As a proud member of the Noon Rotary Club of New Tampa — which meets Wednesdays at noon in Mulligan’s Irish Pub, inside the Pebble Creek Golf Club — I am happy to announce that the club’s fourth annual bike rally to benefit U.S. military veterans and first responders on March 25 raised “about $5,000,” according to event chair and local orthodontist Dr. Steven Dau. “Even though we reduced our sponsorship cost (to $100 per sponsor), we had way more riders this year (almost 60) than last (closer to 30), so we actually came out ahead.”
The rally — which is not a race — offered riders a 4-, 18- or 39-mile course, starting from the Chili’s Grill & Bar on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. (directly adjacent to the BBD entrance to Flatwoods Wilderness Park), while raising funds to benefit four nonprofit charities that help local veterans, law enforcement and firefighters.
Noon Rotary president Valerie Casey says that during the four years of the event to date, nearly 300 riders have helped this small (only 21 members) Rotary Club raise more than $23,000 to help the club’s selected charities. “We’re small, but we’re mighty,” Valerie says. “If you’re looking for a club where every member truly believes in the Rotary International motto of ‘Service Above Self,’ we should be your club, too. Our members are more like family because we really love and support each other.”
The club also is partnering on an upcoming project with City Council member Luis Viera and the original Rotary Club of New Tampa (which meets Fridays at 7 a.m. at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club) to beautify Tampa Fire Rescue Fire Station No. 20 in Tampa Palms.
Proceeds from this year’s bike rally will benefit four nonprofits — Support the Troops, the Stay in Step Spinal Cord Injury Recovery Center, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue & The Homefront Foundation.
This year’s sponsors included Chili’s, The Little Greek Restaurant, Gentle Care Dentistry (the office of Dr. Tom Frankfurth), Stifel Financial/Mike Wallace, Children’s Dentistry (the office of Dr. Greg Stepanski), State Farm Insurance/Joyce Coleman and the New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News.
For more info about the New Tampa Noon Rotary and its international and local service projects, visit one of our meetings as my guest or search “NewTampaNoonRotary” on Facebook.
From conga lines to DJ dancing, the annual Red Carpet Affair at St. James Church is #1 with local special needs families.
St. James United Methodist Church, located on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in Tampa Palms, hosted its 8th annual Red Carpet Affair on April 1.
It’s a prom-like experience for people ages 16 and older with special needs, regardless of their religious affiliation. The Red Carpet Affair is a culmination of months of hard work by many dedicated volunteers, with planning starting in November, and donations from St. James’ congregation and the local community.
Organizers says that more than 140 volunteers are the glue of this event because they shared their time and talents to make this prom another major success for guests.
Ladies who attend the “Affair” sign up for appointments in the “Diva Room,” where they are pampered with facials, manicures and given professionally styled hairdos and makeup.
Parents and caregivers are able to enjoy a reception all their own, giving them a place to sit back, relax and enjoy each other’s company.
The St. James sanctuary was transformed into a dance hall with walls of light, balloon arrangements, and — of course — limitless smiles. Each guest gets to experience a prom-like atmosphere with a walk down a red carpet, professional photography and DJ dancing.
Live Fusion Entertainment played all of the current hits from the radio and even led a conga line, which is a favorite among guests and volunteers alike.
This amazing community event was attended by more than 280 guests, parents and caregivers, making it the largest Red Carpet Affair to date. Several of those in attendance said that the Affair is the event of the year for Tampa Bay-area special needs families.
Carlene Barbeau, a veteran volunteer for the event, described the prom as “more of a joy for me than for our special needs friends. It is incredible to see people from all ages, backgrounds and abilities come together to dance, laugh and appreciate our uniqueness.”
If you would like to be part of next year’s Red Carpet Affair, or other ongoing events for those with special needs, contact Zach Grant, director of Special Connections, at specialconnections@stjamestampa.org.
Now that Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC) has completed its recent major expansion, it’s growing outside of Wesley Chapel, too.
The hospital has broken ground on an off-site emergency room on S.R. 54, just east of the Suncoast Pkwy. in Land O’ Lakes.
The building will be 18,000 sq. ft., with 24 beds, and will offer full-service emergency room care 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including on-site laboratory and imaging services, such X-ray, ultrasound & CT scan. The new ER will be staffed with Board-certified emergency medicine physicians and nurses who specialize in emergency care.
“This emergency room facility will provide the Central Pasco community with greater access to comprehensive emergency care,” said Denyse Bales-Chubb, president and CEO of Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel. “We recently completed a significant expansion at (FHWC) and we continue to add physicians and services to meet the medical needs of our growing community.”
The ER is expected to be open in late 2017 or early 2018. A groundbreaking ceremony was held April 6.
I am from the snowflakes that fall from the sky and pile in heaps on the ground.
I am from the loon’s eerie wails, which I loved to stay awake in bed and listen to at night.
I am from the mix of the world’s best pancakes, and the batter of the world’s best fudge brownies.
Hailey Acierno wrote these words in a poem when she was 11 years old, shortly after the family had moved here from Minnesota.
Chris and Lisa Acierno, her parents, honored their daughter by sharing them with a New Tampa community that has tried to fill the holes in their hearts the past two weeks.
Chris read his favorite poem at Hailey’s funeral April 12 at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church, before hundreds who attended a somber and sad goodbye to a young, 17-year-old woman her parents say had struggled for years with mental illness, and who took her own life in the woods inside Flatwoods Park, behind the Arbor Greene community where her family lived.
“Losing a child and the grief that accompanies that loss is a thought that every parent considers,” Chris said. “You imagine it as the absolute worst possible scenario of loss, pain and sorrow. Well, we can attest to the harsh reality that it is completely devastating.”
The church was filled with family and friends, and even the rescue parties and their dogs who searched for her over 10 days when Hailey went missing March 28. They cried, hugged and lamented the loss of a life too soon.
• • •
I am from the strawberry wafers sold at the rundown cornerstore where I would always bike to.
I am from “Because I Said So”, and “What’d You Say?”, and “There’s A First Time For Everything.”
I am from the cheers in the bleachers at my brothers’ baseball games.
Hailey, a 17-year-old Wharton student, left behind brothers Ryan and Josh and sister Katie, and her parents, who along with so many others in the community, remember her as bright and imaginative girl who made so many of those around her happy.
“She was brilliant, she was creative, she was always the smile in the room,’’ said Lisa. “She would go out of her way to be the happy, bouncy, silly kid willing to do anything to make someone smile.”
When she was 10, a year before the family moved from Minnesota to Tampa, she wrote about being in charge of the world, and how, if she was, she would ban chicken pot pies and blues music and the sport of curling.
Pet Dragons would be the norm in Hailey’s world, all waterheads would be filled with fish, and fudge brownies and ice cream cake would be vegetables. Chris shared that at her funeral, to let those who may not have known Hailey understand how her mind danced like children’s minds do.
“It was a beautiful mind,’’ he said.
She was loved by her classmates and teachers, and cared for everyone. When her cell phone was stolen and later recovered, she worried about what would happen to the child who was caught with it. “It was just a mistake,’’ she told her mother.
Beneath the surface, however, Hailey was plagued by dark thoughts, her mother said, thoughts she fought hard to suppress. She attended Pride Elementary in fifth grade, and had a perfect score on her FCAT. When she entered Benito Middle School, Lisa says she started to notice the changes: Hailey became more sullen, she stopped caring about school and she couldn’t stay on task.
“She was in so much pain,’’ Lisa said. “If you knew her, though, she hid it really well.”
Through it all, including hospital stays and visits to therapists and an unending procession of doctors and counselors, she never stopped smiling. Her artistic side continued to shine through. Her writings were deep and sometimes dark but always exceptional. She was two chapters into writing a book her mother insists would have become a best seller.
When Hailey went missing March 28, hundreds of volunteers showed up to search, combing as much of the massive 5,500-acre Flatwoods Park — where she enjoyed hanging out — as they could.
A vigil was held at St. Mark’s on April 4, and despite trying hard to remain optimistic, Lisa began to fear the worst.
On April 6, Flatwoods Park was closed as the search was expanded. A day later, in the early morning, Tampa Police officers on off-road bikes found Hailey’s body off the main biking and hiking paths. “Hailey had a troubled mind,’’ Chris said, “and needed to find peace for herself.”
• • •
I am from a pair of ice skates that my brothers and I walked with to the outdoor skating rink every winter night, and skated across the lumpy ice.
I am from the long, concealing limbs of the weeping willow, the perfect place to go for privacy and relaxing.
I am from the big pond behind the neighborhood, next to the willow.
Lisa doesn’t know what she could have done differently, but it’s hard not to think about.
She said she was on a neverending mission to find help for her daughter. Hailey suffered from bi-polar disorder (formerly referred to as manic depression), which causes extreme mood swings and, in many cases, suicidal thoughts. It affects nearly six million adult Americans, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Hailey spent time in hospitals and with therapists as the family fought to find solutions. Lisa says she called at least 50 doctors searching for help.
Asked if she has any advice for other families suffering with the same affliction, she grows quiet. “Because we lost,’’ she says, “I don’t know how much my advice is worth.”
But after a moment, she steels herself.
“Just keep fighting,’’ she says. “Don’t give up. Don’t quit.”
Chris says the family can take some solace in the fact that Hailey is free from her torment. The pain never goes away, but some peace can be found.
“She is now free and she can find happiness fluttering with the butterflies and soaring with the birds in the clouds, and even exploring distant galaxies in space,’’ he said. “All the things she loved.”
I am in a different place now than where I’m from.
A new place, completely.
But really, I’ll never leave the places that I am from.
(From left to right) United States’ Kayla Day, Coach Lisa Raymond, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Alison Riske, Shelby Rogers, CoCo Vandeweghe and Captain Kathy Rinaldi after clinching the overall victory over Germany at the 2017 Fed Cup tie between the United States and Germany in Maui, HI on February 12. (Photo: Andrew Ong/USTA)
Putting together a Federation Cup team is akin to fielding a lineup in almost any sport.
You find the best players, who are currently playing the best, who have earned the right to be out there, and you put them on the court.
For United State Fed Cup first-time captain Kathy Rinaldi, that means Coco Vandeweghe, Shelby Rogers, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lauren Davis.
Rinaldi selected her team last week during a stop at Saddlebrook Resort, which will host the Federation Cup by BNP Paribas World Group Semifinal this weekend in front of what could be a sellout crowd.
A temporary 3,500-seat stadium will be constructed around one of the resort’s Har-Try Classic Green Clay courts.
Kevin O’Connor, president of Saddlebrook International Sports, said Saddlebrook’s reputation, combined with a tennis community buoyed by active USTA programs at Hunter’s Green, Tampa Palms, Arbor Greene and West Meadows, made the area the perfect choice to host the event.
“This is the highest level of team tennis,’’ says O’Connor. “This is like what most of the local community does with the USTA team tennis. Imagine one of the best communities in the U.S. for organized tennis. To have the pinnacle of team events in your backyard, it’s a no brainer and very exciting.”
The best-of-five match series begins on Saturday with two singles matches beginning at 11:30 a.m.. Then, on Sunday, the teams will play two reverse singles matches beginning at 10:30 a.m., as well as the doubles match.
The semifinal showdown will feature one team, the U.S., trying to reclaim its former glory. The 17-time champion hasn’t won the Fed Cup since 2000.
One the other hand, the defending champ Czech Republic is trying to maintain its status as the best women’s team in the world, as winners of five of the last six titles.
The U.S. is 39-6 all-time in Fed Cup ties (or matches) played at home, and is 147-36 overall.
“The atmosphere for these matches will be electric,’’ Rinaldi says. “There’s something about playing for your country that brings out the best in the players. To see the fans, with their faces painted, the colored wigs… to hear the national anthem, there’s nothing like it.”
A few weeks ago, Rinaldi, whose son Duke Stunkel Jr. is an outfielder for the University of South Florida baseball team, said her team was the clear underdog. But, that may have changed once the Czech Republic revealed it would be sending an inexperienced lineup of Fed Cup reserves.
Already without two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who is still recovering from a December knife attack during a burglary that left her with an injured left hand, the Czechs also go without the other three players who led them to the Fed Cup title last year.
World No. 3 Karolina Pliskova, No. 18 Barbora Strycova and No. 2 doubles player Lucie Safarova have all declined to play, citing minor injuries or scheduling issues.
In their place, the Czech Republic is sending Pliskova’s twin sister Kristyna and Marketa Vondrousova, who will be making their Fed Cup debuts, and Katerina Siniakova and Denia Allertova, who have played one Fed Cup doubles match.
Siniakova is the highest rated of the Czechs, at No. 38, while Pliskova is No. 54. Allertova (107) and Vondrousova (233) are outside of the Top 100.
Ratings matter less, however, when you are playing for your country, Rinaldi says. Last year, the Netherlands, without a single player in the top 100, beat four-time champion Russia, which was competing with three players in the top 35, including Maria Sharapova.
Started in 1963 as the women’s version of the men’s Davis Cup, Federation Cup tennis is the world’s largest annual international team competition in women’s sports, as roughly 100 teams from across the globe compete. It is marked by patriotism and raucous, festive crowds who roundly cheer for their country, and the atmosphere is completely different from the typical intense quiet you might see on television. Loudly celebrating in between points is not only allowed, it is encouraged.
“You can really feel the enthusiasm,’’ Rinaldi said. “In Hawaii (for the U.S.’s 4-0 quarterfinal win over Germany), the fans were loud and behind us, and we expect it to be the same way at Saddlebrook.”
United States’ captain Kathy Rinaldi gets excited about a point at the 2017 Fed Cup tie between the United States and Germany in Maui, HI on February 11. (Photo: Andrew Ong/USTA)
Rinaldi, 49, reached the quarterfinals of the French Open as a 14-year-old and has trained at Saddlebrook. A three-time winner on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour, and once ranked as high as No. 7 in the world, Rinaldi was working in player development for the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) when she was tasked with directing the Fed Cup team back to the top of the international heap after years of struggling.
Despite American tennis boasting the likes of Serena Williams, arguably the greatest player of all-time (and 16-1 in Fed Cup action), her sister Venus and more than a dozen top-100-ranked players, its shortcomings for more than a decade in the Fed Cup competition have been magnified in recent years by the absence of the top American women, mainly Serena and Venus currently ranked Nos. 2 and 12 respectively.
Even without the Williams sisters, or No. 10 Madison Keys, Rinaldi has secured the remaining top Americans. Vandeweghe is No. 24, Davis is 36 and Rogers is 49, moving up three spots after beating the top-seeded Keys and reaching the quarterfinals at the WTA’s Charleston stop April 3-5. Mattek-Sands is the No. 1 doubles player in the world,
“You want to try to find those players that are playing their best at the moment,’’ Rinaldi said. “You want to find players that you believe in, and American tennis has a lot of really good players and a lot that are playing really well right now. We currently have 18 in the top 100. That’s quite a number. Women’s tennis has really stepped up.”
The animated and fiery Vandeweghe, certain to be one of the crowd favorites this weekend, is playing the best tennis of her career.
She reached a career-high rating of No. 20 in the world earlier this year after her 2017 Australian Open, where she defeated then-world No. 1 Angelique Kerber before falling to Venus Williams in the semis.
Vandeweghe has won two WTA titles, and a doubles title as well, when she teamed with Mattek-Sands to win at Indian Wells in 2016.
This will be Vandeweghe’s sixth Fed Cup tie (or team match), and she is 3-0 in doubles and 3-3 in singles.
Davis, who won her first WTA title this year, the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, is returning to Fed Cup for the first time since 2015, and is 1-0 in doubles and 0-1 in singles.
Rogers, who has reached two WTA quarterfinals this year, is playing in her second consecutive Fed Cup tie. She made her debut in Hawaii, teaming with Mattek-Sands in doubles.
Mattek-Sands became the No. 1-rated doubles player in the world in January with a win at Brisbane, followed by the Australian Open title. Mattek-Sands has 25 career WTA doubles titles, including the 2015 French Open and 2016 U.S. Open. She is undefeated in Fed Cup doubles action, winning all six of her matches, and is 2-6 in Fed Cup singles. She was on the last U.S. team to make the finals in 2010.
The winner at Saddlebrook advances to the Fed Cup final Nov. 11-12. It will meet the winner of the Belarus-Switzerland tie being played this weekend in Minsk, Belarus.
Tickets to the action at Saddlebrook were going fast but still available as of our press time. To try and purchase, visit USTA.com/fedcup or call (888) 334-USTA (8782).
The club also is partnering on an upcoming project with City Council member Luis Viera and the original Rotary Club of New Tampa (which meets Fridays at 7 a.m. at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club) to beautify Tampa Fire Rescue Fire Station No. 20 in Tampa Palms.
The semifinal showdown will feature one team, the U.S., trying to reclaim its former glory. The 17-time champion hasn’t won the Fed Cup since 2000.