Mending the frays of life, '50 girls at a time'

At the seventh annual breakfast for PACE of Pinellas Center for Girls, those touched by the school's efforts share their stories of hope.

By LORRI HELFAND, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 19, 2002

CLEARWATER -- As a freshman at Northeast High School, Genevieve Hawkins wasn't up for any awards. Her report cards were laden with D's and F's. And she missed a lot of school because she ran away from home practically every week.

By the end of the year, her bad habits had turned into dangerous ones. One of her classmates was passing around rumors about her, and Genevieve wanted to settle the score.

She brought two kitchen knives to school. But she didn't get the chance to use them.

One of Genevieve's peers turned her in, and she was expelled.

She ended up at PACE of Pinellas Center for Girls, a state-supported nonprofit school that provides therapeutic services for girls ages 12-17.

The support and comraderie Genevieve gained at PACE brought out her leadership skills. And Thursday, Genevieve, 16, who now boasts a 3.5 grade point average at Northeast High, received the Sallie Parks Leadership Award at the PACE of Pinellas Seventh Annual breakfast at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater.

"With their backing and our home support, it really turned her life around," her dad, Kevin Valentine, said after the ceremony. "It's making me a proud father."

Genevieve said she thought she knew why she had received the award.

"I guess because I was a leader there, and I always pushed everybody to do their work. I was helping everybody and talking to them when they were having problems," she said.

Girls come to PACE for a variety of problems, which sometimes may stem from physical, sexual or emotional abuse, said Sally Zeh, the executive director of PACE of Pinellas.

The girls live at home while they attend PACE, which offers counseling, medical treatment and drug treatment in association with Operation PAR. Referrals are made by the court, the school system or individuals. Most girls stay in the program for six to nine months, and PACE provides followup services for three years.

At the breakfast, Genevieve joined three of her peers and a Palm Harbor mom to tell 250 guests how PACE had supported them through tough times.

Genevieve's best friend, LaQuanda Johnson, 16, said the two met in a runaway shelter several months ago and met again this summer at PACE.

LaQuanda's story is one of loss. Her father was shot while crossing the street with her when she was 5 years old, and her mother died of an illness in May.

During the past few years, LaQuanda's grades have gone downhill. Overwhelmed by large classes, she said, she began skipping school.

"You know it's bad if I got F's in gym," she told the crowd.

Not long after her mother's death, her aunt took her hand and told her they had someplace to go.

"Next thing I knew, I was at PACE," LaQuanda said.

LaQuanda said the smaller classes helped her to be successful. PACE serves 50 girls at a time, and classes are capped at 12.

LaQuanda made A's and B's on her last report card, according her aunt Joyce Walker, who has raised her since she was a baby.

Walker said she hadn't had problems with LaQuanda since she'd been at PACE, but she's worried about what will happen to LaQuanda when she returns to Dixie Hollins next year.

Julia Kindinis told the breakfast guests about how PACE helped her to support her daughter, who was abducted and beaten on the first day of school last year.

The beatings broke her daughter's nose and damaged her ear drums. And as she jumped out of the window of a van to escape, she broke all of the growth plates in her leg.

Kindinis said that on the way to the hospital, she had prayed that her daughter would survive. "All I hoped for was her life," she said.

But she was not prepared for the lingering emotional wounds. Before the abduction, her daughter was a "normal kid." Afterward, she couldn't sleep, wouldn't communicate and had frequent panic attacks, Kindinis said.

"She couldn't go to school -- no way -- because there wasn't help there," Kindinis said.

But at PACE, her daughter received the care she needed, which helped her regain her self-esteem, Kindinis said. PACE advocates sat next to her daughter during classes and accompanied Kindinis to 10-hour trial dates during the prosecution of her daughter's attacker.

"They handled her when no one else could," she said. "They never gave up on this little child."

Her daughter still struggles some days. But following the abduction, her daughter never had good days until she started going to PACE, she said.

"At PACE they're changing the lives of these children, and they're doing it 50 girls at a time," Kindinis said.

-- Lorri Helfand can be reached at 445-4155 or at lorri@sptimes.com.

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