The Pasco Tribune - A Section of The Tampa Tribune - March 17, 2005
By: Tom Jackson

Trilby - You know summer vacation isn't what it used to be when organizers of a regional school supplies drive already have held two monthly meetings, and it's just now St. Patrick's Day.

But for the folk who could right this state of unnatural affairs - state legislators or local school board members - delaying the start of the 2005-06 academic year isn't even on the radar.

Thus are the organizers of STEPS - School Tools (to) Empower (and) Promote Success - already working against time. Happily, the primary movers are among east Pasco County's most accomplished do-gooders.

Simply put, Isa Blanford and Bob Loring know how to get things done.

Blanford we know from her tireless work on behalf of the have-nots in and around Lacoochee, both as community liaison for the pasco Housing authority and as chief of the nonprofit Circle of Hope Partnership. Loring is head of the annual and ever-expanding East Pasco Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots campaign and originator of The American Dream Practitioners, a public-private inter-agency effort to exert upwardly mobile energy on area poverty pockets, thus putting himself out of the elf business.

Individually, Blanford and Loring have demonstrated unsurpassed arm-twisting skills. Combined, they are the proverbial irresistible force. In their presence, the immovable object does not exist.

It is only fair warning, then, to report that Blanford and Loring are on the prowl for more than a few good doctors, osteopaths and/or nurse practitioners, plus a likely cohort of nurses and medical office assistants for Phase One of STEPS' back-to-school program, a four-site health fair (Lacoochee, Dade City, Zephyrhills, Land O' Lakes) set for July 9. The plan: Administer as many free school physicals as possible to children from families of meager means.

Having established the need, it is only a matter of getting the commitments of medical professionals and their support staffs. Doctors? Resistance is futile. Call Blanford today at (352) 583-0155.

Not that the rest of us are without opportunities of our own.

More than a few school-age youngsters among us come from families which lack the wherewithal to fully outfit a student for school. Some cannot even afford a serviceable backpack, let alone all the stuff that goes into one.

Rather than fret in silence about a culture that allows some students to start the year tow steps behind their class images, we soon will have - through the promotional skills of STEPS folks - the good fortune to donate to the cause.

Making A Major Difference

cooperating area businesses will become STEPS outposts, offering customers and clients the chance to donate, and also to designate in which community they want their dollars spent.

Why money and not materials? Simply put, your donated dollar goes farther. Through its contact with a school supplies vendor, STEPS can stuff backpacks at a fraction of the price charged by retailers.

"This is not a handout," Blanford says. "It is forever a hand-up."

Opportunities to contribute will emerge as the calendar draws closer to summer break. No foot-dragging, now. Our dollars, funneled together, can make a difference beyond our imagining.

Columnist Tom Jackson can be reached at (813) 948-4219

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