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Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

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Pasco Sheriff’s Office appreciates community’s support

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Amid nationwide protests and movements for widespread police reform, Pasco County is fortunate to receive considerable community support, said Pasco Sheriff District 2 Cpt. Joseph Irizarry during a breakfast meeting with the East Pasco Networking Group.

Protesters have been persistent, and sometimes violent, in calls for reform in the wake of multiple officer-involved shootings across U.S. cities, but Pasco deputies have felt appreciated by the “support that’s been pouring out of the community,” said Irizarry said, whose patrol division runs east of U. S. Highway 41 north to the Hernando County line, south to the Hillsborough County line, and east to Polk and Sumter counties.

Pasco Sheriff’s Office District 2 Cpt. Joseph Irizarry, right, pictured with East Pasco Networking Group chairman Nils Lenz. Irizarry was the featured guest speaker at the group’s Aug. 25 breakfast meeting at IHOP in Dade City. (Kevin Weiss)

“You know, you can’t go anywhere in Pasco County pretty much without getting ‘thank yous’ and someone offering to pay for my meal or to buy me a cup of coffee — so it’s greatly appreciated,” he told the group, gathered for the Aug. 25 breakfast meeting at the IHOP in Dade City. “Unfortunately, many other law enforcement agencies aren’t experiencing the same support that we experience here in Pasco County.”

The district 2 captain said the reelection of Sheriff Chris Nocco has helped the department stay focused on county issues. No one stepped forward to challenge the sheriff, in his bid for reelection.

Touching on the county’s more pressing issues, Irizarry said the agency has placed a significant emphasis on the issues of homelessness and mental health.

He applauded Nocco’s progressive approach in addressing community issues. For instance, the sheriff used grant money to form the Behavioral Health Intervention Team (BHIT) last year.

The unit, made up of 12 detectives, partners with local hospitals and mental health facilities to conduct frequent visitations and welfare checks. It also helps expedite referrals for behavioral health resources and criminal justice diversion programs for the county’s Baker Act repeats.

For example, an individual struggling with addiction may be referred to outpatient substance abuse treatment. Or, someone struggling financially might be referred to Pasco County’s Human Services department and the county’s homeless coalition.

Before the proactive program began, Irizarry said, the sheriff’s office would be called to a scene and make initial contact with someone who was in the midst of a mental health crisis — and that individual might be arrested or submitted for an involuntary mental health evaluation (Baker Act).

From there, it was left to others to address the problems.

But, the law enforcement agency discovered that many struggling people end up going back to square one — spiraling into their various issues, without knowing how or where to turn for help, he said.

“The sheriff kind of took the reins, ‘Hey, we’re going to create a unit, we’re going to be that ‘somebody else,’ and we’re going to follow up,” said Irizarry, who’s held various roles in his 20 years with the law enforcement agency, including patrol deputy, K-9 deputy, and vice and narcotics detective.

Meanwhile, the high-level officer noted that less than 20% of service calls are related to criminal complaints, so the majority of calls are related to non-criminal matters such as mental health and substance abuse problems, among others.

“A lot of our time is spent doing things other than arresting people and taking people to jail,” Irizarry said. “It’s trying to get people help, and use resources in the community or in the area.”

That seems more important than ever, as many individuals and families have been struggling through layoffs and furloughs due to COVID-19.

Recently, the sheriff’s office has been partnering with Feeding Tampa Bay to deliver hundreds of meals to families at the Pasco County Fairgrounds.

It’s about making the county “a better place for everybody to live,” the captain said.

“In this day and age with the pandemic, a lot of people are laid off, so they don’t have the money to pay the bills or pay the rent or pay for food…so there’s a lot of things that the sheriff’s office does to help the community.”

Published September 02, 2020

Meals on Wheels East Pasco looks to expand reach

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Meals on Wheels East Pasco executive director Beth Aker paid a visit to the East Pasco Networking Group’s Nov. 12 breakfast meeting at IHOP in Dade City, to give some updates on the 501c3 nonprofit organization and its upcoming initiatives.

Each day, Meals on Wheels East Pasco provides hot, balanced and nutritious meals to seniors, people with disabilities and other members of the Dade City and Zephyrhills communities who have limited ability to shop or prepare meals for themselves.

Meals on Wheels East Pasco executive director Beth Aker was a guest speaker at a Nov. 12 East Pasco Networking Group breakfast meeting at IHOP in Dade City. (Kevin Weiss)

“If you’re hungry, we’re gonna feed ya. It’s just that simple,” Aker said of the nonprofit’s mission.

In addition to Aker, Meals on Wheels relies on the help of dozens of volunteers to prepare and deliver meals from its facility on 15th Avenue in Zephyrhills.

Since taking over its operations in 2015, Aker said Meals on Wheels has partnered with 10 other charities to receive food donations and contributions from a host of local grocery stores, businesses and big box stores.

Those partnerships have allowed the agency to cut spending on food alone from $40,000 to $50,000 per year, to about $500 per month now, she said.

“When we were spending all that money, we were just spinning our wheels trying to keep up with everything. Now we have partnered with so many organizations that recognized not to throw things away,” Aker said.

All told, the agency feeds upwards of 1,500 people per week, Aker said.

That figure includes supplying bulk quantities of food to groups, such as Moore-Mickens Education Center and Cornerstone Center for Women, as well as area homeless.

“When I tell you that we give them food, we don’t just give them our leftover bread.

“They get meats, and they get vegetables and fruit and nonperishables, and they go out with 10 or 12 or 15 boxes of food to support their organization, and we do that every single day,” she explained.

As for its meal delivery service, Aker said the organization works to cater to the medical needs of the many seniors it regularly serves, whether they have diabetes, diverticulitis, heart problems and so on. She noted, meals aren’t prepared with salt or sugar, but are far from bland, with diverse menu choices each week.

“It’s not a TV dinner, by any stretch of the imagination,” she quipped.

Aker added the organization also makes it a point to help celebrate each senior’s birthday or anniversary with cards, cakes and more.

Meals on Wheels East Pasco provides hot meals to seniors, people with disabilities and other members of the Dade City and Zephyrhills communities who have limited ability to shop or prepare meals for themselves. (Courtesy of Meals on Wheels East Pasco)

It’s the personal touch that she believes the homebound seniors, who sometimes get lonely, appreciate.

She went as far to say the organization has become “the eyes and ears of family members who live elsewhere” for those seniors.

“We get to be there when things happen to them, when they’re not well, when they’ve fallen,” Aker said.

“We have to take care of each other. We’re all aging. Unless we pass away, we’re not getting out of this without aging,” she said.

With that, Aker revealed the the agency’s next major goal is to build a community resource center that could serve seniors, veterans and single-parent families. Services would help those in need get help for elder law, reverse mortgages, food insecurities and more.

Aker said such a facility is something “missing” in East Pasco. Possible locations she listed include the abandoned SunTrust building on Gall Boulevard in Zephyrhills, or, building upon existing property Meals on Wheels owns.

The project’s first dinner fundraiser was held earlier this month at First Church of the Nazarene in Zephyrhills; Aker said the project’s also begun to receive support from some state representatives. “It was just a drop in the bucket, but we have to start somewhere,” she said of the initial fundraiser.

Ultimately, Aker wants the resource center to be a place “to give our seniors a purpose for today, and give our youth a purpose for tomorrow.”

She put it like this: “At the end of my day, I am a servant, and I want to be able to make that difference, and providing resources for people who don’t know where to go, who are afraid to reach out, they’re terrified, they live alone — whatever their picture looks like, they should have someplace to just pick up a phone say, ‘Can you help me?’”

Elsewhere, Aker said she would someday like to expand Meals on Wheels’ meal delivery service to the Wesley Chapel area, but currently doesn’t have the volunteer capacity to make it a regular route every day.

“I would love to be in that area, to expand over to there, but the logistics portion of that is a little bit larger,” she said.

Published November 20, 2019

Offering convenient way to combat breast cancer

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Cheryl Hinton hits the road in the quest to prevent breast cancer.

Hinton, who is the marketing and promotions specialist for Tampa Bay Mobile Mammography, was the featured speaker at the East Pasco Networking Group’s breakfast meeting on Aug. 13 at the IHOP in Dade City.

Lt. James Law of the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, left, Cheryl Hinton, Nils Lenz, Rodney Rehrig Sr., and Bob Hatfield were several attendees at the East Pasco Networking Group meeting on Aug. 13 at a Dade City IHOP. Hinton was the event’s guest speaker and received a Standing Ovation Award for her community work. (Brian Fernandes)

She talked about the company’s mission to provide convenient breast cancer screenings. The independent organization began in New Port Richey. It now provides its services not only in Pasco, but in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota counties, too.

The staff works out of three tour-size buses, which are parked at various locations. Female employees can step away from their work at those places, to undergo a breast cancer screening.

“We actually go to schools and corporations,” Hinton explained. “We bring the bus to them, so that all they have to do is go outside, get on the bus, get their mammogram done, and go right back to work.”

Inside the bus, women take several minutes to be examined, using a digital three-dimensional imaging machine.

Patients also may be referred to a physician for further analysis.

Beyond her current role, Hinton also has a history in community advocacy, having worked in conjunction with organizations like Meals on Wheels and The Samaritan Project.

After she ended her career in newspaper advertising, she found a role where she could promote health.

She recalled: “I see on Facebook that this position is opening and I thought ‘Mobile mammography, what’s that? That sounds interesting.’”

The job also had a personal significance, as her sister-in-law had succumbed to a seven-year battle with breast cancer.

The Zephyrhills resident initially began overseeing operations in Hillsborough County and eventually added Polk County.

“Part of my job is I sit [at] home on my laptop, contact the schools and let them know that we’re coming,” Hinton noted.

She also travels to the companies and schools within her districts to answer questions from employers or employees.

Mobile Mammography tries to accommodate educators by paying substitute teachers to cover their classes while they are in the bus for screening.

The organization had its first summer screening program this year, sending out flyers and visiting 27 schools where summer classes were being held.

The response was phenomenal, she said.

Although the services target women in the school system and the corporate world, women of all backgrounds are encouraged to jump aboard the bus – and for good reason.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breast cancer is the most common type found in women, not counting skin cancers .

In 2016, there were over 245,000 new cases reported in the United States alone.

The screening may seem intimidating and does bring about slight discomfort, Hinton acknowledged. However, she added, it could help prevent or stop the progression of breast cancer.

Hinton also was quick to point out that while the disease is prevalent among women, men too, are susceptible to breast cancer.

While Mobile Mammography does not offer services to men, it strongly recommends that men get routine check-ups, Hinton noted.

Toward the end of the meeting, the East Pasco Networking Group presented Hinton with a Standing Ovation Award to recognize her for her community efforts.

Published August 28, 2019