Vol. 1, Issue 4 – July 2005 www.trilbyfl.com
Bob
Blanchard (right) spoke to the
TCA as President Herb Green looked on.
Conservation Easements
Keeping Land Forever Green
Mr. Robert Blanchard, owner of the 2050-acre Little Everglades Ranch,
assured TCA association members at its monthly general meeting on June 16 that
there is a way to keep parcels of land in this area as beautiful as they are
today. In an entertaining speech,
he explained the concept of conservation easements.
A conservation easement occurs when a public entity (in this area that
entity is SWFWMD or “Swiftmud”) buys the development rights to a property.
The owner who sells the rights can continue to use the land, but that
land can never be subdivided or made into a shopping center.
It will remain green forever. The
“Penny for Pasco” program helps purchase conservation easements in the
county.
Mr. Blanchard also spoke briefly about water conservation.
He is a part of a group called “Copower,” which encourages Tampa
Bay Water District to search for better ways to conserve water.
Among the options his group is pushing are desalinization, reservoirs
to capture floodwaters and better management of rainfall.
He wants water in an area to be a public asset of that area and not be
harvested in wellfields and used to supplement the water resources in another
place. Such practices leave the
residents in the water-rich area with little water.
He concluded his talk with some information on the annual steeplechase
held at his ranch. Last year was
the fifth year. “The Blanchards
don’t make money on the steeplechase,” Mr. Blanchard explained. “In
fact, we have lost money so far. It’s
supposed to be a day of good family fun that anyone can enjoy.”
The general admission ticket is only $10 and allows the holder to enjoy
the races and all the infield entertainment.
About 400 volunteers work hard at keeping the details of the day
running smoothly, and the proceeds go to charities such as the Pioneer Florida
Museum and Tampa Bay General Hospital.
Those of you who missed this meeting also missed the preprogram picnic,
held under a tent donated by Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative.
Folks enjoyed hot dogs, cooked (some would say burned) by the TCA
Secretary Richard Riley, and all the fixings.
Be sure to attend the next general meeting of the Greater Trilby
Community Association on July 21 to learn all about how to protect yourself
from identity theft. F. J. Collura who is part of the Pasco County Sheriff’s
Office’s crime prevention unit will give you information about this growing
problem and tips on how to keep it from happening to you.
September Awards Dinner in Planning Stage
At the June 13 meeting, the Board of Directors of the
Greater Trilby Community Association began planning an awards dinner to be
held on September 15th at 6:30 p.m. in the Trilby United Methodist
Church. The dinner will celebrate
the association’s one-year anniversary.
There will be many awards given at the dinner, including the Diamond Award for Excellence, the highest TCA award; and awards to the best board member, citizen of the tri-community, volunteer, business, club or nonprofit, youth, church, crime watch patrol officer and senior for the year. Businesses that contribute from $100 to $2,000 or more to help the association with its community projects will be thanked at the dinner and memorialized on a Recognition Plaque to be placed in the community center.
There will also be a silent auction of donated items
to raise money for association projects.
Pauline Hunt, Treasurer, is in charge of the silent auction.
Items for the silent auction will be stored in the office of the Trilby
United Methodist Church and put up for bids on the evening of the dinner.
The board will soon be offering tickets to the public for this event for a donation of $25 per ticket.
You may have missed it, but there is a new house in
Trilby right across from the post office.
It’s a very attractive two-story, yellow house with a flower garden
beside it enclosed by a picket fence. The
inhabitants, who are very quiet, except for an occasional rattle, invite you
to stop by any time.
This “house” is the temporary home for aluminum
cans collected by the East Pasco Habitat for Humanity. This recycling program helps East Pasco Habitat for Humanity
purchase the materials to build and rehabilitate homes for families who need
them. It is an affiliate of
Habitat for Humanity International, a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing
ministry, and, like its parent organization, is not a giveaway program.
The future homeowners help build their homes and contribute at least
400 hours of their own labor to the project.
The houses are sold to these families at no profit and are financed
through affordable, no-interest mortgages.
East Pasco Habitat for Humanity began in Trilby in
March 1994 as the result of the work of Art and Audrey Jackson and several
other couples. By February 14,
1995, East Pasco Habitat had broken ground for the very first Habitat house on
Tucker Avenue in Dade City, and at least eleven local churches and many
businesses and civic organizations had joined the organization’s efforts.
Since that first home, East Pasco Habitat has built more over 30 homes
and in 2005 is working on at least 6 houses.
You can help this organization build homes in this
area. When you go to the post
office, take your aluminum cans with you and drop them into this special
house. Please put the cans in
plastic bags before putting them in the house to make collection easier.
Denny
Mihalinec and Jeremiah Fink stand next to the new Habitat Can Collection site
If this arrangement isn’t convenient, cans may be
taken to Pasco Recycling at 15640 Highway 301 in Dade City or Zephyrhills
Recycling at 9150 Highway 301 where the cans will be processed and your
donation will be credited to East Pasco Habitat. If you need more
information, call Rachel Wright, Recycling Program Chair, at 813-715-0803,
Michelle Bonner, Recycling Coordinator, at 321-960-5272 or the East Pasco
Habitat Office at 352-567-1444.
Remember: I
can, you can, we ALL can help the environment, our community and East Pasco
families in need by filling this house to the roof with our aluminum cans.
Denny
Mihalinec, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Greater Trilby
Community Association, has another claim to fame.
He started the collection program of aluminum cans for East
Pasco Habitat in 1999 after his mother-in-law got him to offer his
construction skills to Habitat. “One
day [at one of the Habitat for Humanity construction sites] I was
asked to clean out a 30-yard trash bin (yuck!), but I found some 600
cans. I wanted to save
the cans to cash in for volunteer snacks.
The Director and I were talking and he said, ‘I think Habitat
does something with collecting cans.’
We went to his office and they had a sponsored program.
We signed up ASAP that day.” Denny
campaigned for can collection in colleges, elementary schools,
businesses, and recycling centers.
He also formed a board of St. Leo College students to run the
program. In the first
year of operation, the program collected 3,000 pounds of cans, which
is about $1000. |
FOR
SALE 1968 APACHE CAMPER. It sleeps 6- It has a new canvas worth 800 dollars,
new wheels and rims. Asking $1,100 but will entertain an acceptable offer.
Contact Denny Mihalinec--352-518-0980--Great for hunters and avid
campers on the go-
By
Richard Riley
There are many resources for families and youth in
our tri-community area, and one of the most active and visible is the Abraham
Boys and Girls Club (BAGC) in Lacoochee.
Richard Someillan, a Club director out of Tampa, attended our TCA
general meeting in June and we asked if we could come and talk to him and his
staff in Lacoochee. We were
invited to visit, photograph and chat with him and the local Director, George
Jarosik.
The Center is impressive. It is clean, newly painted, comfortable (some of the rooms are air conditioned) and most importantly, it is occupied. When we arrived, some boys were cleaning the leaves and minor trash in the parking lot and then got the leaf blower and started doing a thorough job. Students were on the computers in the education center, and some kids were playing games in the recreation room.
“It is all about the kids,” stated Jarosik.
“We want this to be a positive place for kids.
This is not a day-care, but we are here to help with education, values,
manners and standards. We want to
help the kids as they grow up to be adults.”
“One of our priorities is to convince these young
people that education is the most important part of their future,” continued
Jarosik. “They all have a good
work ethic. They want to work,
but we want them to get the most education that they can get. With more education, they can help bring up the community out
of the existing standards.”
Someillan added, “We need for the public to know
that we are here. We want to
expand beyond the 40 to 50 active kids we have here right now and increase our
programs for them.” The Club is
not a county activity and encourages youth from adjoining counties and
communities to attend.
The club building is also the home office for John
Dragneff, the local “Officer Friendly” Sheriff Deputy who is responsible
for the housing development and surrounding area.
About a year ago, the Tampa BAGC took over the
administration of the club. The
Boys and Girls Club is in the middle of the Community of Lacoochee and in the
middle of the County Housing Development.
Another community center, which is providing services to the area
residents, is funded by the Sarasota YMCA and is administered by Isa Blanford.
The two organizations are separate but cooperate in many ways.
Someillan concluded that he was impressed with the
interest and activities of the Greater Trilby Community Association and looked
forward to working together with us when the opportunity presents itself.
The Club building is open 8 to 5:30, Monday through
Friday during the summer and on all school holidays. It is open from 2 to 8:30 on school days.
Peer and staff tutors are available to help with homework.
“We are pushing education,” states Jarosik.
“We give them what they want and sneak in what they need.”
Joey Reyes
Xisto Zapata
In the Education Center
Desrey Padila
Richard Someillan
Playing pool in the Game Room
Page 4 Greater Trilby News July 2005
From
the Chairman’s Desk
Denny
Mihalinec
The Trilby United Methodist Church was recently
designated as an American Red-Cross shelter.
This shelter is offered AFTER any hurricane, not during.
Also The Greater Trilby Association was asked by the County to
distribute food, ice and water if needed during the 2005 hurricane season,
which runs from June 1 to November 30, 2005.
Last year the association helped some 2,000
tri-community residents who received food, ice, and water, distributed by
about 10 volunteers at the community center, and counseling from area pastors
who are on the TCA board of directors.
The GTCA needs more folks who are willing to answer
the call of duty after a storm hits. If
you are interested in helping your community, please call the TCA leadership
at 518-0980 or 583-5936.
Bio: Bernadine King, Board Member
I've lived in the Trilby
Manor area for over 14 years. I
love children, as I'm blessed with four of my own.
I moved here from the Sarasota, Florida area. My father is the Bishop of Mt. Moriah Christian Church(s),
where I attend faithfully and hold various leadership positions.
I believe that one goes out to serve.
Give and it shall be given. I've
worked in the Pasco County Schools since coming into this area in the 1990s.
I was President of Lacoochee Elementary School for two years, a
substitute teacher, a member of various school district committees, and a
Certified Florida State Counselor for the WIC Program.
Presently, I am working at Pasco High School, in the Business Dept.,
instructing for Henkels & McCoy. For
the past four years, I have also been the Coordinator for a Summer Work
Program for the youths of the Dade City/Tri-Community area.
Success is reaching back
with a helping hand.
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Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
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CC = Community Center TMC = Trilby Methodist
Church |
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1
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2 |
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3 |
4 Pioneer Doll Club at CC Elaine’s
Cloggers, 6:30 pm at CC |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8
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9 |
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10 |
11 Elaine’s
Cloggers Crime
Watch, 7:00 pm at TMC |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15
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16 |
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17 |
18 Elaine’s
Cloggers Historical
Comm. 6 pm - TMC GTCA
board meeting, 7 pm at TMC |
19 |
20 |
21 GTCA
general meeting, 7 – 8 pm at CC |
22
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23 |
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24 |
25 Elaine’s
Cloggers |
26 |
27 |
28 Dade
City C of C Mixer at Kim’s-play-around
5 to 7 |
29 |
30 |
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31 |
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The
Greater Trilby News
“Serving
the Tri-community area”
Publisher
The
Greater Trilby Community Association,
Herb
Green -- daddyherb2@earthlink.net
352-583-5936
Editor
Kathryn
Riley -- kwr48@yahoo.com
352-583-4994
The Greater Trilby News is a monthly publication of The Greater Trilby Community Association, Inc., and serves the tri-community area consisting of Lacoochee, Trilacoochee, and Trilby. This newsletter accepts articles concerning the association’s activities and articles of interest to the area.
Your business or organization can place an ad in the newsletter. The rates for donations and the sizes of ads are as follows:
Size
|
1
month |
3
months |
6
months |
1
year |
Business
card (1/10
of page) |
$10.00 |
$25.00 |
$50.00 |
$90.00 |
One-fifth
page |
$20.00 |
$50.00 |
$100.00 |
$180.00 |
(Because of limited production capabilities, these two sizes are the only available options at this time.)
This newsletter also accepts free ads describing sale items in 30 words or fewer.
Ads and articles must be submitted by the third Monday of the month. Mail submissions to: Kathy Riley, Editor, P.O. Box 6, Trilby, FL 33593 or e-mail them to kwr48@yahoo.com.
Visit us at www.trilbyfl.com