Land O' Lakes News

Fun Feeds Pasco festival kicks off annual food drive

November 13, 2013 By Michael Hinman

Adrienne Castens signs her emails with a phrase of inspiration from Metropolitan Ministries: “Hope starts with a meal.”

Castens’ church, Keystone Community Church on State Road 54 near Land O’ Lakes Boulevard, provided a lot of hope already with its annual holiday food drive for Metropolitan Ministries. But Castens and other members of Keystone knew they could do more.

Gaynor Dietz poses with some of the turkeys donated during last year’s food drives that helps Metropolitan Ministries feed hungry families during the holiday through Keystone Community Church. (Photo courtesy of Adrienne Castens)

Last year, Castens and her team started Fun Feeds Pasco, a food drive kickoff event that turned making a donation into a festival. And thanks to the success of that event, Keystone will do it again this Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.

“I don’t have the exact number in front of me, but we brought in three times as much food as we normally do during the festival last year,” said Castens, who has attended Keystone with her family for the last six years. “So we decided to do it again this year, and this time we’ve got even more activities for children, vendors, and some great entertainment lined up.”

Castens works by day as a substitute teacher, and sees firsthand more often than not what hunger can do, especially with young minds wanting to learn.

“Hunger is one of the things that breaks my heart,” she said. “I see children who come in and say their tummy hurts because they hadn’t eaten. But at least in school, they can get lunch and maybe even breakfast. But it’s during the breaks, like holidays, where they can really go hungry. Where they don’t have breakfast, lunch or dinner.”

Metropolitan Ministries looks to serve just under 590,000 meals during the holiday season in Pasco, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. To achieve that, the organization is going to need literally tons of food, and every drive — including the one at Keystone — is essential to make that happen.

The tent for Keystone’s food drive will go up this weekend, and it will accept donations through Thanksgiving week, primarily of frozen or nonperishable, nonexpired food items.

But those not wanting to clean out the pantry or hit the grocery store on the way can also bring other donations like gift cards, personal checks, new toys and new clothes. One popular donation is frozen turkeys, which could help make a needy family’s holiday truly special.

“It’s about bringing the community together, and helping those in need,” Castens said. “This isn’t just a Metropolitan Ministry thing. It’s not just a Keystone Community Church thing. This is a community event to bring awareness of the needs in our community, and to help our neighbors when they need us the most.”

The event will also include live music, face painting, clowns, inflatable bounce houses, free hot dogs and cotton candy, and even a Florida Blood Bank Bloodmobile unit.

If you go
WHAT: Fun Feeds Pasco
WHERE: Keystone Community Church, 21010 State Road 54, Land O’ Lakes
WHEN: Nov. 16 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
COST: Free, with suggested donation of nonperishable food, new toys or monetary donations
INFO: FunFeedsPasco.org

Young Virginia cancer patient inspired Plantation Palms fundraiser

November 6, 2013 By B.C. Manion

Christina Jenks recently had her head shaved for a cause. She’s trying to help put an end to pediatric cancer.

Jenks and her husband Eric are behind a fundraiser planned for Nov. 9 at Plantation Palms Golf Club in Land O’ Lakes. The event combines a golf tournament, head shavings and fun activities for kids and adults, aimed at raising money for St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital Foundation to support pediatric cancer research.

Christina Jenks shaved her head to battle pediatric cancer. Will you? There are other ways to help, as well, of course. A fundraiser is set for Saturday at Plantation Palms to help fight pediatric cancer. (Photo courtesy of Christina Jenks)

The Jenks, who are the founders of Big Heroes 4 Little Warriors, began their crusade against childhood cancer a couple of years ago. It began when Christina Jenks read about a 6-year-old boy in Virginia who was fighting for his life.

One of the things that the little boy, Nathan Norman, said he most wanted for Christmas was cards from his heroes — police officers, firefighters and rescue personnel.

The young boy’s plea touched Jenks’ heart.

She approached her husband, a firefighter with Pasco Fire Rescue, and suggested they get the boy a card and ask firefighters at various stations to sign it.

The simple gesture snowballed into an avalanche of love as word spread. Fire and rescue folks from Orlando to Pinellas County began calling, expressing their desire to get involved.

“The response ended up being overwhelming,” Jenks said. “They wanted to donate helmets, they wanted to donate uniforms. They were making gifts for him. We had stuff coming from everywhere.”

They got so much, in fact, they wound up loading up their Chevy pickup and driving 700 miles to the Normans’ home in Lynchburg, Va., to deliver the loot to the young boy.

That was in December 2012.

When they arrived, the boy’s parents talked to them about the need to help children who have cancer. The Normans had launched their own fundraising organization and wound up giving the Jenks 110 gift bags to bring back to children at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa and All Children’s Hospital.

The Jenks later decided to create Big Heroes 4 Little Warriors to help children in the Tampa Bay area who, like Nathan, are fighting for their lives.

The couple said they felt called to get involved.

“For me, I’ve been in fire rescue for more than 20 years, and helping people is something I love to do,” Eric Jenks said.

“All you have to do is meet one of these children and that’s all it takes – to see the battle they’re fighting, you just want to fight it for them,” his wife added. “That’s what we’re doing, we’re fighting for a need that needs to be filled. These kids need someone to fight for them. That’s what we’re doing.”

If you go
When: Saturday, Nov. 9; Opening ceremony 11:30 a.m., shot gun start for the golf tournament as well as head shaving and family event at noon.
Where; Plantation Palms Golf Club, 23253 Plantation Palms Blvd., Land O’ Lakes
What: Golf tournament, chance drawings, face painting, bounce houses, head shaving, games, arts and crafts, DJs and other activities.
Plantation Palms will donate 10 percent of all restaurant proceeds.
For more information, call Eric or Christina Jenks at (727) 641-6075.

Workin’ at the carwash: Local business chips in with prime location

November 6, 2013 By B.C. Manion

Samantha Barone, Lexi Romeril, Kendall Perkins, Katie Hale and Amanda Lasky all stood on the sidewalk at the edge of U.S. 41 and Ehren Cutoff, waving signs and urging drivers to pull into the parking lot across the street to get their cars washed.

They were asking for a $5 donation per car wash, and judging from the energy the volunteers were exerting, motorists got their money’s worth.

Dean Hale sprays off a car during a car wash to raise funds for the Mini Bulls, a fast-pitch softball team he coaches. The team donated a portion of proceeds to Susan B. Komen’s ‘For the Cure.’ (Photo by B.C. Manion)

The car wash crew was busy on the afternoon of Oct. 27 as drivers streaming by the busy intersection decided to pull in to have their cars soaped and sprayed.

The car wash was done to raise money for Mini Bulls, a traveling fast-pitch softball team, as well as to support the Susan B. Komen “For the Cure” breast cancer foundation.

Players weren’t the only ones getting wet and sudsy. Parents pitched in, too, along with some siblings.

The event was just one of many that Rene Van Hout and her husband, Wes, expect to occur at the corner lot as groups seeks to raise money for various causes. The couple owns LOL Transport & Moving, and they recently announced they would make the lot available to community groups to have car washes. They would also supply water, hoses and nozzles to help make each one a success.

The Mini Bulls seized the opportunity.

Rene Van Hout said the idea is to give back to the community. It’s one way the couple can express its gratitude for being able to secure the site for their business.

“I wanted to share the blessing of this prime location,” she said.

The lot is available to any group that’s raising money for a nonprofit group, such as a church, a band, an athletic organization, or a charitable cause, Van Hout said. They do not have to be designated by the government as a nonprofit group, but cannot personally profit from the venture.

Rebecca Lasky, who was on hand to support her daughter’s softball team, praised the moving company for its generosity.

“I think it’s an amazing donation to the community,” said Lasky, who lives in FishHawk Ranch near Brandon.

Lasky was holding a sign at one spot at the edge of U.S. 41, while her daughter was among the group of kids holding signs near the intersection of Ehren Cutoff and U.S. 41.

Lasky said the team is a great thing for the kids.

“They’re like sisters,” she said, adding her 14-year-old daughter is devoted to the game. “My daughter eats, breathes and sleeps softball.”

Lesley Harris, whose daughter Keeana also plays, applauded the moving company for helping organizations that need to raise money.

“I think that it is phenomenal,” the Wesley Chapel woman said. “It’s a prime spot.”

McKenzie Nix, a 12-year-old player from Lakeland, was busy at the fundraiser. At one point, she climbed into the bed of a pickup truck to clean off the back window of the passenger cab. At others, she was washing or drying off cars.

Dean Hale, who coaches the team, was busy, too, hosing off soapy vehicles. His wife, Mercedes, was busy scrubbing them.

Besides raising money for the softball team, the fundraiser had another benefit, Coach Hale said. Raising money to battle cancer helps make the girls more aware of the world outside of softball.

The team, which practices at Krusen Field in Zephyrhills, draws its players from Land O’ Lakes, Lutz, New Tampa, Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills, Valrico, Brandon, FishHawk Ranch and Lakeland.

Any group interested in requesting the use of the parking lot for a fundraiser should call (813) 996-3775 and book the date. The lot is available on Saturdays and Sundays.

“As long as they’re raising money for a nonprofit group,” Van Hout said.

Here it comes: Outlet mall now on track to open next year

November 6, 2013 By Michael Hinman

With the last environmental hurdle removed, it’s full-speed ahead for a proposed outlet mall on State Road 56 and Interstate 75.

Simon Property Group and landowner Richard E. Jacobs Group have finalized a permit with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that had left in limbo their plans to build Tampa Premium Outlets on the Cypress Creek Town Center site for nearly two years, said Carol Clarke, the assistant planning and development administrator for Pasco County.

In less than two years, this long vacant land on State Road 56 near Interstate 75 could be bustling with activity from the new outlet mall that is now expected to finally get off the ground. (Photo by Michael Hinman)

That means an outlet mall could be up and running on what is now acres of vacant land in the heart of commercial growth in Wesley Chapel by the end of 2014.

“We are very excited to be moving forward on this project, and are commencing meetings with the county to determine approvals and a schedule,” said Danielle DeVita, senior vice president for development and acquisitions at Simon, in a statement.

The opening, if it stays on schedule, would come seven years after the Jacobs Group received county approval for the Cypress Creek Town Center, located just north of the Hillsborough County line.

Coleen Conklin, senior vice president of marketing for Premium Outlets and Simon, was not able to comment on the report ahead of publication.

If plans hold up, this would put the outlet mall portion of the site well ahead of its extended construction deadline of 2021 on the 510-acre site. The original plans were to build a 1.2 million-square-foot mall along with 600,000 square feet of retail space and 120,000 square feet for offices by 2011. Expanded plans included 350 hotel rooms, 230 apartments, and a 2,582-seat movie theater.

That extension, granted in 2009, was the result of legal issues, problems with environmental permitting, and the economic recession.

Yet, neither Simon nor Jacobs Group gave up, continuing work on the center they hoped would complement nearby projects like The Grove and The Shops at Wiregrass.

In May 2012, Simon said it had signed an agreement with Saks Fifth Avenue to open an Off Fifth-style store in its outlet mall. It’s a retailer that is common in many of Simon’s projects worldwide.

At the time, Simon expected the Saks Fifth Avenue store to open by 2014, but its permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as well as a court battle with an environmental group had yet to be resolved.

A court rejected the Sierra Club’s claims in 2011 that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers improperly examined the project’s impacts to wetlands and waterways. However, it did move forward with concerns on how the project would impact the eastern indigo snake, a threatened species that moved across the land.

Kenneth Dodd, a herpetologist for the Office of Endangered Species, called the site an important “wildlife corridor,” and that having its habitat “fragmented” could cause more of the snakes to die on area roads.

Now it’s just up to Pasco County officials to approve final site plans, and sign the permits necessary to get construction going.

Pasco County’s Clarke said her staff met with Simon Oct. 29, and “will be working with them to develop a coordinated schedule and get this project going.”

Simon, headquartered in Indianapolis, owns or has an ownership interest stake in more than 325 retail properties in North America and Asia, comprising of 242 million square feet. In the past quarter alone, Simon has opened three new outlet malls in Toronto, St. Louis and Korea. It also began construction on four more in Charlotte, N.C.; Eagen, Minn.; Mirabel, Quebec; and Vancouver, B.C., according to the company’s corporate filings.

Developers detour elevated road after concerns raised

October 30, 2013 By Michael Hinman

Plans to build a 33-mile elevated highway across Pasco County hit its first roadblock last week after the developer of the project reportedly asked for more time.

The Florida Department of Transportation agreed to leave open its request for other competing proposals until December, six weeks after its original deadline of Oct. 23. Wayne Middleton, a partner with International Infrastructure Partners LLC — the company that is looking to build the road — said a recent report from the Urban Land Institute, as well as a recommendation to build a managed bus line along the route, instead prompted their request for a delay.

If an elevated road like this one near downtown Tampa is ever built in Pasco County, it will take a little longer. International Infrastructure Partners, which proposed the privately funded project, has received a six-week extension from state transportation officials as it possibly rethinks its strategy. (File photo)

“Given these reasons and the anticipated additional cost to build, IIP and its partners need more time and clarity from all parties affected as well as those parties that will benefit from our proposal,” Middleton said in a letter to the FDOT.

That delay will give other groups until Dec. 9 to submit their proposals and pay the $10,000 application fee, according to FDOT spokeswoman Kris Carson.

The Urban Land Institute has yet to provide a detailed report of its findings studying growth issues in Pasco County. However, in a presentation made to Pasco County Commissioners earlier this month, the independent growth and development analytical group did express concern about plans to build the elevated toll road.

Charles Long, a consultant from Oakland, Calif., who addressed transportation issues in the county on behalf of ULI, said the biggest problem about the elevated road proposal was the speed of which it was coming together.

“We think it would be important to step back and have a regional discussion about all the options and all the funding choices before you actually move ahead with that project,” he said. “That project is going to have very, very significant negative impacts, and that is not something you want to rush into.”

John Knott Jr., of CityCraft Ventures LLC of Charleston, S.C., who also joined in the ULI presentation, quoted what he said was an old saying in the business: “If you’re a hammer, you’re always looking for the nail.”

“If you plan for transportation, you will get more transit, and you will get more traffic,” he said. “If you get more quality of life, and look at the underlying issues and attack them, you can generally end up with multiple solutions that are generally less costly and create a high quality of life.”

IIP proposed the elevated road in June, requesting the state give up median right of way along the State Road 54/56 corridor so that such a privately funded road could be built. The developers didn’t offer cost estimates, but using the six-mile elevated portion of the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway as a model from 2004, it could cost at least $70 million per mile to build, or a total price tag of $2.3 billion.

Although FDOT answered various questions about its request for proposals believed to be from various groups interested, Carson said no other bids were received by the Oct. 23 deadline. If the same happens by the December deadline, IIP could be the only private builder standing.

The road has met some opposition in the county, primarily from businesses afraid of potential customers bypassing them on an elevated road. John Hagen, president and chief executive of the Pasco Economic Development Council, however, told The Laker/Lutz News last week that the only people planning to take the road were those likely not going to stop at local businesses along the way anyway.

“The idea that you’re going to attract more business somehow as we turn the place into a parking lot is something to rethink here,” Hagen said. “A way for local businesses to get more business is to separate out the people who are not planning to stop anyway — who are just wanting to get across the county — and opening up the surface roads to local traffic.”

Classical Prep will extend beyond reading, writing, arithmetic

October 30, 2013 By B.C. Manion

When Berean Academy closed its doors in Lutz in 2011, it left many families wondering where their children would get the classical brand of education the school offered.

It was a difficult time for families, but it spurred one parent, Anne Corcoran, to begin investigating what it would take to set up a school that would offer that style of education to any child.

Next school year, Classical Preparatory — a new charter school offering a liberal arts education — will open near State Road 52 at the edge of Land O’ Lakes. It will be the first public school in Florida to offer a classical education, said Corcoran, the new school’s board president.

The acquisition of the school site is nearly complete, and the school itself is in the design stage, but Corcoran is confident that classes for kindergarten through eighth-graders will begin in the fall of 2014.

The Pasco County School Board approved the charter school for five years last year, but agreed to delay opening of the school for a year to give its board more time to finalize plans.

The curriculum will emphasize writing, public speaking, character, leadership and critical and analytical thinking. It’s a style of education that dates back to Plato and Socrates, Corcoran said.

“The point is training the mind,” she said. “And training the mind includes the virtues of a classical education. If you can’t exercise self-control, if you can’t exercise responsibility and can’t have respect for others or be trustworthy, you’re not going to be a very good citizen.”

The school will emphasize seven character traits: humility, perseverance, responsibility, respect, self-control, citizenship and trustworthiness. It is important that students learn how to think things through and learn how to make good choices, Corcoran said.

“If you don’t know how to make good choices in life, then other people are going to be making choices for you,” she said.

When Classical Prep opens, it is expected to have 342 lottery-selected students in kindergarten through eighth-grade. The school will add a grade each year after that until it has a senior class, Corcoran said.

At its maximum under the current charter, the school will have 518 students.

A lottery will fill the school the first year as well as open slots in later years. Students already enrolled will earn automatic admission for the siblings without having to go through the lottery.

The school will have rigorous academic expectations, Corcoran said.

Students in middle school will be required to take two logic courses. High school students will be required to take four years of math, science, English and history, along with classes in the fine arts and humanities. Latin will start in third grade and go through eighth, also required.

Students will be expected to deliver oral presentations, even when they are quite young, Corcoran said.

“Learning to speak well, that is teaching you how to think because you have to memorize. You have to be able to say something cogently. You have to use certain vocabulary. Learning to speak teaches you to think,” she said.

Learning how to write well also builds thinking skills, she added.

The school’s board looked at four models of classical schools while laying the groundwork for Classical Preparatory in Land O’ Lakes, Corcoran said. They were found in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Washington, D.C.; Phoenix; and Fort Collins, Colo.

The school they’ve worked with most is Ridge View Classical in Fort Collins. It’s a charter school serving about 900 children in a community similar to Land O’ Lakes.

While many charter schools are established to promote study in a particular area, such as dramatic arts, engineering or other specialty areas, classical education is intended to train students how to be critical and analytical thinkers.

The school won’t begin accepting applications until January and the lottery won’t be until early March. However, the school is accepting letters of application and has launched a website.

The school will use information collected from the letters of interest to keep parents informed of specific deadlines for submitting an application to enter the lottery and other types of information, Corcoran said. It will also help the school’s board with its planning.

For more information about the school, visit www.ClassicalPrep.org.

Young robotics pioneers finish second in X Prize competition

October 30, 2013 By B.C. Manion

While being No. 2 doesn’t have quite the same cache as taking home top honors, it’s not such a bad consolation prize when the contest pits creative kids from across the world.

At least, that’s how Ray Carr is looking at the second-place finish his son’s team achieved in the X Prize “After Earth” competition.

Shown here, left to right, are Sean Carr, R.J. Walters and Ross Edwards, who placed second in an international competition that aimed to encourage young people to think about ecology and robotic design. (File photo)

Sean Carr and his teammates, Ross Edwards and R.J. Walters, finished second to a team from Missouri in the competition, which drew entries from young pioneers spanning four continents. Other countries competing included Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Poland, India, Egypt, Hungary, Singapore and Oman.

The trio of local 14-year-olds would have preferred to win, of course, but they’re taking a philosophical attitude. They said they had fun rising to the challenge and learned how to be better teammates.

The contest was based on the movie “After Earth,” starring Will Smith and Jaden Smith. The sponsor, X Prize Foundation, uses competitions to address “the world’s grand challenges,” according to its website.

In this case, the teams explored ways to make Earth more sustainable and how to use robotics to investigate the potential for a new settlement for humans.

Ray Carr coached the young men, who are also members of the Trinity Dragons robotics team.

As part of the competition, the team designed and built a robot that can scoot across a surface, lift small buckets and deliver them to where they need to go, and then return to its base.

While the robot seemingly acts on its own, it actually completes its work through computer programming and infrared sensors. It carries out its tasks in a fictitious place, called Nova Prime.

The team also produced a video that tells the story of their imaginary world. It opens with images of what’s going wrong with Earth — traffic jams, billowing smokestacks, parched earth, landfills and a dead bird. It then pans to a view of Carr’s backyard in Lutz, where fish thrive in water tanks, which provide water and nutrients to a flower and vegetable garden in a system. That in turn produces fish and organic vegetables, using very little water.

The video features a lively musical soundtrack and an entertaining look at the steps the team followed to create and program the robot.

Other portions of the video show the rover coming together and the construction of Nova Prime.

Ray Carr said that even though they placed second, the team is included in a montage on the recently released “After Earth” DVD.

For making it to the final round, the team received a Lego Mindstorms robotic kit and a Sony Handycam video camera.

Competing in these kinds of contests is a great way to learn, Ray Carr said.

“Edison said he learned 3,000 ways not to make a lightbulb,” he said. “That’s what they did, too.”

Swamp Fest gears up, still needs volunteers

October 30, 2013 By B.C. Manion

Organizers of the Land O’ Lakes Swamp Fest have a mantra: “It takes a community to make a festival.”

In keeping with that theme, Swamp Fest 2013 welcomes additional volunteers to step forward and help with the variety of chores that have to be done to make any festival a success, Swamp Fest coordinator Doug Hutchinson said.

Students who are older than 16 can pitch in at the event to earn some community service hours, Hutchinson said, and any other civic-minded volunteer who wants to help out would be appreciated.

Cheryl Carreno and her grandson, Colton Bettis, ride the carousel at the Swamp Fest last year. (File photo)

The annual festival — Friday through Sunday this year — will be in its usual place at the Land O’ Lakes Community Center, 5401 Land O’ Lakes Blvd.

The Land O’ Lakes High School Booster Club hosts the event, which aims to bring the community together for a good time, while raising money for area schools, nonprofit organizations, community groups and area businesses.

The event generally attracts around 5,000 to 6,000 people, Hutchinson said.

Tickets purchased in advance are $15, a sizable discount from the $22 ticket price at the event, Hutchinson said. Various ticket outlets help sell the tickets and receive a portion of the proceeds, he said. Event parking is $5.

The midway is handled by W.G. Wade Shows, the same company that has participated since the festival’s inception five years ago.

The midway will feature up to 25 rides. Stands will be selling food and candy, and soft drinks will be available from local groups.

The event also features a Miss and Mr. Swampfest pageant, which will be on Saturday.

Swamp Fest began as a fundraiser at Land O’ Lakes High School, home of the Gators, and that’s what inspired the festival’s name. It is always on the first weekend of November.

Besides rides, games and food, the event also features live performances on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Anyone who would like to volunteer at the event should call Hutchinson at (813) 293-3684, or sign up on the festival’s website, www.LOLSwampFest.com.

If you go
Land O’ Lakes Swamp Fest 2013
When: Nov. 1-3, Friday 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday noon to 11 p.m.; Sunday noon to 6 p.m.
Where: Land O’ Lakes Community Center, 5401 Land O’ Lakes Blvd.
What: Rides, games, entertainment, food, business and community organization booths
For more information, visit www.LOLSwampFest.com

Buy your tickets
These are the presale ticket outlets:
• Connerton Elementary School, 9300 Flourish Drive in Land O’ Lakes
• Lake Myrtle Elementary School, 22844 Weeks Blvd. in Land O’ Lakes
• Rushe Middle School, 18654 Mentmore Blvd. in Land O’ Lakes
• Land O’ Lakes High School, 20325 Gator Lane in Land O’ Lakes
• Sunlake High School, 3023 Sunlake Blvd. in Land O’ Lakes
• Kids Stuff Daycare, 21360 Lake Floyd Drive in Land O’ Lakes
• Sugar & Spice, 3508 Land O’ Lakes Blvd. in Land O’ Lakes
• All Kids Academy, 1910 Livingston Road in Lutz
• Beef O’ Brady’s — Wilderness, 7040 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., Suite 108 in Land O’ Lakes; Sunlake, 18835 State Road 54 in Lutz; and Village Lakes, 21539 Village Lakes Shopping Center Drive in Land O’ Lakes.

PHCC gearing up to talk about Porter Campus

October 23, 2013 By B.C. Manion

Three sessions have been scheduled to provide information about Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, a new satellite campus of Pasco-Hernando Community College that is scheduled to open in January.

The Porter Campus, which is under construction at Mansfield Boulevard and State Road 56, is situated in an area poised to attract major employers and substantial residential growth in coming years. It is directly across State Road 54 from the site where Raymond James, an international financial services company, is expected to build an office park.

A view from State Road 56 of one of the buildings under construction for the new Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, a Pasco-Hernando Community College satellite campus scheduled to open in January. (Photo by B.C. Manion)

The Porter Campus plans include six buildings. One of its structures will stand 122 feet tall, giving the campus the bragging rights of having Pasco County’s highest building.

College officials anticipate attracting students from Pasco, Hernando and Hillsborough counties. One day, the Porter Campus is expected to draw about the same number of students as the college’s West Campus, the main campus in New Port Richey.

The information sessions are designed to provide a wealth of information to potential students.

Three individual sessions are scheduled at Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, in the second floor conference room of Wellness Plaza, 2600 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. Each session will be from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., and they will be on Nov. 4, Nov. 5 and Nov. 6.

The sessions are intended for prospective, current and returning PHCC students who are interested in attending the new Porter Campus.

College faculty and staff will be on hand to provide information and answer questions about the campus. The sessions will highlight student support services, student activities, programs and courses, prerequisite courses, testing, and admission requirements.

Question-and-answer sessions are also planned, with a panel fielding the questions.

The campus has encountered some construction delays because of weather, but unless a hurricane hits or another natural disaster occurs, college officials expect the campus to open on schedule in early January, said Lucy Miller, PHCC’s executive director of marketing and public relations.

The Porter Campus is slated to offer a bachelor of applied science degree in supervision and management, and a bachelor of science in nursing degree beginning in the fall of 2014. It has received permission from the state and is now awaiting action on its application from the board of directors of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The board meets in Atlanta in December.

The college has appointed Stan Giannet to serve as provost of the Porter Campus. Previously, he served in that same capacity at PHCC’s North Campus.

Those wishing to attend the information sessions are encouraged to sign up now.

Space for each session is limited to 50, for a total of 150. The deadline for registering for the free session is Nov. 1.

To sign up, go to www.phcc.edu/rsvp. Call (727) 816-3398 for more information.

Books for Troops offers peaceful respite during challenging times

October 23, 2013 By B.C. Manion

Patricia Murphy was delivering magazines to the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa, when a young man in a wheelchair approached her.

The man, who had lost his leg in the war, couldn’t have been more than 20 years old, she recalled. But here he was, thanking her for magazines.

The young veteran told her that reading the magazines at the hospital was helping him through a tough time, and he told her he wished he could have had something to read while he was deployed.

He wasn’t living at a base, he explained. He was living in a tent on the outskirts of Iraq. Having something to read, he told her, would have made a difference.

Murphy said she thanked the young man for his service, stepped into the elevator and burst into tears.

The experience inspired the Land O’ Lakes woman to launch Books for Troops. Now, in its third year, the organization has shipped more than 15,000 books to troops overseas and delivered 5,000 books to local veterans.

It has an annual drive in October to collect the books that it sends out all year.

“We are accepting action adventure, suspense, mystery, comedy and comic books,” Murphy said. “The most important thing is that they are in very good condition.”

Besides shipping books to military personnel overseas, some books are delivered to hospitals and nursing homes.

Because of military regulations, the organization cannot accept books about religion, the apocalypse or pornographic materials, Murphy said.

The effort is aided by an army of helpers, Murphy said, noting this year three Girl Scout troops from Land O’ Lakes are helping with the collection drive, and four scout troops from Lutz are helping, too.

“The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts come and they clean them and sort them by genre,” Murphy said.

Local civic groups and businesses also play a huge role in the effort. Many businesses help by putting out collection boxes. Wesley Chapel Kia, she noted, has been there from the beginning.

The storage unit for Books for Troop is at the 54 U Store in Lutz, which is a year-round collection site, Murphy added.

“All of the paperbacks get shipped to the troops,” she said. The hardbacks are delivered to nursing homes.

Any books that can’t be shipped or delivered because of their condition are recycled, so nothing is wasted.

Murphy has been amazed by people’s generosity.

“The first time I did it, I thought maybe I’d get 100 or 200 books,” she said. “But no, I ended up with over 5,000 at the first book drive.”

Murphy said the donation of books has outpaced her ability to raise money to ship them.

It costs $15 to ship a box of 30 books, said Murphy, noting her husband’s company, Psychological Assessment Resources, donates the shipping boxes.

While she can get enough books to satisfy requests, she can’t raise enough money to ship them.

Murphy thinks the books provide an excellent diversion for troops, when they have some down time.

“It is a really good way to get their mind off the heat, the bugs,” she said. When they’re staying in remote places, she added, “they don’t have television.”

The books go to war zones, but she’s also shipped them to such places as Japan, Germany and China. They also go to hospitals all over the country.

If anyone would like to volunteer, host a collection box, or make a tax-deductible donation, email Murphy at .

2013 Books for Troops Collection Sites
Carrollwood
Book Swap at13144 N. Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa.

Land O’ Lakes
Land O’ Lakes Recreation Complex at 3032 Collier Parkway
Stagecoach Clubhouse at 3632 Mossy Oak Circle
Ballantrae Clubhouse at 17611 Mentmore Blvd.
Oakstead Clubhouse at 3038 Oakstead Blvd.

Wesley Chapel
Country Walk Clubhouse at 30400 Country Point Blvd.
Lexington Oaks at 26133 Lexington Oaks Blvd.
Meadow Pointe III Clubhouse at 1500 Meadow Pointe Blvd.
Precision Kia Wesley Chapel at 28555 State Road 54
Saddlebrook Resort Clubhouse at 5700 Saddlebrook Way
Seven Oaks Clubhouse on Ancient Oaks Boulevard in the Seven Oaks subdivision

New Tampa
Grand Hampton Clubhouse at 8301 Dunham Station Drive in Tampa