Local Kiwanis & High School Key Clubs Spread Some Holiday Joy


JoLynn Warner, the faculty advisor for the Wiregrass Ranch High Key Club, delivers gifts for families to the Lacoochee Elementary student services team this holiday season. (Far left is Mrs. David, school social worker, then Nancy Montoya, guidance counselor, and far right is Dr. Mazzone, school psychologist.

As a long-time member of Kiwanis International, Martha Vaguener knows the value the organization can bring to a community.

That’s why she has helped start the Kiwanis Club of Wesley Chapel and serves as its treasurer, after serving as the president at the Zephyrhills Kiwanis Club for nine years, before it closed several years ago. 

She says the Wesley Chapel club officially chartered in April 2020 and has the support of a sponsoring club in Carrollwood, but says that making a go of a service organization during a pandemic — where opportunities for service have looked very different — has been challenging.

However, it is happening.

“The whole point of Kiwanis is to change the world one child and one community at a time,” says Martha.

Kiwanis International is a service organization with more than 550,000 members in 80 countries and geographic areas, including members of all ages, from K-Kids Clubs to high school Key Clubs to Kiwanis Clubs. It was founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan, as the Supreme Lodge Benevolent Order of Brothers, and changed its name to Kiwanis a year later. The name “Kiwanis” comes from an American Indian expression, “Nunc Kee-wanis,” which means, “We trade.” While it originally focused on business networking, it became focused on service in 1919. 

Kiwanis clubs globally host nearly 150,000 service projects each year.

Kiwanis has clubs for kids of all ages, including Key Clubs for high school students. Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) has a Key Club with more than 100 members.

For the holidays, both the Wesley Chapel Kiwanis Club and WRH Key Club adopted families from the underprivileged Lacoochee Elementary in Dade City.

Key Club sponsor JoLynn Warner says her students were inspired by Martha’s stories of how the Zephyrhills Kiwanis Club’s past charitable efforts have helped the school, such as how attendance increased drastically in winter months one year because the club provided shoes for the children, allowing them to get to school in colder weather.

“My students can’t even imagine not being able to go to school because they don’t have shoes to wear,” JoLynn explains, “so they’re excited to help.”

While JoLynn oversaw the collection of toys, clothes and other items from students to benefit the families the WRH Key Club adopted, Martha, who serves as a Key Club advisor, took a group of Key Club members shopping to help her choose the items that would go to the families the Kiwanis Club adopted.

“It helps to develop community awareness, develop citizenship and do good in the community,” Martha explains.

The partnership benefits both groups, as adults in Kiwanis Club support the students’ efforts — such as in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, which will be coming up in early 2022 — and the students support the causes of the adult club as they grow into people who value giving back to their community. 

“When we improve the lives of kids,” Martha explains, “we improve the lives of families, as well.” Martha says the Wesley Chapel Kiwanis Club currently has about 10 members and wants to grow. The Kiwanis Club of Wesley Chapel meets the second and fourth Tuesday of every month at 6:30 p.m. at the Seven Oaks clubhouse, although the club will not meet on Dec. 28. 

To learn more about getting involved in Wesley Chapel Kiwanis Club, email Martha Vaguener at mvaguener@aol.com or call her at (813) 362-5799.

Local Woman Hoping To Mend The Political Divide

Janet Kennedy was active in politics, so she was well aware of the great divide between Democrats and Republicans, not only locally, but throughout this country, and was concerned about how quickly that chasm was growing.

But, it wasn’t until the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that Kennedy, a Grand Hampton resident and chair of field organizing for the Hillsborough Democratic Party, felt the full force of how dire the situation had become.

“It was really after Jan. 6,” Kennedy says. “I was glued to the television set that day, as many people were. I guess I was fundamentally shaken that the political discourse in this country had devolved into an attack on the Capitol.”

First, Kennedy assessed her role, as someone who had been heavily involved in partisan politics. It made her feel a little bit guilty about contributing to the divide.

So, she looked for ways to work towards healing that division and founded a local chapter of Braver Angels, a national group that was created in December 2016. 

How Braver Angels Got Started

At that time, with passions still high following Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton — and likely in the wake of contentious Thanksgiving dinners between families across the U.S. — the now-national group assembled 10 Trump supporters and 11 Clinton supporters in South Lebanon, Ohio, with one goal: “To see if Americans could still disagree respectfully — and just maybe, find common ground.”

The group’s conclusion was yes, and the Braver Angels organization has continued to grow ever since, with Alliances (or chapters) in 48 states numbering more than 50,000 members.

Kennedy’s goal is to start a Tampa Bay Alliance. She has started that long process with a few Zoom meetings, and says she has about 45 people — most of them from New Tampa — interested.

Unfortunately, only a few are Republicans, likely not enough if any headway is going to be made at bridging any divides.

“It’s going to be a slow build,” Kennedy admits. “I think people are worn out and exhausted and fearful that, if I go to a meeting like this, someone will try to change my mind or talk me out of my opinion or I’ll be made to feel stupid. But, that’s not what we’re about. We’re here to listen.”

Kennedy has organized workshops and a debate so far in three meetings, with much of the conversations focused on not letting politics come between family members. 

She says she took some of the lessons from those meetings and used them to have a discussion with her cousin, who is on the opposite side of the abortion debate.

It went surprisingly well, she says.

“We were able to reach an agreement on some points,” Kennedy says, “and I understand better where she is coming from and she understands a bit better where I’m coming from.”

Kennedy would like it to work like that on other issues that divide the two ends of the political spectrum. She is looking for volunteers to help her get the local Alliance of Braver Angels moving forward.

Although the political landscape, and the chance of both sides working together, seems fairly bleak right now, Kennedy says she would like to think she can make a difference.

“I just know I need to try,” she says.

For more information, visit BraverAngels.org, or to help with the local Alliance, email Janet Kennedy at thejanetkennedy@gmail.com.

A Local Food Drive Takes On Greater Meaning

Linda Adum (far left) and her daughter Amie Adum MacLauchlan stand next to the nearly 5,200 pounds of food donated at Chiles Elementary. (Photo courtey of Amie Adum MacLauchlan).

The holidays had always been a special time for New Tampa’s Ken Adum. A long-time educator and member of St. James United Methodist Church in Tampa Palms, Adum had devoted much of the holiday season for nearly two decades to playing an integral role in his church’s annual holiday food drive, which was held in partnership with Metropolitan Ministries.

The effort was Adum’s passion. He helped rally local schools when it came to organizing food drives, and also served as the St. James tent coordinator the past few years. He was often busy in the weeks before Thanksgiving hooking the trailer containing all of the donated goods to his Ford F-150 truck and delivering them every few days to the Metropolitan Ministries main tent on N. Rome Ave.

“He loved it,” says his daughter Allison Adum Shaer. “He always looked forward to it.”

In April, Ken, a former teacher, three-time Principal of the Year at Gaither and administrator in a 37-year career with Hillsborough County Public Schools, passed away following a battle with cancer at the age of 74.

Metropolitan Ministries, whose founder Morris Hintzman also was one of the founding pastors of St. James, decided to honor Adum by naming the northern Hillsborough County food drive after him: The Ken Adum Memorial Food & Toy Drive for Metropolitan Ministries.

“He played such a big part in it,” says Dineen Paris who, along with her husband Leonard, are the tent coordinators for the drive this year. 

First, A Little History…

In 2003, the Parises, along with Ken and his wife Linda and Joann and Bob Lee, met with Metropolitan Ministries, wanting to expand St. James’ mission of giving back to the community. They formed a partnership that has helped feed thousands of families in the two decades since.

Ken Adum

This year, a record 27,000 pounds of food was collected for Metropolitan Ministries in November at St. James. Ken’s daughters, Amie Adum MacLauchlan and Allison, raised roughly a quarter of that in a friendly competition between the schools where they teach. Allison is a fifth-grade math teacher at Lutz Prep, while Amie is an audiologist at Chiles Elementary.

Allison’s fifth-grade class collected 1,600 pounds of food, while Amie (with help from fifth grade teacher Shannon Simpkins) enlisted the teachers in every grade at Chiles and raised a whopping 5,190 pounds.

“This year was definitely more meaningful,” Amie says. “Education and Metropolitan Ministries were two of my Dad’s passions, so knowing that he was smiling down on us during the whole fall season was wonderful. I really wanted to get our school involved to see if I could inspire everyone to do it in honor of my dad.”

The daughters definitely picked up where Dad left off. It was Adum who added the component of competition between area schools in 2017, hoping to put a charge into the drive and impact the younger generation.

“He loved a good friendly competition,” Allison says.

Amie was amazed by the response at Chiles. Day by day, little by little, the donations began rolling in. The school had never collected more than 1,000 pounds worth of food to donate, but that number was quickly eclipsed this year, as large blue barrels in the front office at Chiles were filled to overflowing.

That amount quickly surged 2,000 lbs.….then 3,000…and more, until the blue barrels were buried by cans and boxes of food.

“First, it was the blue barrels, then you could see that more of the floor was disappearing,” Amie says. “Then, you couldn’t see the rug anymore.”

By the time the food drive ended, in less than two weeks, the families at Chiles had brought in more than two-and-a-half tons of food. 

When Amie brought Linda to the school on Nov. 19 to see what Ken had inspired, Linda grew emotional.

“I wanted her to see how much they had brought in in honor of Dad,” Amie says. “It was awe-inspiring. Then, she helped us pack it all up so we could take it to the donation tent. It took us an hour and 40 minutes to pack it up, bag it and load the cars.”

The family also decided to start a new tradition. While everyone had pitched in over the years working the tent at St. James at various times during the drive, this year, the entire Adum family gathered this year to work the tent together — unloading donations, weighing food, separating it into HOPE boxes (containing a variety of items for one full Thanksgiving feast) — followed by a family lunch.

It was a special moment (see photo on the cover) to remember the man who helped start it all.

“Losing Ken was a great loss, but to see everyone’s enthusiasm this year, it wasn’t a sad thing, it was a joyful thing,” Dineen says. “It was wonderful to watch them, their whole family (working) together. Ken would have liked it very much.”

You can still donate food or toys by visiting St. James United Methodist Church at 16202 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., 10 a.m.-3 p.m. daily through Thursday, December 23. 

New Bell Times For Wesley Chapel Schools Start Jan. 4


Because of a countywide bus driver shortage, Pasco County school start times will change in January. Some schools will see changes of only 15 minutes (Cypress Creek High), while others will change by up to 90 minutes (Wiregrass Elementary). (Photo: Charmaine George)

When Wesley Chapel students return to school after the winter holiday break, every single school will have new start and end times, with some changing by as much as 90 minutes (see chart on next page).

A shortage of drivers countywide has been causing buses to run late every day throughout the Pasco County School District, so the School Board approved a plan that moves schools into four “tiers” — instead of the current three — to allow existing bus drivers to run an additional route each day.

When the change was proposed, Pasco County Superintendent of Schools Kurt Browning explained in a video to parents, “The result of this acute shortage is that many of our students are late arriving to school in the morning, which results in loss of instructional time, and they are late arriving at home in the afternoon and early evening, which puts a strain on families.”

Students at Wiregrass Elementary will see the biggest change in Wesley Chapel, with school times moving 90 minutes earlier. The students currently attend from 9:40 a.m. to 3:50 p.m., but the new schedule has them starting at 8:10 a.m. and ending at 2:20 p.m.

Another big change in Wesley Chapel is that a couple of schools that already start late will start even later. New River and Quail Hollow elementary schools, which currently go from 9:40 a.m. to 3:50 p.m., won’t start school until 30 minutes later, both beginning their day at 10:10 a.m. and ending at 4:20 p.m.

The other six elementary and three middle schools in Wesley Chapel are all changing by 20 or 30 minutes; some starting earlier and others later.

Wiregrass Ranch High students will likely appreciate the extra sleep they will get by their school start time moving 46 minutes later, to 8:10 a.m. instead of their current 7:24 a.m. And, while the other Wesley Chapel high schools are only moving by 15 minutes, those students are now expected to be in their classes, ready to learn, at 7:10 a.m.

A 2017 proposal in Hillsborough County to have high schools start similarly early was widely opposed by parents who cited the American Association of Pediatrics’ recommendation that middle and high schools start at 8:30 a.m. or later to give students more time for adequate sleep, but that change ultimately was not approved by the School Board.

The changes in Pasco County were approved unanimously at the School Board meeting on November 2, and go into effect on January 4.

While the new schedule should allow school buses to run on time and get more kids in the classroom for instructional time, Browning acknowledged that it puts a strain on families to shift their schedules around and find new solutions for childcare during the times they are not in school.

“I don’t like it,” Browning said at the School Board meeting. “I don’t like anything about it. But, I equally dislike having kids miss instructional time before the great teachers we have in this District.”

The new start times will remain in effect for the remainder of the 2021-22 school year and will be reevaluated for the 2022-23 school year.

Metro Development Communities Lead The Way In New Home Sales

Metro Development Group, which brought the country’s first Crystal Lagoon amenity to Wesley Chapel and will soon unveil a second one at the Mirada development (technically located in San Antonio, but just north of Wesley Chapel), continues to experience growth in the area.

In fact, according to housing market analysts Zonda.com, the Wesley Chapel area has five of the Top 20 fastest-growing new home communities in the Tampa Bay area, and three of them — Epperson, Mirada and Union Park — are Metro properties.

Epperson is the fastest-growing, according to Zonda, which was formerly Metrostudy, with 705 new home starts and 493 closings from September 2020 to September 2021. 

Epperson also ranked No. 21 in Zonda’s national rankings for new home starts in that same timeframe.

The other Metro Development properties located in Wesley Chapel that made the Top 20 include:

• Mirada, ranked No. 8 on the Tampa Bay-area list, had 333 new home starts and 308 closings. The community includes Medley, an active adult community, and plans for a 15-acre Metro Lagoon, which will be the largest Crystal Lagoon amenity in the nation.

• Union Park, ranked No. 14, had 258 new home starts and 206 closings in the community, which is now almost completely built out.

Metro also is developing the No. 11 community (Southshore Bay in south Hillsborough, which is also getting a Crystal Lagoon as its primary amenity) and No. 15 (Cypress Creek in Ruskin) community on the list.

“Homebuyer interest in our Metro Places communities continues to be extremely strong, thanks to the convenient locations, the quality of our builder team, and the extensive and unique amenities we offer,” said Vaike O’Grady, VP of Marketing & Communications for Metro Development Group. “Our communities are simply a great value for homebuyers.”  

Two other Wesley Chapel communities also were on the list, with Wiregrass Ranch at No. 5, with 433 home starts, but ranking No. 4 on closings with 360.

Watergrass was No. 6, with 388 home starts and 304 closings.

Pasco County continues to be hot, with New Port Richey’s Starkey Ranch and Land O’Lakes’ Bexley communities also ranking in the top 10.

With south Hillsborough county going through its own growth spurt, don’t expect to see any slowdowns in the near future.

“Demand in the suburban areas of Pasco and Hillsborough counties is coming from homebuyers moving to Florida from other areas of the country, from renters deciding to buy, and from people who simply want a new home,” said Tony Polito, Zonda’s regional director for Tampa and Central Florida. “We see this strong demand continuing into 2022.”