Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Bob Loring attacks poverty in Pasco and Hillsborough head-on

By Kyle LoJacono

Staff Writer

PASCO COUNTY — Toys for Tots of East Pasco has given tens of thousands of toys to needy children in central and east Pasco County since it started in the early 1990s.

TFTEP distributes the toys to kids in all of central and east Pasco, and to children in Hillsborough County if their zip code crosses into Pasco.

Bob Loring is the coordinator for TFTEP and is known as the head elf. The Laker and Lutz News recently talked with Loring about the 2009 toy drive and other groups that help needy families in Pasco and Hillsborough.

The Laker and Lutz News: How many children were helped during the 2009 Toys for Tots drive in east Pasco?

Bob Loring: We now count 4,313 registered children fully served. And that, sir, is a new record for TFTEP.

LLN: What do Pasco families need most now?

BL: Jobs! Until I see new jobs created here in east and central Pasco, I can only assume the number of families needing toys next year, and in future years, will continue to grow.

LLN: Did you receive toys for TFT as a kid?

BL: No, but we were poor. My father was a teacher…I always thought we were middle class. I got involved with TFT when I was in the Marine Corps Reserve between 1963 and 1969. I was a fetch and carry leatherneck for our Miami Reserve Unit, Fourth ANGLICO.

LLN: What is Food for Tots?

BL: I helped start this program in 2002. It’s run by two great guys: pastor Johnny Strickland, a local minister, and Ron Miller. When we met, they wanted to feed the hungry children living across our country. Privacy issues kept them from getting the names of families needing help, so I told them “set up next to my toy distribution…and you’ll be helping families with children in need.” They’ve been with me every year since. And, sir, they’ve never run out of food for our families — never.

LLN: What other programs are you involved with that help the needy?

BL: I chair the Citizens’ Advisor Committee for the Salvation Army in Dade City, and I started The Samaritan Project in Zephyrhills. I founded The American Dream Congress. I helped start Projects of Pasco Inc., a nonprofit that helps start new community efforts. Currently, I’ve submitted a proposal that will create a Center for Community Studies for Pasco County, (which) will provide research support for community leaders and will train students to become involved with community issues.

LLN: Why is helping children important to you?

BL: Our children are the future of our great republic. To ignore them is to gamble away all that America stands for — to us and to the world. We ignore them at our peril.

LLN: Are Pasco children better off or worse off than when you started 10 years ago with TFT?

BL: As you know, I took over the program in 1999. We assisted 400 kids that year. This year there was a crying need to help 10 times that number. I expect things to get worse in the next several years. No question we have more children in poverty than I’ve seen in my lifetime.

LLN: How will you and TFT proceed in 2010?

BL: To start, we need to energize the communities. Each (of the) east and central Pasco communities of Dade City, Zephyrhills, Wesley Chapel, Land O’ Lakes and the poverty bound folks in the Lacoochee area. In 2010, we will continue to engage these communities in the effort to support and level the playing field for the at risk children living among them.

LLN: How can people help?

BL: I find people respond to a good idea and, if we can make it easy for them to help, they will. All anyone has to do to join our effort is to buy a toy and affix it to their mail box on the appointed day during our post office toy drive. We also need to get our youth involved early and often. They have abundant energy, and they will to become involved. We need to maximize their energy.

LLN: Anything else to add?

BL: Heck yes. Like John Paul Jones said, “We have not yet begun to fight.”

For more information on TFTEP or to help, visit www.toysfortotspasco.org. For more information on other ways to help, e-mail Loring at or call him at (352) 588-4230.

Scott Leahy revitalized Stewart Middle’s band program

By Kyle LoJacono

Staff Writer

ZEPHYRHILLS — Just four years ago, the Stewart Middle band program had only 64 students and was struggling to compete with other schools.

Then Scott Leahy became the Bulldogs band director and turned the program into one that regularly receives superior ratings in both group and solo performances. The program now has more than 160 students, 17 of whom were named to the All-County Band team.

For his effort, Leahy will receive the annual Tom Bishop Award for District Five, which includes all of Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties, on Jan. 9.

“When I was nominated for the award, I was very honored,” Leahy said. “It is truly special when you receive recognition from your colleagues.”

Band directors in each district can nominate someone for the award. There are 21 districts in Florida, but not every one selects someone for the award each year.

The award will be presented to Leahy at the Florida Music Educators Association Clinic Conference at the Tampa Convention Center, which runs from Jan. 6 to 9. Leahy will be given a plaque at the conference.

“That plaque will go right up in our band room the next week,” Leahy said. “The students should get to see it too because they are the ones who really deserve the credit. If they don’t listen and learn then none of this would be possible.”

The All-State Band team will play at the conference on Jan. 9, and one of Stewart Middle’s own will be performing. Zachary Winters is a percussionist for the Bulldogs, and his mother, Pam, is the president of the band’s booster club.

“I can’t say enough about Scott because he does so much for the kids,” Pam Winters said. “He helps the kids with their school work just as much has he does with their playing. He knows what is important and doesn’t neglect those things.”

Leahy has the textbooks for all three grade levels, sixth to eighth, of the students he teaches so he can give them extra help if they need it. Leahy has a table called the “homework table,” where he helps his students with schoolwork or projects before or after school.

“The students only have six class periods, so they can’t fall behind and still take band,” Leahy said. “If they struggle in their core classes, like math, science and English, then they usually have to take intensive classes to catch up. That leaves no time for band, and I don’t want the kids to miss out on playing because they don’t have enough help.”

Leahy’s diligence with the students’ academics has paid off just as much as it has with their playing skills. Of his roughly 160 students, 90 made the honor roll in the first quarter of the current school year.

“I try and get the kids to constantly reach for higher goals, whether it be in band, academics or any other part of their lives,” Leahy said. “Some think it’s being tough on them, but I believe kids will surprise you with how much they can

By Kyle LoJacono

Staff Writer

ZEPHYRHILLS — Kaylie Caraway is not like most 11-year-olds.

She likes science fiction novels, plays piano and can speak Spanish, but how she acts is the most different.

“She has spent most of her life around adults, so she has a high level of thinking,” said Cindy Roberts, Caraway’s grandmother. “She can hold her own in conversations with adults.”

Caraway lives with Roberts and her grandfather, Lamar Roberts, in Zephyrhills. She recently won the Patel Conservatory at the David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts Center’s essay contest.

The contest was called “Find your Wonderland: What Makes Your Family Wonderful,” which ran from October to November. Essays were 500 words or less and had to focus on what made the writer’s family special.

The conservatory promoted the program in Pasco, Hillsborough and Pinellas county schools in fifth- to eight-grade language arts classes.

There were winners for each grade level, and Caraway was the sixth-grade winner.

“I started crying because I was so happy,” Caraway said about winning the contest. “I really wanted to win, and I was so happy when I did.”

Pasco County had another winner in seventh-grader William Dugan, of New Port Richey.

Caraway attends the Lee Academy for Gifted Education in Carrollwood, a private school for children 3 years old through 12th-grade. She learned about the contest from her teacher, Melissa Tramel.

Tina James, conservatory education program manager, said 641 children entered the contest. She said judges looked for creativity in telling what makes the writer’s family special and also for grammar and spelling. James did not judge Caraway’s essay but oversaw the entire contest.

“We did the contest to both promote the performances of ‘Wonderland’ at the Starz Center and also to help kids learn how to write,” James said. “That’s why we promoted it through the school system.”

James said “Wonderland” tells the story of how Alice learns her wonderland is her family, which sparked the idea for the contest.

“My family is so special because they’ve made me believe anything is possible,” Caraway said. “They’ve taught me it’s OK to do something wrong and to not give up…So they’re very supportive of whatever I choose.”

Caraway’s mother, Allison Adams, lives in Tampa with her 7-year-old sister, Maryellen.

One of the focuses of Caraway’s essay is her family spends quality time with each other. It begins by saying they always have dinner together with the television turned off to promote family discussion. Nothing can interrupt their meal, not even their dog, Frosty.

“I read the essay after it was done and it made me cry,” Roberts said. “I’m so proud of her.”

Sadie is two years old. She is the best listener and loves to swim. Sadie does everything her owner tells her, and Bethany’s mom always says she listens better than Bethany! Sadie is loved by her owner, Bethany Rae Berry, of Wesley Chapel.

Josie is a five-year old Wheaten Terrier mix adopted from Orlando Animal Services by Mari Mather when she was a student at UCF. Josie and Mari moved to Boston for graduate school, then Josie retired to Florida to live with Mari’s parents, Ken and Paula Loosemore of Lutz. Josie loves walking in all the parks, chasing tennis balls into the ocean, and playing with the new rescued kitten. She looks forward to Mari’s annual Christmas visit every year!

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