Author: John Cotey

Meadow Pointe community pitches in to help fire recovery

Donna Kriston Farley hadn’t lived in Wesley Chapel long enough to expect her Heatherstone at Meadow Pointe neighbors, many she didn’t even know yet, to rally to her aid when her house caught fire on New Year’s Day.

But, that’s exactly what happened.

Thanks to neighbors like Jessica Beagle and Alyssa Hall, who sprung into action almost immediately, Farley, the mother of a 17-year-old son and 8-year-old triplets, watched as a section of the community clubhouse soon filled up with tables piled high with children’s clothes, toys, scooters, bikes, toiletries and “a ton of gift cards,’’ Beagle said.

Farley’s neighbors also set up a page at Facebook.com/HelpTheFarley Family to coordinate donations and a GoFundMe.com page at GoFundMe.com/6jhgwc7k.

Farley was inside the home on New Year’s Day when she smelled smoke and realized something was on fire. The blaze started in the garage, which served as a playroom for the kids, and soon engulfed the front of the house.

Beagle, who teaches 6th grade at John Long Middle School, was down the street playing outside with her daughter, who thought she saw fire. Beagle told her daughter since there were no fire trucks, they we’re okay.

“But, that’s when we heard the fire trucks,’’ Beagle says.

Neighbors tried to control the fire with extinguishers, and Beagle said she said a prayer for Farley and the family.

Soon after, she was asking what she could do to help.

“Everything just escalated from there,’’ Beagle said.

By Saturday, the help poured in.

Farley, who moved to Wesley Chapel from California three months ago, was in tears as she explained to Beagle how overwhelmed she was.

“These people don’t even know me,’’ Farley said. “I’ve never even met any of my neighbors. I feel so bad now. I was questioning whether Wesley Chapel was the area for me. But no more.”

That’s the way every community should be, Beagle thinks. It didn’t matter how many friends Farley had made, Beagle said she knew she had to do something and it wasn’t long before dozens of others in Heatherstone had banded together with her. She reached out to Hall, who was able to reach even more people to help.

“The most amazing thing is, there were kids who were bringing their Christmas presents, that they had just gotten, to the clubhouse to donate,’’ Beagle says.

The house is being rebuilt, and Farley says she plans to move back in to the neighborhood.

Sophia's lemonade stand raising money for K-9 safety

By Celeste McLaughlin

Sophia Contino, who lives in Meadow Pointe and attends Sand Pine Elementary, is an eight year old who wants to save lives. More specifically, she wants to save canine lives by providing the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO)’s K-9 officers with bulletproof vests.

Sophia’s dad, Jason, first heard about the need to supply vests for the Pasco Sheriff’s K-9 unit at the June 2, 2015, meeting of the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC), of which he is a member. He told Sophia what he had heard, and she came up with the idea of having a lemonade stand, where all of raised the money would be donated to the K-9 cause.

“The reason I am raising money is, I love dogs and I love people,” says Sophia in a video on her Facebook page, which already has been viewed more than 1,000 times at Facebook.com/SophiaPCSOK9 (or search “Sophia’s PCSO K9 Association Campaign”).

Her dad says the Continos don’t currently have a dog at home, and Sophia may be trying to fill a void left by the loss of their beloved black lab, Payton, who passed away when Sophia was five.

Her first goal is to raise $2,500, which is the cost of one higher-end canine bulletproof vest that also measures the dog’s biometrics. Once she meets that goal, she plans to present the money to Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco in person. And, her dad says, “Sophia asked me how many vests the Sheriff’s Office needs. I was told they need 11, so she really wants to raise enough money to buy 11 vests.”

According to the Pasco Sheriff’s K9 Association website, there are currently nine active K9 officers and Jason says he is aware of at least one more joining the Sheriff’s Office soon.

Sophia says she charges 50 cents for each cup of lemonade, but that she often receives much more, even $20, for one cup, once people know the cause they’re supporting with their purchase.

Although her first lemonade stand made just a small profit, she has received much more financial support from her Facebook page. Her dad says they have received donations from as far away as New Hampshire and Illinois, and donations to her campaign had totaled more than $1,000 as we went to press with this issue.

Closer to home, Sophia has gotten support from local businesses, including Jefferson Bank, which set up an account where anyone can walk into any branch (including the one in Tampa Palms at 15302 Amberly Dr.) and make a donation to “Sophia’s Pasco County Sheriff’s K9 Fund.” She also has been invited to set up a lemonade stand at Wesley Chapel Nissan (located at 28519 S.R. 54, which she did for the first time on January 9).

Troy Stevenson of Wesley Chapel Nissan, a member of the WCCC who was instrumental in bringing awareness of the issue to the group, has helped the dealership (which is owned by Jay Rosario) raise $10,000 to donate to PCSO to get the ball rolling for the K-9 vests. He also got permission for Sophia to sell lemonade at the dealership.

“Sophia is a dynamo,” says Troy. “I wish I had her selling cars for us. She could raise $10,000 herself before she’s done.”

Want to support Sophia’s efforts? Come out and buy lemonade at her next lemonade stand, which will be on Saturday, January 18, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. It will be held in conjunction with a free shredding event by local business Shred360 at the Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce office (6013 Wesley Grove Blvd., #105, in The Grove at Wesley Chapel plaza). Or, check out her Facebook page, where you’ll find a link to make a donation via PayPal. You can also make a donation at the Jefferson Bank branch in Tampa Palms.

Getting bigger and better, just like Wesley Chapel

Editorial by Gary Nager

Judging by all of the new “stuff” that’s still coming to Wesley Chapel (see page 14, current issue), it’s easy to understand why the longest continuously published (by the same owner) publication directly mailed to all of the single-family subdivisions (and many of the multi-family units in the same communities) in Wesley Chapel continues to break through barriers in terms of local advertising sales, readership, popularity and ability to help the local businesses who choose to advertise in these pages.

Although we have been directly mailed to Wesley Chapel since I purchased the Neighborhood News in February 1994, our separate (and separately-mailed) Wesley Chapel edition has not yet reached double digits in years. Even so, the reason I split it off from what used to be two issues per month mailed to both New Tampa and Wesley Chapel was because I saw how quickly the Wesley Chapel area was growing between 2005-08 and I was also the only local publisher regularly following — and providing updates in print and on-line about — everything that was still to come to Wesley Chapel, which once had a concrete barricade on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. separating Wesley Chapel from what is now called New Tampa at the Pasco County line.

Even so, I couldn’t in my wildest dreams imagine the kind of growth I’ve seen while doing the same job since Feb. 1994 — much less the last ten years — in U.S. Postal zip codes 33543, 33544 and 33545.

And yes, it’s still coming, which I know has many of us concerned about the traffic and other issues all the continuing growth will bring, but it certainly also has helped your direct-mail community news magazine continue to grow along with Pasco County’s fastest-growing community.

A case in point is this issue, which is the first time we’ve had to expand to 48 pages in the shorter history of our Wesley Chapel issue — which we both split off from New Tampa and switched both editions from their one-time quarter-folded newspaper style to their current oversized magazine format — back in 2008.

In a little less than eight years, the Wesley Chapel edition has grown from its original 28 pages back then to average more than 40 pages the last two years, including our previous high page count of 44, a barrier we had reached several times in both 2014 and 2015, but had never had quite enough advertising to warrant a 48-page issue.

That is, until this edition. But, everyone who works with us knows that no matter how many ads we sell, if we don’t continue to do the little things to help as many of you keep reading every page of every issue — and keep those advertisers as happy as we possibly can by continually improving and refining our finished product every two weeks (our next New Tampa issue will hit mailboxes in 33647 on Jan. 28-29) — it all can go away…in a hurry.

My 22-year commitment (as of next month) has been and continues to be to bring more news and information that’s pertinent to the lives of our readers in both of our markets to keep you reading, not just the “advertorials” that are still part of what we do, but certainly not the only or even the most important thing we do. Anyone can tell you about a local business, but we believe it takes the Neighborhood News to keep the people in both of our distribution areas informed about what’s happening in those areas — and maybe even entertained a little.

As always, I thank you again for the unique opportunity and privilege I have to serve our wonderful readers and advertisers.

‘Taste-y’ News Coming Soon?

I know I’ve teased this a few times before, but yes, there should soon be news about the return of what was once my favorite annual local event, the Taste of New Tampa! I can’t say any more right now, but I will be involved and I will be excited to provide more info…as soon as next issue!

Freedom High Girl Scout seeking golden result with museum exhibit

GirlScout3 — Jennifer Guggemos (left) with Tampa Fire Rescue District Chief Susan Tamme.

Jennifer Guggemos is a junior at Freedom High working toward the highest honor a Girl Scout can receive, known as the Gold Award. To earn this prestigious award, the young member of the Sunset Scouts Troop 795 (which has been meeting at the McDonald’s in Tampa Palms for eight years) must dedicate at least 80 hours to a project that provides a “lasting, sustainable benefit” to her community.

So, Guggemos is teaming up with Tampa Fire Rescue (TFR) District Chief Susan Tamme to create a museum exhibit called “Women of TFR,” to show girls the career paths available to them in the fire department, and to honor the women who serve Tampa in this capacity.

Tamme oversees five fire stations, including New Tampa’s three stations (TFR Station Nos. 20, 21, and 22). She has worked for TFR for more than 20 years. Nearly two years ago, she became the first and remains the only female fire chief in the history of the department.

“It’s a fantastic career,” says Tamme, who cites the schedule (one day working, then two days off), the “stable, consistent” pay, the camaraderie of the firefighting “family” and the rewards of helping people as reasons why she would encourage her own daughter — and other girls like her — to consider a career with the fire department.

“It’s not just running into burning buildings,” Tamme explains.

The museum display will highlight 10 different career opportunities available, including fire prevention (inspectors), emergency medical services, and even tactical medical response teams to support police operations.

“If someone is interested in business or management, they can work toward a career as an officer, like my job,” says Tamme. “I now manage 50 people.”

Guggemos teamed up with Tamme after working with the fire department on an earlier service project. To earn her Silver Award, Guggemos collected more than 1,200 stuffed animals for the fire department to provide to children during emergency situations.

Tamme says she’s excited to partner with the Girl Scouts for this project, hoping that the partnership will allow many girls to come through the museum, see the display, and learn about the career opportunities available to them.

Tamme has already reached one young woman with her message — Guggemos herself, who says she had no idea so many different career paths were available at the fire department.

“I’ve learned a lot,” says Guggemos. “I’ve really enjoyed being around firefighters and it’s so cool to see what they do.”

She says the female firefighters she’s spoken with often tell her their stories, and there’s one she’s heard that is particularly inspiring.

“People told me I couldn’t do it,” Guggemos says one female firefighter told her. “But, here I am.”

Guggemos says she is learning leadership skills as she works with three different committees to put this exhibit together.

The museum display is expected to open in March, which is widely recognized as Women’s History Month. It will be part of the Tampa Firefighters Museum, located at 720 E. Zack St. in downtown Tampa.

Guggemos and Tamme are currently raising funds to make their plans a reality. The Tampa Firefighters Museum has agreed to match whatever funding is raised for the project, which Tamme estimates could cost $15,000.

It will include an artistic display with photographs and videos about each of the 10 different careers available within the Tampa Fire Department. It also will include brochures to be available to museum visitors.

For information about the Tampa Firefighters Museum, visit TampaFireMuseum.com. To learn more about supporting the fund-raising efforts for the “Women in Tampa Fire Rescue” museum display, contact Guggemos at TampaFireExhibit.GoldAward@yahoo.com.

Finally! Funding approved to extend State Road 56

Pasco County District 2 Commissioner Mike Moore could barely hide his joy as the vote to approve funding to extend SR 56 neared.

“It’s been a long time coming,” he said.

A few minutes later, the Pasco Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) voted unanimously to approve funding which will go toward extending SR 56 from Meadow Pointe Boulevard to U.S. Highway 301/State Road 41. What was once discussed as a two-lane road will now go forward as a four-lane project using State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) funds. The project is a complicated one, involving partnerships with the City of Zephyrhills and four corridor developer/land owners.

The BOCC will now submit the SIB Loan Agreement Package to the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) for approval.

Funding for the project, which will cost roughly $65-million, is being provided by FDOT, Pasco County, City of Zephyrhills, Wesley Chapel Lakes, Wyndfields, River Landing, and Two Rivers Ranch. FDOT is expected to contribute $35.1-million.

The road, which is expected to be delivered in its entirety by 2019, was touted for its expected enhancement of economic development opportunities and tax base in Zephyrhills and southeast Pasco County, as well as relieving traffic and making access to I-75 easier.

We’ll have more details, so check back.