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.
โCarol 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,โ Joe explains. โThe 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.โ
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 andย 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 โyesโ and โnoโ and much more.
โReally, these classes are good for anyone whoโs raising kids, or even in the workplace,โ 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 donโt have the time to commit to mentoring a child one hour every week.
โWe have two focuses,โ explains Carol. โSome people want to get involved right away and do something purposeful.โ
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.
โPeople find itโs quite fun!โ Carol says. โSome people arenโt 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.โ
Their goal is to encourage more people to provide that time to help students who need it. After all, Joe says, every child heโs mentored has benefitted from the experience.
โThese kids just need time and attention,โ he says.
Joe knows that because he once benefitted from mentoring, too.
โI had this (U.S. military) Colonel who changed my entire life,โ he says. โI grew up in the city of Pittsburgh (PA). It was a steel mill town, and thatโs 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.โ
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 heโs impacted.
โI see the kids Iโve mentored already giving back in their communities,โ he says. โItโs so good to see that you can make a difference that way, no matter how old you are.โ
For more information or to register for the mentoring class, contact Carol at (813) 753-8338.
Wesley Chapel Nissan organized a last-second food drive, filling six Nissan Titan pick-ups trucks with food supplies and driving a caravan to the old Target on S.R. 54 near the Suncoast Pkwy. (Photo: John C. Cotey)
When Hurricane Irma blew through Florida Sept. 10-11 and left a trail of devastation in its wake, for many, it was a week fraught with fear and indecision. Ultimately, for most in the Wesley Chapel and New Tampa area, Irma spared us the worst of her wrath. Hereโs some local takeaways from a crazy week:
1. Storms Are Stressful โ It was, in a word, a crazy week. Between the forecast track of Irma changing every few hours, the panic that set in and left most store shelves empty as the Category 5 storm approached Florida, and the final days of deciding whether to board up the windows and hunker down or get in the car and leave (which had itโs own set of perils, as rooms and gas were in scarce supply as far north as Tennessee), the hurricane tied everyoneโs stomach up in knots. There have been other hurricanes, but weโre not sure any previous storms produced the kind of nervousness we saw this time around.
2. Be Prepared, Darn It! โ This goes without saying. Itโs also coming from the guy who was wondering what all the fuss was about when water began flying off the shelves a week before Irma arrived; a guy who decided to board up his windows the day after the entire area ran out of plywood and who finally decided to move his family into a shelter the morning the storm arrived. Next time, the first item on my checklist: make an actual plan.
3. Oh, And Batteries! โ Dear People: That drawer full of AA and AAA batteries to keep your kidsโ electronic devices and games running just arenโt going to cut it in a storm.
Sincerely,
C and D batteries.
P.S. Remember us?
4. Meteorologists Arenโt So Bad โ We all know that no weatherman is perfect. Here in Florida, we curse them daily. We demand perfection from them.
But, while it was easy to make fun of the ever-changing spaghetti models, and the way they scared the bejeezus out of most of us with their Irma forecasts, remember this: every stationโs weather person told millions to flee, and millions did โ and are still alive because of it.
5. No, Really, They Arenโt! โ Whether it was FOX 13โs Paul Dellagatto, or ABC Action Newsโ Denis Phillips, or your favorites from Bay News 9 and the Weather Channel, many found comfort in their most trusted weather person.
My wife was on a first name basis with Phillips during the storm. She asked constantly if โDenisโ had updated his Facebook status yet. His posts were calm, reassuring, and most important, honest. He said it was going to be bad (it was), he said it was going to be scary (yep), he said it was going to do some damage (it did) and he reminded us not to panic (although some of us did anyway).
When there was no power or no signal, a friend from California cut and pasted his updates into texts so she could read them.
Thanks, Denis.
6. You Canโt Please Everyoneโ Hurricanes are unpredictably predictably unpredictable, or something like that. However, many people afterwards were actually angry that the storm didnโt pass right over their homes โ because the forecast said it would โand now they had a 15-hour drive back from Atlanta. And, all this water they bought. And, so much time wasted boarding up. It was all for nothing! Waaaah.
Would these people have been happier had the storm passed through and took their house with it? Would that have made it all worth their time?
7. Our Schools Rockโ How great were the Pasco and Hillsborough County schools during Hurricane Irma? Many of us take our schools for granted, but they are remarkable places that take care of our kids during the day and then, in a crisis, can spring into action and provide shelters (and three squares a day) for thousands of people, old and young, and even their pets.
To make this happen required administrators and teachers going above and beyond, and dozens of volunteers giving their time to meet the needs of the evacuees. We saw volunteers getting aspirin for one person, an extra blanket for another, and even a cup of ice for an older lady to feed the chips to her nervous dog.
Yes, we know it wasnโt cozy or luxurious and the internet and phone service were spotty and the food was meh, but our schools were what they needed to be: Safe.
8. Tampa Bay Wasย On The Ballย โYes, there were still people without power heading into last weekend, but itโs not for a lack of trying. The pictures of literally hundreds of trucks from power companies lined up on the interstate and ready to head south were reassuring, as was everything about the countyโs response.
Almost second-by-second updates, an app that was useful, first responders ready to go and an overall feeling that those in chargeย were in control. The county planned for a Category 5 storm. You could tell. Hereโs hoping they can keep it up during the recovery mode.
9. It Takes A Villageโ Hundreds of stories have unfolded since the storm, good stories that remind you how lucky we are to be surrounded by neighbors, friends and even strangers, who rushed out to help those with no power, those in need of a tree being removed and those desperate for food and water, just needing a shower or a bag/cup of ice or a generator.
Thereโs really no shortage, it seems, of people willing to help, with countless posts on Facebook offering to check on peopleโs homes while they were returning from evacuation, towing cars out of flooded areas and helping others to safety.
John, Elaine & Pepper Goacher of New Port Richey were hosted by Wiregrass Ranch High before, during and after Irma rolled through Florida on Sept. 10-11.
When it came time to open more schools as shelters as Hurricane Irma made her northerly turn through the Florida Keys and Naples with a bead on Wesley Chapel, Pasco County Superintendent of Schools Kurt Browning didnโt hesitate to open seven more schools as shelters on Sept. 9, at 3 p.m., 30 or so hours before the storm rolled through our area as a high Category 1 or low Category 2 hurricane.
And pets, surprisingly, weโre allowed at all of them.
That wasnโt an easy call for Browning to make โ of the 14 shelters originally opened in Pasco, pets were allowed at just two.
But, Browning knew that many residents would rather suffer โIrmageddonโ with their animals in tow than without them, and he knew it wasnโt time to worry about the mess the animals would leave behind.
โWe made them all pet shelters because, the fact of the matter is, and I donโt want to be morbid about it is, but itโs a lot easier cleaning up dog poop than it is carrying out body bags,โโ Browning said.
Browning had just left the kennel area at Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH), which he acknowledged wasnโt pretty. He called it a madhouse.
Others agreed.
โHave you been in the pet room?,โโ volunteer Kate Fletcher, a seventh grade civics teacher at John Long Middle School, asked. โItโs a zoo, literally. Itโs a menagerie.โ
Not only were there cats and dogs, she said, but there were birds, a snake, a ferret and rabbits and hamsters. โPretty much any animal you can think of as a pet,โโ her daughter Maddy, 15, who also was volunteering, chimed in.
In the open breezeways at WRH, near the gymnasium where the pets were housed, people milled about with their dogs, taking slow walks around the campus while chatting on the phone, as news that the storm was on its way created a stir.
The bond between pets and their owners โ or parents, as some pet owners would refer to themselves โ is a strong one.
โItโs a fascinating dynamic,โโ Browning said. โWe had people calling the EOC (Emergency Operations Center) today, and even shelters, and saying if I canโt bring my pets in, Iโm not coming.โ
For some, even the shelters were tough to handle. One woman, according to Fletcher, was in hysterics about having to crate her dog in the gym from 9 p.m.-7 a.m.
She cried as she pleaded with anyone that would listen to her, begging for the dog to be left with her. She even threatened to just leave with the dog, so they would not have to be separated.
Fletcher said she stepped in and told the woman that โ36 hours of having your dog freaked out, is that worse than one or potentially both of you not getting through this?โ
John and Elaine Goacher of New Port Richey sat on a maroon iron bench watching the other dogs while feeding treats to Pepper, their 12-year-old Dalmation/Labrador mix.
They couldnโt sleep the night before, so they left the morning of the 10th for safety. They contemplated heading north towards family, but decided on Wesley Chapel.
โIt had to be somewhere we could take Pepper, that was for sure,โโ said John, who noted that he passed up a number of other shelters as they drove east across the county.
It was the Goachersโ first hurricane, but they suspect it wasnโt Pepperโs. They adopted her from a rescue in Alabama, who said she was one of many puppies taken in after Hurricane Katrina, which slammed the Gulf Coast in 2005.
Maybe that explained Pepperโs unusually calm demeanor.
Jessica Meyers (left) of Little Italyโs 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.
โIt was nonstop,โ Jennifer explains. โThere was never a second that went by without a post โ a constant influx from Thursday through Monday.โ
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.
โIt was the first time I ever had to shut the site down,โ says Jennifer, although she didnโt actually close the site; she just stopped people from posting without admin approval.
โIt lost its efficacy because there was so much posting going on,โ she says. โWe made it so, as admins, that we had to approve the posts. Then, it was more useful and all those posts truly helped people.โ
Carolyn Daly, a member of the Facebook community who lives in Quail Hollow, agrees.
โThrough the whole storm โ before, during and after โ 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,โ says Carolyn. โIt was really amazing to see people coming together to support each other and not just look out for themselves.โ
She says she was especially impressed with Joel Provenzano and Ryan Mills, two local โweather geeksโ 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 didnโt 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 fatherโs fifth grade class.
โSpace and weather were the two big things he emphasized,โโ Joel said.
According to stats provided by Jennifer, Joel and Ryanโs 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.
โDuring the storm, Joel and Ryan updated every step of the way when the storm was really ramping up,โ Carolyn says, โlike 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.โ
She adds, โIt reminded me of what a neighborhood was when I was growing up. Only now, itโs a virtual neighborhood.โ
Thatโs kind of what Jennifer Ames had in mind when she started the group.
โI grew up in a very small town in south Georgia, with a โneighbors helping neighborsโ spirit,โ she says. โBut, I never imagined a hurricane and a crisis. I didnโt know that it would work to this level.โ
Bob Behrleโs 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.
โIt helped us tremendously,โ Bob said. โI never would have found that without Facebook.โ
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 couldnโt get food. Helen wanted to make sure that wasnโt the case for linemen in Wesley Chapel.
โI would love to take them some food but I havenโt seen any,โ she posted. โIโm looking for some sightings!โ
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 didnโt 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 โlikedโ her picture, encouraging her act of kindness.
Helen thinks the Wesley Chapel Community page helps people to be a better community to each other.
โIt is unbelievable to watch, and because of social media, you do get to see it,โ Helen says. โAt the end of the day, it is amazing to see that people want be good and help others.โ
Jennifer agrees. โWe did a great job looking out for each other,โโ she says. โIt 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. Itโs heartwarming and touching to know we have that in our community.โ
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 monthโs โChappy Hour,โ where people from the site meet in real life, is a special โIrma Edition,โ 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 โChappy Hour.โ โIโve never gone before because I always thought I wouldnโt know anyone,โ Helen says. โThis time Iโm going because now I feel like I know people.โ
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 โWesley Chapel Communityโ or โWesley Chapel Networkโ on Facebook.
Scenes similar to this one in nearby Dade City were common across Pasco County, although Hurricane Irma inflicted less damage on Wesley Chapel than many other areas. (Photo: Brandi Whitehurst, PIO for Santa Rosa County Emergency Management.)
In the days leading up to the arrival of Hurricane Irma, one of the most devastating storms to ever threaten Florida, the frenzy was real.
Bottled water, plywood and food flew off the shelves at local stores, days before Irma touched down. Roads were clogged with evacuees heading for higher ground or, as the storm got closer, local shelters. Gasoline was practically drained from every station from Miami to Atlanta, GA.
โWe were scared. Everyone was scared,โโ said Meadow Pointe III resident Inelia Semonick. โWaiting for it made everyone nervous.โ
The waiting, as it turned out, was the hardest part for most Wesley Chapel residents.
After making landfall and devastating the Florida Keys and Naples as a Category 5 storm, Irma moved up the Florida peninsula and lost much of her power, hitting the Tampa Bay area as a Category 2 hurricane. It still delivered a blast of howling winds, rain and the snap, crackle and pop of tree branches breaking off, but did minimal damage to most ofย our area, although plenty of clean-up remains and flooding continues to plague the east and west sides of the county a week after the storm.
โThis is not over, weโve got a long way to go,โโ said Kevin Guthrie, Pascoโs assistant county administrator for public safety. โI told our teams, when we go into recovery mode, thatโs when we usually have problems with the community and neighbors. We are always judged by the recovery, not always by the response.โ
The 26 shelters throughout Pasco County were able to release some of their 24,100 occupants the morning after the storm. Residents returned home to find trees uprooted, fences down and the power out.
While most power in Wesley Chapel was restored, even as the Neighborhood News went to press on Sept. 15, there were still hundreds of local residents still waiting.
The four power companies that service Pasco County โ Duke Energy, Tampa Electric Company, Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative and Sumter Electric Cooperative โ reported a high of 217,382 addresses without power, out of 261,000 total addresses, or 83 percent.
As of Sept. 14, that number was down to 51,847, or just 19 percent.
โWhile Hurricane Irma could have been much worse,โโ Pasco County administrator Dan Biles said, โshe still left quite a mess across the county.โ
(l.-r.) Meadow Pointe III residents Javier Casillas, Ernie Rodriguez, Gary Suris and Nick Casillas begin cutting up the second of three trees they removed on Beardsley Dr. (Photo courtesy of Inelia Semonick).
The county says that, at the peak of storm damage, 749 roads were closed, but that number was down to 126 by the end of last week.
County crews leapt into action to meet the demands of residents across Pasco.
โAwe-inspiring efforts,โโ said Biles, citing the work of the Pasco County Sheriffโs Office (PCSO), the Pasco School District, local charities like the Salvation Army, the countyโs Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and others. โOur partners throughout the community have really helped us through this and allowed to get us where we are today.โ
The community also has been lauded for its response. As residents returned to homes, or opened their doors Monday morning to assess the damage, many immediately went to work checking on their neighbors and lending plenty of helping hands.
A Few Local Stories
Robert Castillo II rode out the storm in Westbrook Estates with his fiancรฉ, Brittany Velez, and 10-month-old son Robert III. Castillo said that having a newborn to care for heightened the anxiety of the storm.
Like many, he was relieved when he opened his front door Monday morning.
โThe anticipation was crazy,โโ said the Wesley Chapel realtor, โbut we didnโt get the full brunt of the storm by any means.โ
Robert turned to helping his parents, who live in Zephyrhills and had a tree downed, as well as neighbors who needed to clean up and dispose of sandbags.
In Meadow Pointe III, Ernie Rodriguez joined neighbors Gary Saris and Javier and Nick Casillas in clearing a fallen tree from busy Beardsley Dr., using a chainsaw to cut the limbs and move them to the side so traffic could pass. A few yards down the road was another tree, and after that, another tree.
โWe did enough to clear the road,โโ Rodriguez said, who then returned home to check on an elderly neighbor. โThatโs what people do, right? They help out in times like this.โ
Many others across the area joined in, swapping generators, providing their homes to those without power who might just need a shower, and teaming up to clear away debris. Local businesses rushed to re-open so power-free people could eat, with many offering ice to their fellow residents.
District 2 Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore, who lives in Seven Oaks, said he was moved by the outpouring of support in the area he represents.
โItโs been a joy to watch how the community has come together and answered the call,โโ said Moore, who used social media to rally people to Wesley Chapel High to help load wheelchairs, beds, oxygen tanks and other equipment into trucks to help those with special needs, especially the elderly, return to their homes.
โIโve been getting calls, texts and messages on Facebook, from people asking what can I do, what do you need?,โโ Moore said five days after the storm ventured north of our area. โItโs never ending.โ
Wesley Chapel Nissan, which already was organizing a drive to collect supplies for Hurricane Harvey victims in Texas before Irma hit, ended up diverting a large portion of those non-perishable foodstuffs, water and more to the National Guard soldiers who were stationed on S.R. 54 in the parking lot of the former Target store near the Suncoast Pkwy.
โWe had local people in need,โ said WC Nissanโs Troy Stevenson. โAnd, so many people pitched in to help,โ including Comm. Moore and Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce president Hope Allen.ย ย
For the most part, there seems to be relief that the most dangerous storm โ and certainly the most hyped storm โ in more than a decade seems to have only grazed an area that was forecasted at various times to be directly in the path of Irmaโs eye.
The Norlands, who live in Quail Hollow, didnโt realize just how much damage Hurricane Irma did to their home until the day after the storm. (Photo: Cristy Norland)
But, the relief and rosy post-hurricane outlooks are hard to read for some residents, especially those in the Quail Hollow and Angus Valley areas of Wesley Chapel, which traditionally experience flooding after storms.
In their preparation for Irma, Cristy and Josh Norland, who run the Bacon Boss food truck and live on Quail Hollow Blvd. just past Cypress Creek, piled sandbags two feet high to protect the home they rent from expected flooding. Inside, Cristy put her more valuable and treasured items, like her dining room table, up on bricks.
The Norlands, including daughters Bria (13), Cassi (11) and Anni (7), weathered the storm at her motherโs house 10 minutes away, and were surprised that the storm passed by without doing nearly the damage they had expected.
When they returned to their home the next morning, however, their relief was quickly washed away by what they saw.
โI just about a had a heart attack when I turned the corner and saw what is now a lake,โโ Cristy says. โIt was like a bad scene from a movie. There was water all around the house, two feet deep. I knew right away the sandbags hadnโt done any good.โ
Inside, however, the water was only two inches deep, and hadnโt yet breached the surface above the bricks, providing the Norlands with some relief.
โI thought, โThank God we had the precaution to put some things on bricks,โโ says Cristy, who returned to her motherโs house to call her landlord.
When she returned to her house four hours later, another shock: the water in Cypress Creek had continued to rise. The water was up to her thighs in the driveway, it had risen past her windows, and those bricks she had perched important items on? โComical,โโ she says.
She adds that she saw tadpoles swim by and earthworms float through as she waded through her kitchen. While the food truck was safe, moved before the storm to her motherโs house, the Norlands run their business out of their home and stored much of their commercial equipment in the garage.
The waters, which Cristy says โturned little old Cypress Creek into a raging river,โ were devastating.
โA total loss,โโ she said. Her church helped them salvage what they could, but Cristy says ยพ of the house went to the dump.
The Thursday after the storm (Sept. 14), the Bacon Bus food truck had its first gig in two weeks in Lakeland.
