A group of kids in the Lakes of Northwood neighborhood sold more than 300 tie-dyed face coverings to raise money for St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital.
It’s the accessory everyone’s wearing this fall, and not because it’s the hottest new fashion.
Local ordinances throughout Florida have made face coverings mandatory, and some creative Wesley Chapel kids have found a way to turn people’s need for masks into an opportunity to do good.
In The Lakes at Northwood neighborhood, located just off County Line Rd. and Bruce B. Downs Blvd., the Burnett, Caruso, Peretsky and White families have 10 kids between them, ages 5-13. They often play together outside.
When the pandemic hit, the kids started talking to each other about doing something helpful in their community.
“They wanted to be able to help other kids, in light of what was going on with Covid-19,” says Katie Burnett, who is mom to Jackson, Mackenzie and Alaina.
Katie says her kids – along with Diana, Ellina and David Peretsky, Mason, Kate and Troy Caruso and Josiah White — came up with the idea to raise money and donate it to St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Tampa.
They started with a lemonade stand. The idea grew when Katie and her husband Matt, who own Kona Ice Wesley Chapel, received a box of plain, white, reusable cloth masks to share with the community.
That’s when the kids decided to sell not only lemonade, but individually designed masks, too.
They took their revenue from that first lemonade stand and bought a tie-dye kit. Then, they got to work making fun summer art, using dozens of the masks as their canvases.
Their parents spread the word on social media, and then the kids took turns selling the masks on Saturdays in their neighborhood.
Late this summer, they tallied up their earnings and were able to make a $350 donation to St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital. Parent company BayCare Health System’s senior vice president & Hillsborough County market leader Kimberly Guy stopped by the neighborhood and the families presented her with an oversized check — also made by the kids.
“They got really excited when Kim told them the money would be used to buy toys for kids at the hospital,” says Katie. “That helped make it real for them.”
So, as it turns out, you literally can get anything at a Walmart Supercenter.
Even a drive-in movie.
On August 18 and 19, the Walmart on S.R. 54 in Wesley Chapel converted a large portion of its parking lot into a drive-in movie theater, which was part of a nationwide pop-up drive-in movie event touring the country and visiting 160 Walmart locations.
At this free event, Walmart stationed two large digital screens and cleared out a big section of its parking lot. Anyone was welcome to go online and register to see a showing of “Spy Kids” on Tuesday evening and “Selena”’ on Wednesday evening.
Both showings were sold out, with about 70 cars lined up with families and couples
who received goody bags full of snacks and water at check-in.
“We love this,” said Wesley Chapel resident Janet Perez, who, with her son, enjoyed some drive-thru Taco Bell while watching “Spy Kids.” It didn’t even matter that the movie was a hit 20 years ago.
“You don’t know how much we’ve missed movies!,” Perez said. “Plus, this is both of our first time at a drive-in, so it’s been great. It was great of Walmart to do this.”
Families with little kids huddled in the front seat(s) of the cars to watch the movie and snack on popcorn, as the audio for the film could be heard by tuning the radio to 92.1 FM. Many of the cars enjoyed the experience with the windows down, as the Florida evening sky turned orange with the sunset.
In the end, it was a fun event that even new Wesley Chapel residents enjoyed.
“This was definitely great, especially for families who don’t have a lot going on, or are low on money because of the virus,” said new Wesley Chapel resident Tiffany Hardy, who said she recently moved here with her family from Leesburg.
Tiffany watched the movie with her husband, Jason, in the driver’s seat and her son, Talon, on her lap (photo, right).
“It’s nice to be able to get out of the house and do something a little different, too,” she said.
If you’re looking for delicious, homemade pastas and sauces, Wesley Chapel has a legitimately authentic new eatery called Pasta di Guy that features a unique, affordable menu created by owner/Chef Guy Carmeli, who is originally from Israel, but was classically trained at the London location of the renowned Le Cordon Bleu cooking school.
Since relocating to Wesley Chapel, Guy has had a popular food truck in our area, but he has since opened his casual, comfortable sit-down/takeout restaurant in the former location of OTB Delights Café at 4839 BBD Blvd. and his homemade pastas — especially the always al denté Strozzapreti (which are sort of like two pieces of thicker-than-linguini pasta twisted and cut into bite-sized pieces), wit your choice of sauces and toppings.
My favorite sauces so far are the vodka, creamy pesto and aglio e olio (garlic & oil), but I still have to try the marinara and beef bolognese (the latter costs extra). I also enjoyed adding chicken, bacon, Italian sausage, broccoli and cauliflower to the different pastas and sauces, but please note that all of the items mentioned do cost extra over the $9.99 base price. But, you know what? It’s worth it!
We also enjoyed the fried zucchini sticks appetizer and people were raving on Day One about the fried ravioli appetizer and photographer/videographer Charmaine George said her zucchini noodles were definitely spot-on.
For more info, stop in (closed Mon.) or visit PastadiGuy.com or call (813) 388-6676 and tell Guy and Emily (photo above) I sent you!
Visit The Exerscience Center!
Congratulations to my friend Dr. Lauren Leiva, DPT, on the recent opening of her new The Exerscience Center (24706 S.R. 54, in Lutz, less than two miles from the Tampa premium Outlets).
Not only is Lauren a Doctor of Physical Therapy, she’s also a personal trainer, nutritional counselor and yoga instructor who works with people of all ages — including athletes who are looking to recover faster from an injury or surgery, neurological patients looking to restore lost function, and busy people who want a more effective, and sustainable approach to fitness.
In the photo on this page, Dr. Leiva is performing what she calls a “master reset” on a client, which she says will provide a “holistic rehabilitation experience.” She uses lots of the latest technology, including the Neubie machine from NeuFit (photo), a patented electrical stimulation device to help re-educate your neuromuscular systems, coupled with manual therapy and functional training.
Dr. Leiva says her patients are healing up to 4x faster than with traditional therapy. She adds that neurological signals can shut down muscles and prevent movement for too long, leaving that area of the body more vulnerable.
At The Exerscience Center, you’ll be able to identify exactly where those neurological barriers are present and break through them on the way to more efficient and effective recovery. But, don’t just take it from me. There’s so much more Dr. Leiva can tell you about all of the unique services she offers. For more information, visit TheExerscienceCenter.com, call (813) 464-0313 or see the ad on pg. 8! — GN
Sprouts Gets Top Grade!
For those who went absolutely bonkers over the opening of the Aldi supermarket on S.R. 56, I invite you to check out a truly outstanding, truly “green” new grocery store — Sprouts Farmers Market, located in the new Village at Hunter’s Lake plaza on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. at Hunter’s Green Dr., which opened last month.
Not only does Sprouts have a far superior selection (and quality) of produce (as indicated by the Farmers Market in its name), it also features delicious prepared foods, a beautiful meat and fresh seafood department, crusty breads, a huge variety of the healthiest snacks and so much more.
In addition to produce — not all of which is more expensive than at other grocery stores (here’s a hint — look for the amazing sales!), here are some of my Sprouts favorites to date:
1) Fresh Fish – I’ve already had still-swimming mahi-mahi for only $5.99 per lb. (a truly unheard-of price), and even though the fresh grouper was $22.99 per lb., that’s still $5 per lb. less than Publix!
2) Meats — Grass-fed filet mignon for $16.99 per lb. or the slightly fattier “regular” filet for only $14.99 per lb. ‘Nuff said!
3) Prepared Foods — Amazing tuna salad, savory garlic roasted red potatoes, chicken florentine and parmigiana and better pot stickers than most restaurants, plus different-each-day selections. Yum!
Sprouts (8620 Hunters Village Rd.) is open every day, 7 a.m.-10 p.m. For info, call (813) 683-8072 or visit Sprouts.com!
In the meantime, several of the other businesses in the Village at Hunter’s Lake plaza have already opened, including Grain & Berry, The Coder School of New Tampa and Via Italia.
Among the stores that are under construction but not yet open in that main part of the plaza are the Banfield Pet Hospital and Touch Nail Spa. According to owner Timmy Pham, this second location of Touch Nail Spa (the other is on S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel; see ad on pg. 28 of this issue) is expected to open in the Village at Hunter’s Lake sometime between mid-September and early October.
Meanwhile, in the separate outparcel building with frontage on BBD, Starbucks and Dental Care at Hunter’s Green are open; and, in another outparcel set further in off BBD, FitNiche (relocated from the Shops at Wiregrass), YogaSix and The UPS Store are open, with Pure Beauty Salon & Spa coming soon.
Tampa’s Nick Ryan lunges to try and stop a shot at the Goalies Inc. Performance Camp at AdventHealth Center Ice on Aug. 6. (Photos: Mike Camunas)
Nothing was going to stop these goalies from stopping pucks.
Despite the fact it had to be pushed back due to Covid-19, more than 40 youth ice hockey goalies recently were able to get in a training camp’s worth of goaltending work in two days (Aug. 5-6) at the Goalies, Inc., Performance Camp at AdventHealth Center Ice (AHCI) in Wesley Chapel.
Originally scheduled for March, Bernie Desrosiers, the executive director of Sunbelt Hockey Scouting and a long-time New Tampa-area hockey coach, says the camp was sold out well before the coronavirus shut down youth sports programs.
“We’ll have it again next year,” Desrosiers said. “This has been a great turnout and, so far, all the feedback we’ve gotten has been that everyone was happy to finally be able to come to this camp. “It’s been a great two days.”
Desrosiers added that of the 42 young goalies who participated, only one had to be sent home sick — not Covid-19 related — and that there were no injuries sustained. “Pretty remarkable, I’d say,” Desrosiers said.
Head instructor Jim Stanaway provides instruction to some of the 42 goalies in attendance.
Led by Goalies, Inc. head instructor Jim Stanaway, boys and girls, teenagers and “tweens” went through various drills to hone their goaltending skills in the hopes of being the next Andrei Vasilevskiy (the Tampa Bay Lightning goalie) or Madeline Rooney (the starting goalie for the Olympic gold medal-winning 2018 USA women’s hockey team). The young goalies worked on glove and stick saves, rebound shots, skating backwards, diving for pucks and even how to hug the pipes to block shots.
Stanaway also preached a lot, not only about teamwork, sportsmanship and respect for the game, but also for the goalies’ fans (their families).
As he watched netminders of all sizes and ages scramble to grab pucks, the goalie instructor of nearly two decades was impressed by his first trip to the Tampa Bay area and its local talent.
“With an NHL team, and them doing very well, it’s nice to see (the high interest in hockey in a southern city or state),” he said. “A lot of these southern NHL teams invest in their communities a lot, but the enthusiasm (here) is quite amazing.”
For more info about Goalies, Inc., camps, visit GoaliesInc.com.
For the last few issues, I’ve been writing in this space about how I’ve personally felt about the state of race relations in this country. And now, I feel fortunate that I have found a way to do something about it — and several dozen of my readers in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel have agreed to see if we can do that something together.
And, even though I still have no idea what I hope this group can accomplish, I do know that the readers who have responded that they’re interested in participating are of all different racial, socioeconomic and religious backgrounds.
It’s the kind of group I hope to someday have a chance to meet with in person to have a beverage and/or a meal, or even a large-scale gathering in an open auditorium. But for now, it will begin with a Zoom meeting that originally had been scheduled for August 10 but has been postponed until a weeknight between August 19-August 26 that will be open to anyone who genuinely wants to be part of something that I hope will be helpful in some way.
In my August 4 editorial in Wesley Chapel Issue #16-20, I said that because it will be a Zoom meeting, I plan to moderate the discussion that evening and I have asked someone I have a huge amount of respect for to co-moderate it with me — District 63 State Representative Fentrice Driskell — who has already re-won reelection to her seat because of having no opponent and who represents the New Tampa area in the Florida House of Representatives.
Rep. Driskell is originally from Tampa Bay and moved back home after law school to find meaningful ways to involve herself in the community. So, as my co-moderator, she is someone who is familiar with our local context. Rep. Driskell believes that, in order to address racism, and ultimately, to heal its wounds, our community must be willing to have tough, honest and sometimes uncomfortable conversations about race. She also is in conversation with multiple stakeholders around these issues to develop policy solutions to tackle institutional racism at the legislative level.
Rep. Driskell also is working with other elected officials and community leaders on a project in conjunction with the Equal Justice Initiative that will lead to more community conversations about race. Through the project, local officials will erect a marker that will honor and memorialize the lives lost to racial lynchings in Hillsborough County during the Jim Crow era. The goal of that project is both to educate our community about its past with respect to racially motivated violence and also to spark dialogue about how our shared past is relevant to the structural racism that we see today. She believes that this kind of dialogue, rooted in the factual truth of our common past, will help us develop solutions to build a future that is more fair, inclusive and expansive in opportunity for us all.
After mentioning Rep. Driskell in my Aug. 4 editorial, I also mentioned, in the last paragraph of that editorial, that, “As the moderator of the Zoom meeting, one thing I won’t be interested in discussing is the defunding of law enforcement, which has become a popular rallying cry in the wake of (George) Floyd’s death. I also will do everything I can to not allow finger-pointing or for the meeting to become about Red vs. Blue.
“As someone who grew up in New York and saw police officers running towards people who had just been shot as I tried to go in the opposite direction — away from the danger — no one can convince me that 1) most cops aren’t good public servants & 2) to improve law enforcement’s protection of us will mean additional training that will cost more money, not less.”
Once Rep. Driskell saw my editorial, however, she called me to discuss it and shared her sentiment that in order for the meeting to be as inclusive as possible, it would be important for us to welcome the perspectives of all participants. She also shared that, as an elected official, it is her job and duty to listen and to consider the opinions of all of her constituents.
I really felt badly when Rep. Driskell brought this to my attention and, after we spoke about it, I better understood why I received some negative emails because of that paragraph.
So, while we may have differing viewpoints on some issues, Rep. Driskell and I agree that we have a responsibility to not exclude anyone’s ideas that would be productive to the discussion.
In addition, even though I didn’t want to postpone the meeting, in light of how Rep. Driskell felt about my editorial — which I didn’t share with her prior to publishing it in that Aug. 4 issue — in the current scope of the discussion, I agreed it was the right thing to do.
I knew it wasn’t easy for her to have to call me about it, but even though all of the opinions expressed in all 600+ of my page 3 editorials I have published in the 26 years I have owned and been the editor of the Neighborhood News have always been mine alone, once I was introducing Rep. Driskell as my co-moderator, I should have at least run the column by her, which might have prevented us from having to postpone it.
Please send me an email at ads@ntneighborhoodnews.com to join this open dialogue with this diverse group of your neighbors in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel. Once the revised Zoom meeting date and time are set, I will again email everyone who signed up with a link to the meeting.
