Wesley Chapel Noon Rotary Club member and former New York City police officer Chris Casella finds it hard to watch the news these days.
Every day, it seems, there’s another story about a cop being shot at, or killed.
“It’s heart-wrenching,’’ Casella says. “It’s just crushing what is going on today.”
For Casella, who worked as an NYPD police officer from 1990-2002, and other officers, past and present, working on the force makes you part of a brotherhood. A brotherhood, he reminds you, where men and women rush headlong into dangerous situations most people run away from, to help keep our society safe.
So, to show his appreciation, as well as the appreciation of the Wesley Chapel Rotary Club (which meets every Wed. at noon at Quail Hollow Country Club, or QHCC), he and fellow club member John Anglada — also a former NYPD officer — organized a day to show the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) that its efforts aren’t going unnoticed.
On July 22, Rotary members were waiting at the PCSO’s East Operations Center in Dade City with meals for all of the deputies and staff members who started their shifts at 5 a.m., 6 a.m., 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.
There was egg casserole, donuts, pastries and coffee for breakfast, Publix sandwiches and hors d’oeuvres for lunch, and Publix chicken for dinner.
Each shift also received its own cake.
Casella said the idea to feed the officers sprung from a conversation he had with PCSO Capt. William Davis at a recent Rotary meeting, shortly after 11 Dallas police officers were shot in a targeted attack. Capt. Davis talked about what strange times these were for his officers, many with fewer than three years on the job, now seeing daily reports of their brethren being fired upon in the streets.
Casella and Anglada decided, “We’d like to do something for them that shows them that people in their community do care and appreciate everything that they do,’’ Casella said.
Board member Rick Soriano also loved the idea, and said he was going to mention it at the club’s board meeting. He sent out an email looking for volunteers.
“And the response was just terrific,’’ Casella said. “One club member offered to pay for lunch and dinner and another paid for all the paper and plastic goods. We even had more volunteers than we really needed.”
So, what started as just a breakfast grew into an all-day feeding of more than 100 PCSO employees.
Casella thinks the meals had an impact on the younger officers. He said when he was on the force, he was only ever recognized for his service two times — after the 9/11 attacks and by the Rotary Club he belonged to in New York, which presented him with a plaque after he rescued someone from a fire.
“It’s a tough job, and you usually only get noticed when the bad stuff happens,’’ Casella said, adding that he’d like to see this first “Appreciation Day” evolve into other Rotary projects involving law enforcement.
“Our motto at the Rotary is ‘Service Above Self’ and that just ties in with law enforcement,’’ he said. For more info, visit WCRotary.org.
Wesley Chapel Sunrise Rotary Installs 2016-17 Officers
The Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel Sunrise recently welcomed its new president, Ryan Phillips, and other board members for the 2016-17 Rotary year.
Cindy Wren Young is the new secretary, Javan Grant is the club’s new membership chair and president-elect Mitch McCartney is also the Rotary Foundation chair and treasurer. Kathy Schenck is public relations chair.
The installation dinner, held in June, also included a celebration of 2015-16 president Lynn Morgan, and guest speaker Nick Hall, a member of the Rotary Club of Temple Terrace whose cross-country bike ride to raise money and awareness for Rotary International’s “End Polio Now” campaign was featured in this publication last November.
The Sunrise club, which meets Fridays at 7:15 a.m., also at QHCC, was recently awarded the 2015-16 Gold Level Presidential Citation and Public Image Citation at the awards banquet for Rotary Clubs in District 6950 (which includes Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, and Pinellas counties). For more information, visit WesleyChapelRotary.org.
The nation’s largest food drive is held each year when the National Association of Letter Carriers collects non-perishable donations along their postal routes in the “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive. In Wesley Chapel, this year’s drive got a helping hand from some local Boy Scouts.