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Helping Children Living In Poverty Takes Team Effort

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By BOB LORING

Special to the Tribune

Published: February 15, 2008

As custom, we offer our projected plan for 2008 for TAD.

TAD stands for "The American Dream." We are committed to the proposition that all Pasco County children may some day seize the opportunity to achieve the great American dream.

Here in picturesque Pasco, many of our precious children live at or below the poverty level. We hold that it is the obligation of our community to assist these precious children.

Through trial and experimentation, we have attempted various endeavors to meet the needs of our at-risk children. Communities have responded and supported our efforts. By partnering with parents and guardians, TAD seeks to find innovative ways to supply needed goods and services.

TAD Congress: This year will mark the seventh annual TAD Congress, which brings together child care practitioners and concerned citizens to examine the wide-ranging situations at-risk children face. Delegates share skills and attempt to plan and coordinate efforts.

This year we are honored to be partnering with the Pasco public school system. Our central topic is bullying. We will take a hard look at this growing problem facing our schools and community. School system officials have kindly offered to provide us with their training package and best thinking.

The seventh Congress' goal will be to present delegates with a clearer understanding of bullying and the remedies available to us. Bullying in our schools, community and on the Internet is on the rise. Our children face an ever-evolving dilemma. To better address and understand this problem, we have also invited members of law enforcement and professionals in the area of domestic violence to address our gathering. Wachovia Bank will again serve as our corporate sponsor.

School supplies effort: Again this year, we will hold a school supply distribution for children in need. Utilizing the effective Toys for Tots model, we will place drop-boxes throughout east and central Pasco communities. During the summer and prior to the start of school, qualified families will be contacted and invited to attend a distribution event. Each child will receive a backpack filled with school supplies.

We plan to host this event in the Wesley Chapel area, but we are actively seeking new partners to host similar events in Dade City, Land O' Lakes, Zephyrhills and Tri-Lacoochee.

Our goal is clear: On the first day of school, we intend for every deserving child in east and central Pasco to hop off the school bus sporting a new backpack filled with supplies recommended by school system planners. Projects of Pasco, an exciting new nonprofit effort, will act as our coordinating sponsor for this effort.

Toys for Tots: Plans are now in place to provide a comprehensive Toys for Tots distribution in five communities in east and central Pasco.

In early December we will again acquire numerous toys through our successful Post Office Letter Carriers drive. Additional toy drop-boxes will be strategically placed in many locations and cooperating businesses throughout our community.

Pasco firefighters will assist by collecting and storing toys. And again this year, social workers, public school counselors and our friends at Premier Community Health will assist by registering qualified families.

We hope to once again have the support of many area Rotary clubs, which provide children with new socks, underwear and toothbrushes. We call this program Skivvies for Tots.

And for the eighth year running, a faith-based organization known as Food for Tots will provide each Toys for Tots family with a huge food parcel to grace their holiday dinner table. Many caring community folks will again assist registered families in selecting appropriate toys for their children.

TAD's future challenges and goals: In order to reach our goal of leveling the playing field for our poverty-bound children, several important and innovative steps might also be considered.

First, we need to step up our efforts to provide goods and services to at-risk children. Here, we need to involve more local groups, organizations and individuals to help underwrite many additional needs of these children. For instance, we might seek to add additional programs to provide shoes, warm clothing and disposable diapers. We also might seek to have our business community furnish summer jobs for at-risk teens.

Second, mentoring and educational tutoring programs would be very important, and computers and computer training are definitely called for.

Third, communities need to better coordinate their efforts to ensure that limited resources reach as many deserving children as humanly possible.

And finally, we need to take steps to establish a "Center for Community Studies." This vital effort might aim to coordinate our children's educational needs while providing planners with vital research data.

An effort should be made to involve all our county's educational institutions, both public and private, in a coordinated effort. An ongoing data feedback loop might help us better understand what really works and what does not.

It has been my personal experience that the same individuals who cheerfully assist children during the holiday season might be willing to help these same children at other times during the year. The time has come for us to recognize that federal, state and local governments are now playing a declining role in funding social programs for the needy. The challenge of finding ways to break the poverty cycle will now, more than ever, fall directly on local communities.

The TAD model represents a total community effort. There is a need for all Pasco communities and residents to become actively involved.

Please plan to attend, or send a representative to, our seventh TAD Congress on June 18 at the Center for the Performing Arts at Wesley Chapel High School. Unite with us in seeking innovative solutions for what may be our community's most challenging problem. Become a TAD delegate and interact with like-minded folks.

For additional information, contact me at Redbobbin@tampabay.rr.com or visit www.toysfortotspasco .org. For more information regarding Projects of Pasco, please contact Ann Fulk at 813-788-3038.

The writer, a San Antonio area resident, is chief organizer for both TAD and East Pasco Toys for Tots.

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