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Tampa Woman's Community Service Racks Up Honors

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By JESSICA DaSILVA

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 15, 2008

TAMPA - When her husband lost his battle with cancer 15 years ago, Bella Canasi threw herself into community service.

"She needed an escape," said her son, Simon Canasi, 52, an executive at Merrill Lynch. "She wasn't working any more, she wasn't a wife any more, and a couple of her grandchildren were already older, so she really put herself into it."

That dedication has been recognized with a number of community service awards. In September, she'll add another: Hispanic Woman of the Year for 2008, an honor bestowed by Tampa Hispanic Heritage Inc.

"She is a woman who exceeds her endeavors to advance," said Nellie Katz, gala committee chairwoman for Tampa Hispanic Heritage. "She promotes our Hispanic community."

One of Canasi's favorite places to volunteer is St. Joseph's Hospital, where she translates doctors' medical directions for Hispanic patients.

She is also involved with Club 15, a volunteer organization established by 15 women 40 years ago to serve poor Cuban immigrants. Today, its efforts have been broadened to include anyone who needs help.

A few months shy of her 80th birthday, Canasi stays busy. She said the work can be hard, but she makes her appointments, often getting behind the wheel of her 2004 Mercedes to drive people to the doctor or to help get them clothing.

Apart from the physical demands, the work can take a toll.

"Sometimes you get involved in these emotional problems," she said. "But that is what I like to do. I can see the needs of these people and I want to help."

At 32, Canasi immigrated to Tampa in 1961 with her husband and two young sons after Fidel Castro's regime took over the Cuban government.

In Cuba, Canasi's husband owned a bar and they could afford for her to be a stay-at-home mom, but they decided there was a better future for their children in the United States.

It would be 39 years before Canasi returned to Cuba to visit her brother, one of the few family members she had left. By then, her parents and her husband's parents had died.

Although they had no family here when they moved to Tampa, her husband's friend helped him find a job and a place for them to live. They eventually saved enough to buy a house in Ybor City, where they lived for 18 years.

Her husband became a foreman at Bay Drums, a company that renovated and repaired storage drums for companies such as Tropicana. Canasi became a nurse and worked at Centro Asturiano Hospital for 10 years, then St. Joseph's Hospital for 20.

Canasi and her husband put their sons through the University of South Florida. Her oldest, Manuel Canasi Jr., 56, lives in Miami and has a business selling medical equipment to doctors.

There are now grandchildren and great-grandchildren who were born in this country.

Simon Canasi said his mom's first experiences with the Tampa community moved her to serve it.

"As an immigrant who was the recipient of all the good that this community had to offer when we first immigrated in 1961, she knew that the best way to show her appreciation was to give back and do the same for others," he said.

Bella Canasi agrees. Her husband's friend was able to collect second-hand furniture for their family and, when she could not afford to send her oldest son to school, a church agreed to pay for his expenses, as long as she gave them $2.50 a week for his lunch. "I'm very happy to be in the country, and I feel like I've lived more here than in Cuba. It gave me the opportunity to do something for my family," she said. "That is why I work for the community."

Simon Canasi said his parents represent a generation of Cuban-Americans who had the courage to start over in the United States for the sake of their children.

"My mother embodies that generation, and to me, every mother in that generation of Cuban-Americans is a Hispanic Woman of the Year," he said.

OUTSTANDING HONOREES

Tampa Hispanic Heritage each year honors a man and woman who demonstrate excellence in volunteerism.

This year's honorees, Tampa City Councilman Charlie Miranda and Tampa resident Bella Canasi, will be feted at a banquet at the Tampa Hyatt Regency Hotel on Sept. 27.

Reporter Jessica DaSilva can be reached at (813) 259-7851 or jdasilva@tampatrib.com.

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