Deputies Deliver Thanksgiving Dinner to 60 Families

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Community Policing Unit helped distribute holiday food to families in need.

Inside the Publix on Indian Rocks Road, customers were busy shopping Wednesday. Behind the store, deputies, fire rescue personnel, grocery employees and church volunteers stuffed cruisers and trucks with turkey dinners for 60 families in the community. In its ninth year the community effort provided holiday meals by identifying families in need, donating money and distributing the food. Pinellas County Sheriff's Community Policing deputies, Pinellas Suncoast Rescue personnel and volunteers from Calvary Episcopal Church in Indian Rocks Beach loaded up sheriff's office vehicles with turkey dinners. The line of trucks and cruisers headed to community centers and dozens of homes in neighborhoods around Clearwater, Largo, Madeira Beach, …

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Anastasia's Closet Helps Others Dress for Success

Girls can borrow clothes for a modeling career from a selection of donated outfits.

Graduating senior Anastasia Myers, of Seminole, enjoys helping others. Giving back to the community is a way of life for the Girl Scout. Her recent experience at John Casablancas Modeling Center made her realize the cost of clothes for anyone starting a modeling career. She needed hundreds of outfits for modeling school, Myers said. Seeing the need, Myers created a closet of clothes anyone could borrow. She assembled the hundreds of dresses, gowns, blouses and skirts through donations. "With Anastasia’s Closet, girls can find the needed outfits without any cost being incurred," Myers said. "When you look good, you feel good about yourself. As a result, you do fantastic," Myers said. Myers' project earned her the Gold Award from the Girl …

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Volunteer Spotlight

Pinellas Preparatory Academy's Beta Club

The National Beta Club recognizes community service, leadership, good character and academic excellence.These kids are dedicated to the club's motto: "Let Us Lead by Serving Others".

What do you get when you combine free time and teenagers? For Pinellas Preparatory Academy's Junior Beta Club kids, the combination means actively helping the community. At the beginning of the school year the kids encouraged parents, staff and the community to donate blood for the American Red Cross. They held hand-made signs and reminded adults in the school's car circle to make time to donate blood. In January, they worked to raise school awareness about the Humane Society of Pinellas County. The kids campaigned to get the much-needed items listed on the organization's wish list. During their Jan. 27  facility tour, the kids donated towels, liquid soap, bleach, cat food and litter to the organization. "That's the whole purpose of this …

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