The nation’s largest food drive is held each year when the National Association of Letter Carriers collects non-perishable donations along their postal routes in the “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive. In Wesley Chapel, this year’s drive got a helping hand from some local Boy Scouts.
The boys are from Troop 2 in Wesley Chapel, which meets at Atonement Lutheran Church on S.R. 54. The boys, all 11-17 years old, gathered at the local post office to help with the big job of sorting and packing food to be delivered to local food banks, pantries and shelters.
Some of the boys’ parents and other family members and friends helped, too. All of the volunteers, together, handled 16,228 pounds of food.
“The Boy Scouts of America’s slogan is ‘Do a Good Turn Daily,’” says Earle McDonald, a parent and committee member for Troop 2. “These boys went above and beyond that Saturday. The donations they helped pack will provide more than 13,000 meals to families in need in our area.”
McDonald encourages anyone who is interested in learning more about Boy Scouts to visit Scouting.org. “If a boy you know is interested in joining Troop 2,” he says, “come to one of our meetings, held Wednesday evenings at 7 p.m. at Atonement Lutheran Church (on S.R. 54). — CM
J.D. Porter says big things are coming to Wiregrass Ranch, including Raymond James.
Following almost five years of discussions and anticipation — mixed in with a nice-sized helping of doubt — the long-talked-about Raymond James Financial campus is one huge step closer to becoming a reality at the corner of S.R. 56 and Mansfield Blvd.
Wiregrass Ranch developer JD Porter finally received the news two weeks ago that he has been waiting more than two years for, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has proffered an environmental permit for the 65 acres of property just east of the Shops at Wiregrass mall.
“We were all thrilled, everyone in the family,’’ said Porter, the owner and operator of Wiregrass Ranch Inc. “We worked very, very closely with the Army engineers, and it is nice to finally reach a resolution.”
Porter joked in April at a Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) Economic Development meeting that he was tired of hearing about the delays involving Raymond James, but insisted (as he has many times in the past) that the facility was still imminent. He predicted then he would have the Army Corps permit in a few weeks, and though it took just a little bit longer he is now ready to proceed.
“Right now, we have all the permits in hand to proceed forward,’’ Porter said.
The St. Petersburg-based financial services company has been working for several years on the process with the Porter family and, in early 2011, agreed to purchase the land at an undisclosed price, provided the permitting could be completed.
The deal was approved by the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) later that year. In exchange for $15-million in incentives and tax breaks, the county would reap the benefits of what would eventually be planned as six four-story buildings totaling roughly 1-million-sq.-ft., and housing 750 employees by 2024, which will inject millions into the county tax rolls.
Although the Raymond James campus was originally scheduled to begin building in 2012, with the first 100 employees arriving by 2014, the project stalled.
In 2014, a few months after another financial firm, T. Rowe Price, jettisoned its plans to build on 72 acres near the Suncoast Pkwy., Raymond James postponed its project. But, the financial services giant did say it still had plans for the property.
Now, there is renewed optimism that Raymond James will make the impact promised years ago.
“I’m glad that’s over and done with,’’ said District 2 commissioner Mike Moore. “The economic impact will be huge for Pasco County as a whole. There will be nothing bigger in the county.”
Moore said Raymond James will become the largest non-governmental employer in Pasco. “And, anytime you bring in a large employer like that, things start to happen around it,’’ he says.
Bill Cronin, the new president and CEO of the Pasco Economic Development Council (EDC), said when he started in January, one of his first meetings was with Raymond James, citing the importance of getting the company here.
“The investment by Raymond James will be one that, when other companies look to grow here, they will see that someone else has blazed that trail for them,’’ Cronin said. “It will make my job a little easier, to show people there are others that have made this positive decision.”
He added, “Success begets success.”
The next step for Porter will be to re-negotiate the development agreement and adjust some of the original timelines with the BOCC, which will likely take place in the next month or so.
“That triggers the closing,’’ Porter said.
Porter thinks the addition of the financial facility is a major piece of what he hopes the Wiregrass Ranch area will become, as it should drive up home sales and makes the area more attractive to other businesses.
“I think whether we’re talking Raymond James, or the mall or Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, the state college, you are looking at the kinds of things that define cities and define regions,’’ Porter says. “We’re lucky to land four of them in a short time, when some communities don’t have this after 30 or 40 years.”
A tray of fresh blueberries. Florida fruits, food production. UF/IFAS Photo by Tyler Jones.
With consumers looking for more locally-sourced food, small businesses offering products made from local produce and meats are becoming more common.
Called “cottage food” operations, these businesses produce small-scale, local food, where raw ingredients are processed in a way that adds value to the final product, such as creating cheese from milk or jam from berries.
Starting this type of business can be daunting, so the Tampa Bay Cottage Industry Expo will help those who are new in the industry learn what they need to know about food safety, regulations, and marketing, to get their business off the ground.
The expo will be held on Saturday, July 30, at Wiregrass Ranch High, located at 2909 Mansfield Blvd., beginning at 9 a.m. It’s open to anyone interested in cottage food operations.
“We want to enable people with a good idea to hit the ground running,” says event organizer Dr. Whitney Elmore of the University of Florida Institute of Food & Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) extension office in Pasco County. “We can provide the ‘do’s and help you avoid the ‘don’t’s when it comes to rules and regulations, and share best practices for marketing, including social media.”
Elmore says her office and the UF/IFAS extension offices in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties are working together to put on this expo in respond to a need. “We are constantly getting calls and people walking in who are asking how to get started, especially when it comes to rules, regulations and safety concerns.”
The expo is for small business owners – or people looking to start their own business – in fruits and vegetables, livestock, and hydroponics, which is a way of growing food in water without soil. Sessions will include topics such as agriculture production, legal and regulatory considerations, and marketing.
Fish fedding on roots of lettuce.
In Pasco County, Elmore says there are many you-pick blueberry farms, and when they have leftover berries at the end of the season, they also have a dilemma. What to do? “Farmers can turn their leftover blueberries into jams and jellies and sell them at a premium. Our goal is to have no waste.” Just like turning the proverbial lemons into lemonade, Elmore explains, the farmers turn their berries into “useful, high-dollar commodities.”
She says these businesses are important to the economy in Pasco County. “People are looking for locally sourced food, and they are willing to pay more for it,” Elmore says. “We want to keep our food local, produce it locally, and keep the money associated with it local.”
Some of the expo attendees are people who only have an idea and no experience in the market, while others have decades of experience in growing food or raising livestock, but are looking to improve or expand their business.
“In some cases, we’re helping people achieve a lifelong dream,” says Elmore.
Food trucks will be on site throughout the event, offering lunch, snacks and drinks for sale.
Anyone who has not yet registered for the Tampa Bay Cottage Industry Expo but would like to attend can register on-site at the opening of the event. The fee to attend for the day is $30, and event organizers ask that you be prepared to pay by credit card, as cash will not be accepted.
Robert Hutton and Barbra Spesak are the first two through the doors at the newest Chick-fil-A on S.R. 56.
If you are having trouble wrapping your head around why anyone would camp out in a parking lot on back-to-back nights for a free chicken sandwich, order of waffle fries and a medium drink weekly, Robert Hutto understands.
If you think it’s all about the chicken (although he says it’s really not), Hutto gets it.
And if you think Hutto is a little crazy for sleeping in an asphalt parking space off S.R. 56 and then hanging out there all day in 93-degree heat — for a few sandwiches — he doesn’t blame you.
Crazy?
“They are not too far from the truth,’’ Hutto says.
Hutto and Barbra Spesak, Brandon residents, were the first two people in line at the Grand Opening of the newest Chick-fil-A in our area, this one in front of the Tampa Premium Outlets off S.R. 56. Hutto arrived June 28 at 8 p.m.; he saved a spot under his 10’x10’ tent for Spesak, who arrived after work at 11:30 p.m.
Decked out in complimentary red and white Chick-fil-A t-shirts and paper hats, they were the first two in line and the first two through the door on Thursday morning, June 30. As cameras from two local television stations rolled — as well as our own WCNT-tv cameras recording footage for our second episode (see pages 44-45 and 51), Hutto and Spesak met the local Chick-fil-A franchise owner Britt Young, shook his hand and received their chicken “debit” card — stocked with 52 No. 1 combos — before being ushered out another door and back into the parking lot.
For those doing the math at home, it was 34 hours of waiting for about 30 seconds of picking up the reward.
“But, it’s about the experience,’’ Hutto said.
The experience is called the First 100, a Chick-fil-A tradition started 12 years ago to celebrate the grand openings of their wildly popular fast food chicken restaurants. Chick-fil-A has given away more than $27-million in free food since beginning the First 100.
For Hutto, it was the third time he had been one of the first 100. He also waited overnight at the Chick-fil-A openings on Waters Ave. in Citrus Park, as well as for the Bruce B. Downs Blvd. location in New Tampa.
“I’ve made some friends at these things,’’ Hutto said. “They have a live deejay playing music. They feed you breakfast, lunch and dinner, so that’s not bad. It’s a good time.”
Both Hutto and Spesak admit that they probably won’t eat every No. 1 meal on their cards themselves.
“It really isn’t about the sandwich,’’ Hutto said. “When we are out and we see someone who needs a sandwich, like a homeless person or something like that, we’ll go hit the drive-thru and use the card for them. We’ll also use it for friends and family.”
Hutto, who transports RVs all over the country for a living, says he also sometimes uses his free meals as a pit stop when he’s on the road.
He said of all the First 100 events he has attended, this one might have been the toughest. It was blistering hot, the heat made even worse by his setup on black asphalt, and it rained three times. During one heavy downpour the last day, more than a dozen revelers seeking free chicken abandoned their posts, and the first 12 alternates were selected.
Nothing, however, was deterring Spesak, a certified nursing assistant. It was her first overnighter at Chick-fil-A.
“It was fun,’’ she said. “Everybody thought I was crazy, the people at work thought I was crazy, for taking days off to go camp out at a Chick-fil-A.”
And, she may have caught the fever. Asked if they had plans to do this again, Spesak said she is already scouting out the next opening.
“I hear they might be opening one soon on Dale Mabry,’’ she said, smiling.
The nation’s largest food drive is held each year when the National Association of Letter Carriers collects non-perishable donations along their postal routes in the “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive. In Wesley Chapel, this year’s drive got a helping hand from some local Boy Scouts.
“The Boy Scouts of America’s slogan is ‘Do a Good Turn Daily,’” says Earle McDonald, a parent and committee member for Troop 2. “These boys went above and beyond that Saturday. The donations they helped pack will provide more than 13,000 meals to families in need in our area.”
Although the Raymond James campus was originally scheduled to begin building in 2012, with the first 100 employees arriving by 2014, the project stalled.
“I’ve made some friends at these things,’’ Hutto said. “They have a live deejay playing music. They feed you breakfast, lunch and dinner, so that’s not bad. It’s a good time.”