Local Girl Scout Has Donated More Than 1,500 Books
And Counting

New Tampa Girl Scout Cadette Elaine Feaster is collecting books to donate to kids in elementary schools who might not have any books at their homes.

Elaine Feaster is a seventh-grade student at Liberty Middle School in Tampa Palms who lives in Richmond Place.

She’s also a Cadette in Girl Scout Troop 1247 who believes in the Girl Scout Law. “It says to make the world a better place, and I want to do that for kids in need.”

She’s been a Girl Scout for five years, in a troop that meets at St. James Church on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in Tampa Palms, and is comprised of 14 middle-school-aged girls from many different schools.

As a Cadette, she’s eligible to apply for the Girl Scout Silver Award, which requires her to complete 50 community service hours and to create a project that will have a lasting impact on the community.

So, she decided to collect books to help promote literacy, especially among underprivileged kids.

“We have to get the books in kids’ hands in elementary school when they’re eager to learn,” Elaine says. “It’s like riding a bike or learning to swim. You want to learn when you’re young.”

“I totally believe in what she’s doing,” says Elaine’s mom, Jane. “I was oblivious until Elaine started kindergarten at Clark Elementary and I overheard a teacher saying she had kids wanting to take books home because they don’t have any books at home. It blows my mind. It’s outrageous.”

In Elaine’s research, she says she found statistics such as this: Students who don’t read skillfully by the third grade are four times more likely to drop out of school; nearly 85 percent of youths who face trial in the court system are functionally illiterate; and the more types of reading materials there are in the home, the higher the students’ reading levels.

So, Elaine teamed up with an organization called Parents & Children Advance Together (PCAT) family literacy program, which provides free programs to underserved children to help them learn to read.

At that time, Elaine collected about 175 books, just from word-of-mouth efforts, and donated them to PCAT.

As support for her project grew, Elaine had to consider how to manage collecting even larger numbers of books, so she asked the New Tampa Family YMCA (16221 Compton Dr. in Tampa Palms), where she and her family are members, if she could set up a donation bin. Now, thanks to the New Tampa Y’s support, anyone can drop off book donations for elementary school students there.

In just a couple of months, about 1,600 books were donated through that bin. After sorting out cookbooks, calculus books, and others that aren’t a good fit for elementary school kids, plus setting aside some early education books that would be helpful for PCAT, Elaine still had about 1,500 elementary- level books to donate.

She gave them to Foster Elementary in the Old Seminole Heights area of Tampa, where she says 98 percent of the students receive free or reduced lunch.

“We actually donated more books than there are students,” Elaine says. “There are only about 500 kids, and we donated 1,500 books.” She says she was told the teachers would select appropriate books for their classes, so the students would be able to check them out from their classroom libraries to take them home and read, then bring them back for new books.

Elaine says she will continue to collect books at the collection bin until about January. While she’s currently only collecting books for elementary school reading levels, she encourages everyone to clean out their bookshelves and donate what they have to any local school or even the public library.

Elaine hopes to earn her Girl Scout Silver Award with her efforts for this project, then hopes to build on her project for the Girl Scout Gold Award, which is the highest award in Girl Scouting and is available only for high school students.

She says since she dropped the books off at Foster Elementary in September, she has probably collected an additional 500 books. She will be identifying another school for the next round of donations.

“I just want to thank everyone in the community who has donated books so far,” she says. “When I started, I thought my goal would be about 500 books. I didn’t expect more than that, but everyone in this community is so caring. Because you donated a book, a child can be a doctor or really successful in life.”

H.S. Sports: Finally For Freedom Football & Swimmers Head For County Meet

The streak is over.

After seven seasons of lopsided losses to their neighborhood rivals just up Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., Freedom High’s football team finally has New Tampa bragging rights.

The Patriots used a 99-yard drive in the final minutes, capped by junior Dominick Vazquez’s first rushing touchdown of the season with 1:42 remaining, to knock off New Tampa rival Wharton 12-7 on Sept. 28 in a Class 7A, District 8 clash.

The Patriots’ win was their first of the season, and first over Wharton (now 2-4, 0-3 in 7A-8) since a 16-7 victory in 2009 under coach James Harrell.

When he was told his team had ended a losing streak that long, said Freedom head coach Floyd Graham, who is in his second season, said, “It just blew my mind. I know it’s a huge rivalry with the schools just three miles apart, and a lot of the guys on both teams went to middle school together, so it was a big deal to win this.”

The Patriots (2-4, 1-1) have had problems all season long finishing games, hampered by having to play so many players both ways due to a small roster of roughly 30 players. For the fourth time this season, the Patriots failed to score in the first half, but for the first time, they found a way to score critical second half points and offset a 42-yard touchdown run by Wharton’s D.J. Green that had given the Wildcats a 7-0 lead.

And, they did it with a backup quarterback seeing his first action of the season. With senior signal caller Sebastian Cuevas injured near the end of the first half, junior Jayland Desue, the team’s leading receiver, entered the game under center and led the Patriots to a pair of scoring drives.

The first was topped off by a 10-yard touchdown run by Stanley Elisme, cutting the Wildcats’ lead to 7-6. The second was one Graham may never forget, both for the way it started and the way it ended.

Three plays after taking over on their own 1 yard line with about six minutes remaining, Freedom faced a 4th-and-2 from the 9. Never in 27 years had Graham gone for a fourth down inside his own 10-yard-line. He looked over at defensive coordinator Henry Scurrey, who said “We have to go for it. What do we have to lose?”

So, Graham and the Patriots went for it. As Wharton scrambled out of punt return formation, junior Jeremiah Ashe (left) dashed eight yards on a jet sweep to keep the drive alive.

“I just knew I had to do anything I could for my teammates to help get this win,’’ said Ashe. “I was a little nervous, but I did what I had to do.”

The unlikely conversion created a spark on the Freedom sideline. A few Wharton penalties moved the Patriots along, and Vazquez scored with 102 seconds left to give Freedom its first lead of the season.

Wharton’s last gasp attempt at a comeback ended on an interception by Ashe, who now has had an interception in every game this season.

“It’s one of the best feelings,’’ said Graham. “I can’t stress to you how hard they have played for three weeks and come away with nothing…. They have given everything they had, come into the lockerroom afterwards with blood on their knuckles and so dehydrated. We’ve been so banged up. That makes this extremely special.”

(l.-r.) Freedom swimmers Hannah Labohn, Genevieve Clark, McKaley Goldblum & Abigail Leisure are headed to the county swim championships.

SWIMMING: The future is bright for the Freedom High girls swimming team, which placed third at the Western Conference swim championships in Brandon on Sept 27.

The quartet of sophomore McKaley Goldblum, sophomore Abigail Leisure, freshman Hannah Labohn and senior Genevieve Clark (photo, above right) advanced to the Oct. 6 county championships at Bobby Hicks Pool by finishing in the top two in two medley relays and five individual events.

The foursome finished second in the 200-yard medley relay, and first in the 400 freestyle relay.

Goldblum finished first in two events – the 100 and 200 freestyles – while Leisure and Labohn captured gold in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke, respectively.

Clark advanced to the county championships after a second-place finish in the 50 free.

The Freedom boys advancing to individual events at the county meet were freshman Zach Kopel (first in the 200 free, second in the 500 free) and junior Christian Morera (second in the 100 backstroke). Kopel, Morera, senior Cobyn Panarelli and freshman Glynn Morgan took second in the 200 medley relay.

Wharton sophomore Charles Fields is headed to the county championships after a second-place finish in the 50 free, and first-place in the 100 free. He will be joined by sophomore Derek McDonald, junior Jeff Korver and senior Joseph Malone, who swam with Fields on the winning 200 freestyle team.

Senior Raweerat Khunduang led the Wharton girls with a win in the 50 free and a second in the 100 free, while teaming up with junior Juliana Silva and seniors Kyra Okin and Valeria Ramos to take second in the 200 free relay.

Qvita Health & Wellness Offers Both Primary Care & Cosmetic Services

Peggy Demetriou, ANRP, FNP-BC, provides primary care and cosmetic services at Qvita Health & Wellness near Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel.

Peggy Demetriou, ANRP, FNP-BC, is the owner and CEO of Qvita Health & Wellness, which provides primary care and cosmetic services and is located across Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC) in the Windfair Professional Center.

Peggy opened the practice last December and says she is continuing to see growth, as new patients discover her practice and encourage their family and friends to try Qvita, too. She says the name Qvita signifies health and wellness in Latin.

She is an Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP) and also a Family Nurse Practitioner who is Board-certified (FNP-BC). Peggy graduated in 1998 from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Nursing (BSN). She worked as a nurse for five years, and then graduated from Concordia University of Wisconsin (in Mequon) in 2002 with a Master’s degree in Science Nursing with a specialty in Family Practice. She became Board-certified that year, too.

Peggy first moved to New Tampa in 2002 and has worked in Wesley Chapel since 2008. She and her husband, Dr. Nektarios Demetriou, live with their blended family of five children in New Tampa. “I love living here,” she says. “There wasn’t much here when I first moved here, but I’m so glad I stayed because now there’s so much to do.”

Family Practice

Peggy sees people ages five and older for all primary care needs, including physicals for school and work (she is even certified to provide Department of Transportation physicals) and managing chronic and complex healthcare needs, such as for people who have diabetes or hypertension.

“We have a strong focus on providing excellent customer service,” says Peggy, “and we go the extra mile for our patients and clients.”

She is currently accepting new patients and says she can usually see them on the same day if they’re sick. Her office accepts all major insurance plans, along with Medicare and Medicaid.

“As a nurse practitioner-owned practice, our approach is different,” Peggy explains. “We focus on the whole person and on spending time with people.”

Qvita Health & Wellness, according to Peggy, is a good alternative for people who are frustrated with leaving a message for the doctor and not getting a call back, or waiting two hours to be seen for five minutes.

“I spend whatever time is necessary with my patients,” she says. “For new patients, I block more time, but it’s completely individual.”

She says her holistic approach includes addressing mental health issues, too, and that proper diagnosis between anxiety, depression, bipolar or other afflictions is the key.

“Sometimes we see patients who are treated for anxiety and depression with different types of medications, and they say the medications made them worse. That’s a red flag.”

Peggy says she has the experience, knowledge and tools to help make the right diagnosis and get the right referrals, including therapy.

“Medication is good,” she says, “But it’s also good to address these issues in another way. A counselor or therapist spends time to do teaching and give tools that help, too.”

Qvita also carries a preservative-free flu shot for anyone who would prefer a version of the vaccine that doesn’t have preservatives. Peggy says the ideal time to get a flu shot is around October of each year.

On the Qvita Facebook page at Facebook.com/QvitaHealthandWellness, Barbara Summerall writes, “I went to visit Peggy [and] she caught a problem that no doctor ever found. I sent my husband there, too, and he agrees that she really is amazingly caring.

“She takes the time to get to know your physical status and she is ready to explain future issues,” Barbara continues. “The facility is super clean and her staff is super friendly and always smiling. I highly recommend Qvita!”

Cosmetic Services

In addition to primary care, Peggy provides cosmetic services for anyone looking to maintain healthy skin and a youthful appearance. “We offer Botox and a variety of fillers, including Juvederm, Restylane, Radiesse and other major brands,” she says.

“We also have a new device called Ultherapy,” Peggy adds. “It’s the only FDA-cleared skin tightening device. It’s not invasive and is non-surgical, and it keeps working over three months for the full effect. You only need one treatment every two years. It is necessary to repeat the treatment because natural aging continues to occur.”

An aesthetician has just been added to the staff at Qvita Health & Wellness. Ashley Negron has a clinical skincare diploma from the American Institute of Beauty and is licensed by the State of Florida Board of Cosmetology as a registered facial specialist.

Peggy says Ashley provides medical-grade skincare procedures that are results-driven, not what she calls “buff and fluff.”

“We do procedures such as microneedling and plasma rich platelets (PRP), where we draw blood and extract the platelets, stem cells and growth factors, and use tiny needles to return those growth factors back into the skin. It’s excellent for wrinkles, spots, loose skin, and anti-aging.”

She says Qvita also offers Kybella, a treatment for double chins, but can also be a used for off-label areas, such as bra fat or love handles.

Peggy says she sees a lot of patients who come in for corrections, especially from people who have bought a Groupon. She has a warning for people who are looking for the lowest priced cosmetic services.

“Don’t bargain hunt for your face!,” she says. “You don’t want to have to pay for your bargain and then pay someone else to fix it. Always interview the person who is going to do the procedure and find out if they are certified and properly trained. I have been trained by each company for each product that I sell. Sometimes, the price other places advertise is less than my cost. If that’s the case, maybe the product is old or not authentic.”

She offers a free consultation for anyone interested in Qvita’s cosmetic procedures.

Vitamins & Supplements

Qvita shares its name with a line of vitamins that Peggy and her husband have developed over the last couple of years.

“We are interested in health and wellness for ourselves and for our family,” Peggy explains. “In our practices, people ask us, what’s a good vitamin?”

She says that while it’s hard to say, she generally doesn’t recommend anything readily available over the counter.

“They tend to be full of fillers and additives, with large amounts of vitamins you don’t need and not enough of the ones you do. So, we came up with something we actually take ourselves.”

She says they have an “awesome” multi-vitamin in powder form, and another powder for joint pain that people rave about. “People tell us all the time that they don’t need ibuprofen anymore because the powder works so well,” she says. “It’s got antioxidants that act as a high-potency anti-inflammatory.”

Peggy explains that the supplements are “triple certified” by the Food and Drug Administration, Good Manufacturing Practice, and NSF International Public Health & Safety Organization. She says each batch takes about three months to manufacture, because every ingredient is tested every time.

“These are medical-level supplements for people who are serious about their health and want to feel good,” she says, proudly.

For more information about the vitamins and supplements, which can be purchased without a prescription, visit MyQvita.com.

For More Information

Photos of cosmetic procedures performed at Qvita are on Instagram @QvitaHealthandWellness1 and Peggy provides her patients and the community with valuable information about health and wellness through posts on Facebook.

Qvita Health & Wellness is located at 2734 Windguard Cir., Suite 101. It is open Monday-Friday at 8:30 a.m., closing at 6 p.m. on Mon., 5 p.m. on Tues.–Thur., and 4 p.m. on Fri. For more information or to book your appointment online, visit Qvita Health & Wellness at www.QvitaHealthandWellness.com or call (813) 501-4130.

Local Couple Teach How To Mentor At-Risk Kids

Joe & Carol Gravante have turned their love of children and their own empty nest into an opportunity to teach a free mentoring class to help adults mentor at-risk kids. The classes began last week at Bridgeway Church on Wells Rd.

Joe and Carol Gravante, residents of Heritage Isles in New Tampa, are empty nesters who say that God gave them a new purpose after their three boys grew up and left home.

After raising their sons and hosting at least two dozen foreign exchange students, including 12 who stayed with them for a year and attended local schools, the Gravantes have turned their attention to mentoring at-risk kids in our community.

“Carol and I had started working with a mentoring group in Tampa several years ago, and when we first started we had no idea what we were doing,” Joe explains. “The training that we received was more about how the foster care system works, the formalities, not how to actually deal with the kids themselves. There was nothing available (to teach us) how to communicate and how to handle certain situations you might be put in that are different from raising your own kids.”

So, Joe says, he and Carol shared resources with other people they knew who also were mentoring. His sister-in-law in Missouri, for example, who helped him find school resources for a tenth grader who needed help to pass his classes. Joe also did online searches for answers to questions he had, and he tried different techniques with the teenagers he was mentoring.

Now, Joe and Carol have taken their experiences and developed a curriculum to help people learn skills that will help them be good mentors. After teaching the class Joe developed last year, it will be offered again this year at Bridgeway Church, located at 30660 Wells Rd. in Wesley Chapel. The classes started September 25 and meet every other Monday. There is no cost to attend, and childcare is provided for people who sign up for the class and need it.

Class topics include effective communication, anger management, time management, bullying, dealing with attitudes, when to say “yes” and “no” and much more.

“Really, these classes are good for anyone who’s raising kids, or even in the workplace,” says Carol.

Other Options

Joe says they also are currently coming up with a schedule of opportunities for people who want to serve their community and help kids, but don’t have the time to commit to mentoring a child one hour every week.

“We have two focuses,” explains Carol. “Some people want to get involved right away and do something purposeful.”

For those people, the couple is organizing events where anyone can come out and interact with at-risk kids in a large group setting. Joe and Carol say they have a friend with a horse ranch where they have taken groups of kids, and volunteers help to lead the horses and play with the kids.

“People find it’s quite fun!” Carol says. “Some people aren’t comfortable with the idea of working with at-risk kids. They worry they have too many limitations or the kids have too much baggage, but the events help people get more comfortable until they are ready for a one-on-one relationship with the students.”

Their goal is to encourage more people to provide that time to help students who need it. After all, Joe says, every child he’s mentored has benefitted from the experience.

“These kids just need time and attention,” he says.

Joe knows that because he once benefitted from mentoring, too.

“I had this (U.S. military) Colonel who changed my entire life,” he says. “I grew up in the city of Pittsburgh (PA). It was a steel mill town, and that’s all I knew. When I joined the military, this amazing man took the time and energy to make me see I could be so much more than what I was. He mentored me from 20 years old until 30-something. He was the one who really set me on the right path.”

Joe says the cycle of being mentored, and now being in a position to pay his experiences forward and serve his community, continues with the kids he’s impacted.

“I see the kids I’ve mentored already giving back in their communities,” he says. “It’s so good to see that you can make a difference that way, no matter how old you are.”

For more information or to register for the mentoring class, contact Carol at (813) 753-8338.

Facebook Pages Offered Lots Of Hurricane Irma Help

Jessica Meyers (left) of Little Italy’s Family Restaurant & Catering & Jennifer Ames of the Wesley Chapel Community Facebook page brought food and supplies to the National Guardsmen who were called in to protect Pasco County and stationed at the vacant Target store near the Suncoast Pkwy.

As Hurricane Irma approached Florida, people across the state were posting on Facebook, looking to neighbors to answer their questions and calm their fears.

While the storm raged and when it was over, they kept posting.

They offered encouragement and prayer. They asked how they could help each other. They posted their needs, and others offered anything they had to help meet those needs. It happened among both friends and strangers.

On the Wesley Chapel Community Facebook page, which boasts more than 8,500 members, administrator Jennifer Ames says the posts were continual.

“It was nonstop,” Jennifer explains. “There was never a second that went by without a post — a constant influx from Thursday through Monday.”

She says neighbors were trying to connect to people around them, looking for water, gas, plywood, generators and more.

There were more than 1,700 posts the week of the storm, nearly 17,000 comments and an additional 558 people joined the group.

“It was the first time I ever had to shut the site down,” says Jennifer, although she didn’t actually close the site; she just stopped people from posting without admin approval.

“It lost its efficacy because there was so much posting going on,” she says. “We made it so, as admins, that we had to approve the posts. Then, it was more useful and all those posts truly helped people.”

Carolyn Daly, a member of the Facebook community who lives in Quail Hollow, agrees.

“Through the whole storm — before, during and after — everyone was so helpful with letting people know who had water, who had gas, where sandbags were and with anything anyone in the community needed,” says Carolyn. “It was really amazing to see people coming together to support each other and not just look out for themselves.”

She says she was especially impressed with Joel Provenzano and Ryan Mills, two local “weather geeks” who posted information and replied to comments throughout the storm, sharing their knowledge of what was happening outside to worried people throughout Wesley Chapel while using the same information professional meteorologists were using.

The two men didn’t even know each other before creating the weather thread that turned into the most popular one to follow during the storm. Provenzano, a transportation engineer with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), said he has been through a number of hurricanes, including Andrew in 1992.

He caught the weather bug as a kid in Fort Myers, learning science in his father’s fifth grade class.

“Space and weather were the two big things he emphasized,’’ Joel said.

According to stats provided by Jennifer, Joel and Ryan’s weather thread generated 1,300 comments, 1,700 likes and was seen by more than 5,000 members, turning the duo into WC Community page rock stars.

“During the storm, Joel and Ryan updated every step of the way when the storm was really ramping up,” Carolyn says, “like how much longer there would be noise and high winds. It was more helpful than any of the news channels because it was so specific to Wesley Chapel.”

She adds, “It reminded me of what a neighborhood was when I was growing up. Only now, it’s a virtual neighborhood.”

That’s kind of what Jennifer Ames had in mind when she started the group.

“I grew up in a very small town in south Georgia, with a ‘neighbors helping neighbors’ spirit,” she says. “But, I never imagined a hurricane and a crisis. I didn’t know that it would work to this level.”

Bob Behrle’s wife, Kristie, is another WC Community administrator. Bob says the site was a great way to get resources and materials as people prepared for the storm. For example, Heather Robinson offered a few extra interior doors that had recently been replaced at her home to be used to board up windows.

“It helped us tremendously,” Bob said. “I never would have found that without Facebook.”

After the storm, the needs continued, and the Facebook posts continued, too.

Helen Bolton, who lives in Country Walk, heard from an out-of-state friend that her husband, a lineman, was in another Florida city helping to restore power and couldn’t get food. Helen wanted to make sure that wasn’t the case for linemen in Wesley Chapel.

“I would love to take them some food but I haven’t seen any,” she posted. “I’m looking for some sightings!”

Others responded when they saw linemen. Helen picked up a pizza and tried to catch up with where she heard the linemen were. She says she didn’t find them on the job, but did see a truck driving. By then, she was determined to get the pizza to the workers. She says she followed the truck for probably 30 minutes before she finally was able to flag them down and give them the pizza.

She posted her success, and more than 600 people “liked” her picture, encouraging her act of kindness.

Helen thinks the Wesley Chapel Community page helps people to be a better community to each other.

“It is unbelievable to watch, and because of social media, you do get to see it,” Helen says. “At the end of the day, it is amazing to see that people want be good and help others.”

Jennifer agrees. “We did a great job looking out for each other,’’ she says. “It was exemplary, the way individuals checked on each other. One lady who was blind and home alone wanted plywood over her windows. She was so upset, so I put a message out and within an hour, a neighbor was putting wood over her windows. It’s heartwarming and touching to know we have that in our community.”

She says now, the focus of the Facebook community is on helping small businesses. Local owners are telling Jennifer that this hurricane has been catastrophic for them

So, Jennifer says this month’s “Chappy Hour,” where people from the site meet in real life, is a special “Irma Edition,” where Wesley Chapel can come together and support small businesses. It will be held Friday, September 22 (tonight), 5 p.m.-9p.m., at The Brass Tap at the Shops at Wiregrass mall.

Anyone who is a member of the group is invited to bring a receipt showing they supported a locally owned small business dated September 12 or later, and she and other site administrators and sponsors will buy you a drink (courtesy of Coast 2 Coast Realty, Ellie and Associates Realty, 900 Degree Woodfire Pizza and The Brass Tap).

For Helen, the experience of feeling like part of a community during the storm makes her want to come out to her first-ever “Chappy Hour.” “I’ve never gone before because I always thought I wouldn’t know anyone,” Helen says. “This time I’m going because now I feel like I know people.”

There also is another community Facebook page for Wesley Chapel called the Wesley Chapel Network, which boasts more than 18,000 members and also was extremely busy during Irma, although we were not able to reach administrator Heather Stamp in time to be included in this story.

Anyone in Wesley Chapel can join either page. Just search “Wesley Chapel Community” or “Wesley Chapel Network” on Facebook.