STUDENT, from page 1A was 14. I was active in protests and demonstrations against the government. “It wasn’t good for my family. We started receiving threats,” Pereira said. His dad received calls about the family being watched. “They said:‘I saw your wife, picking up the kids. You should look out for them. You should take care of them,’” Pereira said. “Imagine living everyday knowing that there is someone who wants to hurt you. “A year and a half ago, we decided this is too dangerous for us,” he said. Besides his parents, Luis Sr. and Madelin, Pereira has two little brothers, Guillermo, 12, and Santiago, 10. Initially, the family moved in with relatives in the Wiregrass Ranch area, but that didn’t work out. “At one point, we were homeless,” he said. “When the people at Wiregrass (Ranch High School) found out, it was amazing.The community got together and found out ways to help my family. They gave us food. They gave us money.They found us a place to stay. They’ve been helping us through this process of trying to settle in a new country. I had a lot of support from my teachers, from the staff at Wiregrass,” he said. The communities of John Long Middle School and Double Branch Elementary School also were incredibly kind, Pereira said. His brother, Guillermo, attends John Long, and his other brother, Santiago, attends Double Branch. Education is important to the family. Pereira scored a 1340 on the SAT, and carries a 3.87 grade point on a scale of 4.0. He’s taking Advanced Placement Chemistry, Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Advancement Placement English Literature, among his other classes. “I’m very interested in speech and debate. I really like the fact that by speaking out you can influence people, to change their outlook on things. I think that’s really amazing,” he said. One of things he enjoys most about being in the United States is being able to freely share his thoughts and beliefs. “Just being able to express myself here, to be able to say what I believe is right. That’s amazing. It’s a right that I’ve never had in my
life,” Pereira said. Pereira aspires to become a brain surgeon. “It is different from psychology, in that you are investigating what drives human behavior, but you are investigating it from a biological point. You want to know the process that makes people do stuff,” he said. Pereira said his interest in medicine was influenced by his father, who was a pharmacist in Venezuela. His mom taught elementary school there. Now, his mom cleans homes and his dad works in a retail store. Pereira recently landed a job at McDonald’s. He plans to continue his education, and at the moment his primary choice for college is Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. He applied there after seeing a flier that noted the architectural similarity between the campus and Hogwarts University in the Harry Potter novels. “I did some research about the school, and I liked it,” he said. He applied in November, and they called him to let him know he’d been accepted in January. And, they invited him to the college’s scholarship weekend. He qualified to compete in the Civic Engagement scholarship category. “I had to do a presentation about how I participated in civic engagement and leadership in my everyday life.And, out of 102, they selected two people, and I was one of them,” he said. Still, attending the university is no sure thing. “The main problem — everything takes money,” he said. “I haven’t committed yet. I don’t have the money. It’s $300 to pay the deposit,” he said, noting the scholarship covers tuition, but not housing. He has a job now, and that will help, but he still needs to raise money for housing and other college expenses. He recently set up a GoFundMe account at GoFundMe.com/kharmcdc, in case anyone wants to help. Pereira is not sure where he will end up, but he wants to continue his education. “I feel a responsibility to give back to the community that’s helped me. That’s one of my main goals of going to college, to be able to come back and help the community that gave my family so much,” Pereira said.
TEEN, from page 1A
need to contact to get us in the right direction,” she said.“I have to do a ton of research and gather data before I can even move forwas expensive, but I didn’t know how ex- ward.” pensive until the price is actually shown.” She believes legislative efforts could take The formula, on average, costs about at least two years. $2,000 a month. No matter how long it takes, she plans to Stephanie predicts the monthly formula keep fighting. payments will become even “It is imperative that we pricier as her son grows. pass this legislation — On top of that, the family something’s got to change,” has travel costs from the seashe said. “What’s going to sonal visits they must make to happen to all the kids and the Cincinnati Center for grownups that need this Eosinophilic Disorders, in Ohio. formula for later on in life?” “It makes me nervous,” she she asked. said of the looming expenses. Between dealing with Fortunately, Stephanie said a the insurance company and private source has stepped forpursuing legislation, countward to fund formula payments less hours have been spent for the rest of the year. to help her son — and othBut, the family is still battling ers like him. COURTESY OF NEOCATE the insurance company, trying “It’s absolutely mindto serve as a “voice for the Remington Walls’ only boggling the amount of source of nutrition voiceless.” time we’ve invested on “We’re going to stand up for comes via a hypoallerthis,” Stephanie said. “But, the injustice that’s taken place,” genic amino acid-based we felt forced to do it.” Walls said.“I don’t know if we’ll liquid formula, called Meanwhile, there has ever make progress, but we’re Neocate EO28 Splash. been a ground swell of comdetermined to get out there and He drinks the ‘shake’ 15 munity support for the Walls to 18 times per day, make a difference, somehow.” family. The family is now pursuing about every two hours. A GoFundMe page was legislation, calling for mandated created on March 3 by coverage for those who suffer from Janeen Salzberger, a longtime family friend. Eosinophilic disorders and need the formula Word quickly spread after Land O’ Lakes to survive. High principal Ric Mellin passed along the Florida law currently has a mandate to information to the Pasco County School cover formula for those with District. Phenylketonuria, but not Eosinophilic disorAs of March 27, $16, 617 has been raised. ders. The goal is set at $40,000. Stephanie — an eighth-grade language “It has humbled us greatly,” Stephanie arts teacher at Pine View Middle School — said.“This is something we could not take has already reached out to U.S. Rep. Gus on ourselves.” Bilirakis and to U.S. Senator Marco Rubio. To donate, visit GoFundMe.com/reming“We’re just trying to find the people we ton-walls.
B.C. MANION
Matthew Hartsfield is pastor of Bay Hope Church, at 17030 Lakeshore Road in Lutz. The church is planning a $6 million project to enhance its children and student ministries, and is planning to create satellite campuses around Tampa Bay.
Bay Hope plans big expansion By B.C. Manion
bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com
When Van Dyke Church began in 1985, it met in the cafeteria at Claywell Elementary School in Northdale, and the church was named for its planned future location, on Van Dyke Road in Lutz. It never did build on Van Dyke Road, though, because the land was taken through eminent domain for the Veterans Expressway project, said Matthew Hartsfield, the church’s pastor. Instead, the church was established at 17030 Lakeshore Road, where it remains today. So, in a sense, it never was accurately named. When the church felt a calling to expand its role, it also decided to change its name to Bay Hope to reflect its new vision and mission. Bay Hope wants to be involved in reaching out to people throughout the Tampa Bay area, to offer them a church home, Hartsfield said. But, it isn’t trying to attract all of those new disciples to its Lutz location. It doesn’t feel called to create a megachurch in Lutz, or on another campus. Hartsfield said. Instead, he said, “We felt God impress upon our hearts that we needed to multiply well beyond this campus.” So, Bay Hope wants to help to revive churches that are faltering, to reopen those that have closed and to plant new ones in areas experiencing population growth, Hartsfield said. The goal is to “mobilize 30,000 disciples of Jesus Christ in Tampa Bay, by the year 2030, for the transformation of the world,” Hartsfield said. First though, Bay Hope wants to maximize the use of its current property in Lutz. It expects to have a groundbreaking this summer for a $6 million project. “We’ve been working with our architect to renovate the campus to primarily create whole new, innovative spaces for children’s and student ministries,” he said. The spaces will be bright and airy, he said. “The goal is to make the campus a lot more functional for families with children and teenagers,” Hartsfield said. The project also includes additional children and nursery space, as well, and a larger, relocated coffee house. “It’s basically a campus refresh,” Hartsfield said. While making those improvements, Bay Hope is also making plans to extend its reach
into other communities. “We felt God calling us to multiply campuses of Bay Hope Church, across Tampa Bay, to reach every neighborhood with a vital, local congregation of Bay Hope Church,” Hartsfield said. There are two primary ways that will happen, he said. One approach calls for reviving faltering churches or reopening churches that have closed. There are churches across the Tampa Bay area that have a great legacy,“but just due to some natural church lifecycles, they no longer have the resources, they no longer have the people, so they’re either in decline, or they’ve already closed,” he said. “A good number of them will already be United Methodist Churches, so we’re working with the Florida Conference on their strategy to reach every neighborhood. We’ll partner with the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church to re-birth these legacy churches,” Hartsfield said. The other approach calls for setting up new Bay Hope campuses in storefronts, schools, movie theaters or other locations, to provide a church home for people in growing communities. “Some of these might be smaller, more targeted campuses in a small neighborhood. Some of them might be larger and more regionally connecting,” Hartsfield said. “We want to be very open to the wind of the spirit, in terms of every geographic location in Tampa Bay, from urban to suburban to rural and to ethnically diverse campuses,” he added. Bay Hope defines Tampa Bay as being Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties. Those counties are projected to have a total population of 3 million by 2030, and the goal is engage at least 1 percent of that number, or 30,000, as disciples of Christ, within that time frame, Hartsfield said. In one sense, Bay Hope’s quest is in keeping with how the United Methodist Church took root. “Our Wesleyan Methodist heritage is a basically multi-site heritage, from back in the circuit-riding days of John Wesley,” Hartsfield said. Bay Hope’s initiative comes at a time when national reports reveal a continuing slide in membership rates among traditional congregational churches. Hartsfield is not dissuaded. “We don’t have a single discouraged or pessimistic bone in our body about connecting people to Jesus.We are wildly optimistic about bringing the hope of Jesus to Tampa Bay,” Hartsfield said.
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