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January 12, 2006

        Caption: Honorary Mayor of Land O’ Lakes, Faith Jordan-Masella (second from left) presents her Campaign Donation for the ABC Program of the Pasco County School System, to Chip Wichmanowski-Executive Director of the Pasco Education Foundation. Also pictured are Dave Chamberlin (on left) -Supervisor of Student Services, and Kathy Dunkley (on right)-Executive Director of the Central Pasco Chamber of Commerce. The check for $200 was the share for her chosen charity, which came out of the funds she raised for the Central Pasco Chamber of Commerce while running for Honorary Mayor.  Photo by Roseanne Heyser.

Honorary Mayor of Land O’ Lakes, Faith Jordan-Masella recently presented her Campaign Donation for the ABC Program of the Pasco County School System, to Chip Wichmanowski-Executive Director of the Pasco Education Foundation. Also present were Dave Chamberlin -Supervisor of Student Services, and Kathy Dunkley-Executive Director of the Central Pasco Chamber of Commerce. The check for $200 was the share for her chosen charity, which came out of the funds she raised for the Central Pasco Chamber of Commerce while running for Honorary Mayor.  “I wish I could have donated more to this wonderful program but no one ran against me, and then there were all those –dare I say the “H” word-hurricanes which really hurt my donations. I am proud to be able to promote the ABC Program (Assist, Believe, and Care) that is available to students in Pasco County. The work that I do (along with my husband Anthony Masella Jr.) to help promote the good things that go on in our community-a lot of which has to do with the schools’-enables me to see a lot of the wonderful work that is being done through the schools.  But unfortunately, there are many cases right here in our own backyard where our students need some extra support and that’s where the ABC can help.  This is definitely one of the best parts about being the Honorary Mayor “.

The way it works is each school has an ABC committee to help children and
families that may be experiencing economic hardship.  When the request is greater than the school's ABC fund can handle they can request additional help from the School District ABC fund.  One example of how the ABC Fund was used recently involved a family of four.  The family consisted of a mom and her three young children. Two of the children were in the Head Start program.  In conjunction with other community agencies the ABC fund helped to pay for a refrigerator for this family so they could keep their food fresh.  Often the ABC fund is used to help pay a family’s electric bill for one month.  Each school has an ABC committee to help children and families that may be experiencing economic hardship.  When the request is greater than the school's ABC fund can handle they can request additional help from the district ABC fund.

Anyone can donate to the ABC fund.  School Board employees have the option of contributing through payroll deduction.  Individuals can donate directly to the school of their choice or to the district directly.  In terms of numbers the district gets approximately 5 requests a month at the district level, so approximately 50 per year.  This does not reflect the number of requests at the school level.  If you would like to make a donation to this program, or you know of a student or family that needs this service, please call David Chamberlin at (813) 794-2442 or email dachambe@pasco.k12.fl.us.

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