort in Hudson. These communities offer luxury resorts, RV parks, single-family-home subdivisions for nudists and mobile homes, said Brenot.

How you can help:

Suncoast Harvest Food Bank accepts donations of all kinds. From cash to food donations to items for Clara’s Closet Thrift Store (antiques, furniture in serviceable condition, clothing, household items, etc.) to automobiles and boats (must be in operating condition. Boats must be seaworthy). “We can arrange to pick-up your donated household items. Please contact us at 813-929-0200if you have items to donate. If you do not want to make an online donation, you can always mail a check or money order.”

Suncoast Harvest Food Bank
5829 Ehren Cutoff
Land O Lakes, FL 34639-3423
(813) 929-0200
www.suncoastharvest.org

By Steve Lee

Sports Editor

WESLEY CHAPEL — Who needs ice to skate?

Not anyone who takes to the makeshift ice skating rink at the Shops at Wiregrass. That’s because freezing temperatures and a frozen sheet of ice are not required for a rink that can be slapped down anywhere.

Although there were no snowstorms or freeze warnings in the Tampa Bay area the week before Christmas, there was a chill in the air with nighttime temperatures dropping into the 40s. For some, that made skating seem a bit more realistic.

“It’s a little bit cold right now, so this is perfect for it,” said Wesley Chapel’s Nzuzi Gosin as she watched her daughters skate. “It gives you that holiday feel.”

Gosin’s daughters, 5-year-old Jasira and 7-year-old Jessenia, were among several children and adults to try a spin on the synthetic ice surface promoted by former National Hockey League players John Tucker and Michael Pivonka.

“It’s packed at night,” said Tucker, an Odessa resident and original member of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 1992-93 expansion team. “We usually do events and festivals.”

Real skates with steel blades are actually used and precautions are taken with gliders built from plastic piping to help newcomers and youngsters balance as they navigate the 28-by-100-foot plastic surface.

Still, accidents can happen as Jessenia Gosin knows first-hand, having cut her left pinky and right thumb when she fell.

“I’m going to tell them it was fun, but sometimes you get hurt,” she said of plans to relay the skating experience to her classmates at Pride Elementary in Hunter’s Green.

“She wanted to go back, even with the hurt finger,” Gosin said of her daughter. “It did get easier.”

Gosin, who watched the girls skate alongside sister-in-law Nirojah Gosin of Tampa, said she heard about the rink from co-workers at the Moffitt Cancer Center. When Jessenia told her classmates from school had tried it, Gosen decided to bring her daughters to the outdoor rink, located at the southwest corner of the mall.

Not all skaters who show up to take a spin on the synthetic ice are inexperienced. Raymond Sagum, of Land O’ Lakes, had been on ice before and was a bit more daring than most.

“I forgot all my skills. I’m pretending to be comfortable,” said Sagum, who had not skated since he was in Denmark in 2002.

Sagum’s wife, Maryvick, watched her husband attempt a few awkward spins and jumps. She sat alongside her brother, Vijay Germino, who videotaped the event.

“My husband told me it feels like ice,” she said. “We were expecting it to be real ice.”

That was not the first time Maddie Griffin heard that comment. The 19-year-old University of South Florida student, who plays ice hockey at the Brandon Ice Sports Forum, sharpens skates, collects money and patrols the rink.

She said some of the more experienced skaters bring their own skates, but she persuades them to use the rentals available.

“It dulls the blade down a lot, so just use these,” she said, holding up a pair of rental skates.

The synthetic ice will remain at the Shops at Wiregrass through early January. Cost is $8, which includes skate rentals. Hours are Mondays through Fridays, from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sundays, noon to 6 p.m.

For more information, call (813) 843-1728 or visit www.superskateusa.com.

By Kyle LoJacono

Staff Writer

ZEPHYRHILLS — Most people would never dream of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, but at Skydive City in Zephyrhills people do it all day.

“We have a plane taking off about every eight minutes every day from 8 (a.m.) until sunset,” said David “T.K.” Hayes, co-owner of Skydive City. “We have people from the area calling and asking when’s the best time to watch the jumps like we only have a couple a day. We tell them anytime the sun is up we’ll have people jumping.”

While jumps are constantly happening, Skydive City does something special each holiday season. The annual Christmas Boogie, which has happened each year since 1989, will include multiple special events until Jan. 3, 2010. The highlight of the boogie is a midnight jump on New Year’s Eve.

“You have to be sober all night to participate in the midnight jump,” Hayes said. “Only 20 people can jump at midnight, but we get as many people in the air right around the new year.”

There will also be music and parties throughout the two weeks. For a complete list of Christmas Boogie events, visit www.skydivecity.com and click the calendar of events link on the right side of the screen.

Winter is the busiest time for the company, which will have about 1,000 different jumpers during the two-week boogie. Some of the jumpers come from 35 different countries, but there are also local skydivers that frequent the business.

“The people that I jump with are amazing,” said Quinn Lamb, Zephyrhills resident and bartender at Skydive City. “The little community we have out here is great…The feeling of free falling is just indescribable.”

Lamb has worked with the business for more than two years. He was born in Tarpon Springs and now lives in the permanent recreational vehicle park located on Skydive City’s property. He recently started teaching jumpers how to use wingsuits, which inflate with air during jumps to extend the amount of free-fall time from 60 seconds to about three minutes.

“It’s just a great, multicultural event b

ecause people come from Europe, Asia, Russia, Australia and other places and stay here for two weeks,” Lamb said of the Christmas Boogie. “Then you have all the events that happen only during the boogie. It’s just a great time”

The Christmas Boogie is one of three that happen each year, with the others coming around Thanksgiving and Easter. Hayes said that the Christmas version is the largest and busiest of the three.

Hayes, 49, moved to Zephyrhills from Toronto, where he worked with International Business Machines.

“Skydiving was a hobby turned profession turned career,” Hayes said. “I became an instructor to earn money for my own skydives and decided why not just start my own business.”

Hayes said there is nothing like the sensation of free falling from the airplanes. However, things have not always gone perfect for him during jumps.

“I broke my neck back in 2001 during a bad landing,” Hayes said. “I was swooping in while using an extreme high performance canopy going 60 or 70 mph. It was just a bad landing and I kind of cart-wheeled and wiped out like I was riding water skies.”

Hayes said he made his first jump three months after his crash and was jumping regularly after six. Despite the obvious risks, Hayes and the other skydivers repeatedly jump out of plans day after day.

For more information on Skydive City, call (813) 783-9399.

400 baskets filled with food and holiday cheer

By Kyle LoJacono

Staff Writer

PASCO COUNTY — All eight of the rotary clubs in central and east Pasco County recently joined forces to donate holiday baskets to needy families.

“This is the first year we’ve done the holiday baskets, and to be honest, we just became aware of the tremendous need in Land O’ Lakes,” said Randy Gailit, president for the Rotary Club of Land O’ Lakes. “You kind of think you’re isolated from poverty here in central Pasco, but there are many people that need help all year.”

The basket program is called the Eastside Eight Community Food Drive. The Land O’ Lakes club, the Rotary Club of San Antonio, and the two rotary clubs in Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills and Dade City packed 400 baskets for needy families in central and east Pasco on Dec. 19.

“We wanted to do something with all eight of the local rotary clubs, and this is the first time we’ve been able to do it,” said Mike Mira, president of the Rotary Club of Zephyrhills. “I don’t think people know just how much need there is for food during the holidays.”

Each of the clubs was responsible for providing the supplies for their baskets. The baskets included nonperishable food for the holidays, like canned ham and vegetables, boxed mashed potatoes and cereal, to feed a family for several dinners during the holiday break from school.

The families in need were selected by the schools in the various areas to find the families most in need. The food was dropped off at the schools on Dec. 21 and then given to the families.

Mira said the holiday break is especially hard on needy families that receive financial aid, such as free or reduced priced lunch. Many of these children get most of their food from their schools, so the holiday break can be a very hungry time.

“The great thing about this program is everyone can know the food is going to local families only,” Mira said. “It doesn’t go anywhere else but right here in our local community.”

Gailit said of the number of people who could use help, “The need is greater than the 400 baskets that we’re distributing. We could use all the help we can get with helping the needy in Pasco.”

How to help

• Rotary Club of Land O’ Lakes, (813) 918-3027,
• Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel Sunrise, (813) 907-7990
• Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel, (813) 973-2392
• Rotary Club of Zephyrhills Daybreak, P.O. Box 1797 Zephyrhills, FL 33539
• Rotary Club of Zephyrhills P.O. Box 1234 Zephyrhills, FL 33539,
• Rotary Club of Dade City Sunrise, (352) 797-0638
• Rotary Club of Dade City-Downtown,

Central and east Pasco County come through in tough year

By Kyle LoJacono

Staff Writer

ZEPHYRHILLS — Even though 2009 was not the best for most businesses or people, East Pasco Toys for Tots still distributed presents to thousands of needy children.

“Based on last year, we actually gave toys to more people in 2009 than in 2008,” said Anna Fulk, captain for the Wesley Chapel distribution location. “We just had many more people to help. We did run out of presents for the older kids, but we managed to help everyone that was registered through the schools and many more that showed up afterward.”

The toys were distributed on Dec. 19, and the good news for needy children came from all the distribution sites.

“It’s a good year when we run out of families before we run out of toys, and that’s what happened at all five of our stations,” said Bob Loring, EPTFT coordinator. “I was very pleased with how this year’s distribution went because of how rough the economy was. Our communities here in Pasco take ownership of the needy kids and always come through to help. I was very pleased with the generosity of the whole east side.”

Loring is known as the head elf for EPTFT and has been the coordinator since 1999.

The five distribution sites for EPTFT included:

— Wesley Chapel Elementary in Wesley Chapel

— Land O’ Lakes Community Center in Land O’ Lakes

— Alice B. Hall Community Center in Zephyrhills

— Pasco-Hernando Community College in Dade City

— New Life Assembly in Trilby

While EPTFT focuses on helping Pasco County children, the program does not turn away children who live in Hillsborough County zip codes that cross into Pasco.

At the Wesley Chapel site, toys were separated by gender and age on tables set up in a circle, which has come to be known as the “Circle of Life.” Parents were able to “shop” for toys at the tables.

“It’s just like shopping without a cashier,” Loring said. “At some of the stations, parents also got to take socks and toothbrushes for the kids. We also gave out food to the parents. They got frozen chickens with all the fixings for a Christmas dinner.”

To help or for more information on EPTFT, e-mail Loring at , call him at (352) 588-4230 or visit www.toysfortotspasco.org.

By Kyle LoJacono

Staff Writer

ZEPHYRHILLS — For the last 25 years, there have been Christmas trees at Florida Hospital Zephyrhills.

“It is such a special event to experience with family and the community,” said Stephanie Watts, spokesperson for the American Cancer Society’s Pasco Unit. “It’s a great time for the community to come together to celebrate the holiday season. It’s a very special time and really kicks of the Christmas season here in Zephyrhills.”

Watts was born in raised on the Pasco County side of Lutz and has worked with ACS for two years.

Jerry Sterner, 64, was the coordinator for the annual Christmas trees for the community presented by the hospital for 20 years. He recently retired as the director of community relations in September but was asked by hospital administration to come back and be the master of ceremonies this year.

“The trees are a tradition here in Zephyrhills,” Sterner said. “It’s one of the signature events of Florida Hospital Zephyrhills that started in December of 1985. It is one of the highlights of the community and really marks the start of the holiday season.

“The hospital has been here 25 years, and so have the Christmas trees.”

Sterner said the Tree Decorating and Lighting Program is usually the first Sunday in December, unless Thanksgiving is the week before. When that happens, the lighting is second weekend.

“People in the community look forward to the tree lighting, and it does kind of start the holiday celebration in the area,” said Lyn Acer, hospital spokesperson. “This year, we had more than 2,000 people at the event.”

While the trees have been part of Zephyrhills for 25 years, this year was the first for Acer.

“For me it was a great opportunity to see the community come together,” Acer said. “It’s a special time of year, and it’s amazing to see so much community participation and support for the event.”

There are more than 50 trees this year, which include one for each state in the union, one for Canada, one for Support Our Troops, and an international tree.

Different groups sign up to decorate the trees as early as a year in advance. The decorations on the tree are meant to reflect the culture and traditions of the area or group it is named after.

The ACS chose to decorate the Washington tree because the first Relay For Life took place in Washington 25 years ago.

“In 1985, Dr. Gordon Klatt walked around a track for 24 hours to raise money for a local ACS office,” Watts said. “Relay For Life as grown from that into something that most people have heard of.

“It’s very cool to have the 25th anniversary of the Relay For Life and the Christmas trees at the hospital happen at the same time.”

The Washington tree was decorated with lots of purple items because purple is the color for all cancer awareness. The ACS also put apple ornaments on the tree.

Watts said next year, the ACS will be decorating the international tree because cancer is a disease felt worldwide.

The Tennessee tree was decorated by the Zephyrhills Historical Association, which put maps of the state, items from the Grand Ole Opry and records from county music stars form the state, such as Johnny Cash.

“We’ve done the Christmas tree decorating for about 10 years as a group,” said Margaret Seppanen, president with the association. “The lighting is a lot of fun. We look forward to looking at the other trees to see other people’s handiwork that we might be able to use the next year.”

Seppanen said the association will be decorating the California tree next year.

“I’m very proud of the hospital and what it offers to the community,” Sterner said. “It’s an expensive program, but it’s a gift to the community. The hospital doesn’t sell tickets or anything for the tree lighting.

“It’s a (nonprofit) hospital that still gives these special gifts to the community.”

Sterner said the trees will be up until the first full week of the new year. The Pasco County Parks and Recreation