The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Reasons To Smile

A gesture of kindness

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The GFWC Wesley Chapel Woman’s Club hand-made Easter bunnies from washcloths, and added an egg with candy for the children, to donate to the Sunrise Domestic Violence Shelter. The women also made up Easter baskets for the Sunrise staff. From left: Melissa Zincke, LeeAnn Carr, Annette Bellingar, Shantel Meyers, Carmen Quiles, Linda Jenkins and Liz Chavez. (Courtesy of Shantel Meyers)

An egg-cellent Easter event

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A helicopter drops about 2,000 colorful plastic eggs onto a field next to New Walk Church in Zephyrhills during the church’s annual Egg Drop on Easter Sunday. The egg drop added to the 20,000 eggs already on the field. (Mike Camunas)

The children cheered before they saw it. The blades whipping in the distance until the helicopter rose from behind Dollar General. It flew by, circled around New Walk Church in Zephyrhills twice and the children cheered some more.

At the church’s annual Egg Drop, the pilot dropped about 2,000 eggs onto a field as hundreds of children awaited to scramble after and grab as many eggs as they could on Easter Sunday.

Already on the field: another 20,000 eggs for children, ranging in ages from 1 to 10 years old.

The prizes inside? Candy, stickers, tattoos, even money.

In all, the church held seven egg drops over the three-day weekend and each one had hundreds of kids, the largest being at 12:45 p.m., on Easter Sunday, with about 600 sprinting for colorful plastic eggs.

New Walk Church is nondenominational, at 35008 State Road 54 in Zephyrhills. For more info, log onto NewWalk.church.

Published April 20, 2022

Hundreds of children rush to gather eggs on the field next to New Walk Church in Zephyrhills just moments after a helicopter dropped about 2,000 colorful plastic eggs from about 50 feet high.
Lauren Maiorano, of Wesley Chapel, carries her young son, Connor, back to the car after the two scrambled to get some of the 22,000 colorful plastic eggs available on the field next to New Walk Church in Zephyrhills, following the church’s annual Egg Drop.
Zion Johnson, an 11-year-old volunteer at New Walk Church in Zephyrhills, helped ready the field on Easter Sunday despite having a broken foot.

True blue support

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(Courtesy of the City of Tampa)

The City of Tampa, including Old City Hall, the Tampa Riverwalk and downtown bridges on April 2 were lit up blue, at sunset, for World Autism Awareness Day. Tampa was the first Florida city to be designated as autism-friendly.

Taking a ride with the mayor through Dade City

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Mayor Camille Hernandez and representatives from the City of Dade City joined in a 2½-mile casual bicycle ride through the city on March 25 to promote bicycling and pedestrian safety. The event was hosted by Bike/Walk Tampa Bay, a regional coalition of professionals, advocates, and residents committed to making walking and bicycling safe. The organization was there to pass out shirts and promote roadway safety. The ride started at The Spoke, the visitor’s center on Church Street, and cyclists traveled on the Hardy Trail and Seventh Avenue. Dozens of riders joined in, as did some members of the Dade City Police Department. To learn how to become an ambassador for Bike/Walk Tampa Bay, log onto www.bikewalktampabay.org.

(Courtesy of Jennifer Cannizzo)

Sheriff’s office adds three K-9s

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Dep. Ryan Jackson and partner K-9 Blake (Courtesy of Pasco Sheriff’s Office)

The Pasco Sheriff’s Office (PSO) announced the addition of three new K-9s to its ranks —K-9 Blake, K-9 Ranger and K-9 Ripp.

The new teams recently completed the PSO’s K-9 patrol school, where they were trained in tracking, building searches, area searches, apprehensions and locating articles. These valuable skills will help deputies on a variety of calls, such as locating missing people and finding dangerous narcotics.
K-9 Blake is a German shepherd born in Slovakia on Aug. 28, 2020. He is assigned to the Highway Interdiction Team, where he assists deputies to stop the trafficking of illegal drugs on major Pasco roadways. Blake is partnered with Dep. Ryan Jackson, who started with the PSO in 2014 and became a member of the SWAT team in 2017.

K-9 Ranger is a Belgian Malinois born in the Czech Republic on June 6, 2020. He is certified in patrol and explosives detection, and is a member of the SWAT team. Ranger’s partner is Dep. Justin Case, who joined the PSO as a patrol deputy in 2021, and has been a member of the unified SWAT team since its inception.

K-9 Ripp is a Dutch shepherd born in the Netherlands on June 15, 2020. He is a patrol K-9 and will soon start work on his certification for narcotics detection. Ripp’s partner is Dep. Jeremie Garcia, who joined the PSO in 2014 as a patrol deputy and was assigned to the K-9 Unit in 2017.

K-9 teams would not be possible without the generous donations of community members. Funds to purchase, train and equip every PSO K-9 come from these community donations; no taxpayer dollars are used.

K-9 Ranger and partner Dep. Justin Case
Dep. Jeremie Garcia and partner K-9 Ripp

A splash of color, as garden work continues

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(Courtesy of Patricia Serio)

The work that the members of the GFWC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club have done on its Sensory Garden has progressed and taken shape with a very colorful look — brightly painted plant containers fashioned into floral petal shapes from recycled tires, and newly planted with perennials, in the hopes of attracting butterflies and bees. This garden, established “from scratch,” is to serve as a fun, colorful, quiet place of enjoyment for autistic and special needs children on the grounds of Camp Idlewild in Land O’ Lakes. Club member Deb Cardona paints planters to give a vibrant look to the garden.

A rollicking good time

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(Courtesy of Patricia Serio)

The GFWC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club members’ troupe gave a ‘Sisters Act’-style performance as old-school nuns in full habits, to entertain members and guests at a recent club meeting. The troupe sang and danced to the tune, ‘I Will Follow Him.’ From left: Dee Knerr, Kay Taylor, Annette Bellingar, and Elayne Bassinger, who portrayed Mother Superior. For more information on the club, visit GFWCLutzLandOLakesWomansClub.org, or its Facebook page.

Excited about the fair!

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Jennifer Hykes said her daughter, Bria Rodriguez, saw the ad for the Pasco County Fair on the back page of The Laker and got excited about the ferris wheel, as you can tell by the expression on the little girl’s face!

An act of generosity

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(Courtesy of Patricia Serio)

Members of the GFWC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club filled 25 backpacks with cold weather wear, such as hats, gloves, sweaters, sweatshirts and scarves, for those in need. (Architectural Signage in Land O’ Lakes donated the backpacks.) Club president Elayne Bassinger and members Dee Knerr and Nancy Taylor delivered the backpacks to The Rope/Core Center in Hudson, which serves housing-insecure veterans and the homeless population. This was one act of kindness performed by the woman’s club in keeping with the ‘GFWC Florida Days of Service.’ For more information, visit GFWCLutzLandOLakesWomansClub.org, or its Facebook page.

A towering addition to Sensory Garden

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(Courtesy of Patricia Serio)

The GFWC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club raised funds through its Arts & Culture Committee programs to purchase and have installed a large elm tree, standing 15 feet tall, in the club-designated garden at Camp Idlewild in Land O’ Lakes. Lois Cohen, left, and Elayne Bassinger, were there to supervise the placement of the tree (behind them) in the Sensory Garden, which benefits autistic children and others who frequent the special needs camp. As the weather warms up, the women plan to continue to add special features to the garden, including a variety of flowering plants and shrubs to attract butterflies, birds and bees.