Efforts win president's handshake

PINELLAS PARK -- When police Officer Roxanne Hunt got home last week, there was a call from Washington, D.C., on her answering machine.

The woman in the message wanted to speak with Hunt about her work with AmeriCorps.

"I have a girlfriend living in Washington," Hunt said Friday. "I just knew she was playing a joke on me."

But Hunt returned the call. The woman wanted to confirm information from Lawrence Moose, AmeriCorps' Pinellas director, who had nominated Hunt and some others for an award.

It was more than that. Hunt would meet President George W. Bush Friday when he visited Pinellas County.

"I was like, 'What?' She said it again," Hunt said. Then Hunt had another thought: She needed permission to take time off.

Pinellas Park police officials were ecstatic, or, as Hunt said, "They were having a coronary."

She called back to say her boss said it was okay to meet the president.

Friday, Hunt still didn't grasp that she would be singled out until "two seconds" before meeting Bush.

"He was so personable," she said. "He thanked me for coming. Winked at me."

The whole cavalcade -- Bush, Gov. Jeb Bush and others -- went to visit America II, an electronics firm. That's when the president really pointed out Hunt, praising her work.

"I like to find Americans who are compassionate citizens, and soldiers in the army of compassion. And we've got one here. . . . Her name is Roxanne Hunt," the president said.

"Without being asked or told, Roxanne adopted a family for Christmas; Roxanne has fed the homeless; Roxanne has been involved in environmental cleanup activities. . . . Roxanne saved a little guy's life who was choking on a hot dog. At least it wasn't a pretzel."

(The president gagged on a pretzel and fainted in January.)

Hunt, 25, began working with the AmeriCorps program in 1999 while a student at the University of South Florida. AmeriCorps is adomestic Peace Corps. Bush expanded it this year.

-- Staff writer Adam Smith contributed to this report.

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