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Driven to serve
By JOSH ZIMMER, Times Staff Writer
KEYSTONE -- On a recent weekday morning, Cathy Smith pulls her car in front of Fox's Hair Den off N Mobley Road. She greets the owner, Rick Harjung, who reveals this month's take: boxes of pasta, peanut butter and jelly, crayons and coloring books. Minutes later, her car full, Smith drives off to deliver the goods to local charities on behalf of the Keystone Civic Association. When association president Rich Dugger talked last year about social outreach, he found a willing partner in Smith. The longtime Keystone resident advised him on how to establish a network of charitable dropoffs that now involves, on the giving end, the Hair Den and Keystone Korner, a pizza/sandwich shop on Tarpon Springs Road. Smith, 53, knows about charity drives through the psychological testing business she and her husband run in Lutz. For years, PAR has given time and donations to local social service groups. She handles the pickups at the Hair Den; Dugger does the same at Keystone Korner. Donations she picked up this month went to the Spring, a women's shelter; two hospices; and Alpha House, a center for pregnant women. A former nurse, Smith clearly gets satisfaction out of helping the less fortunate, and feels the donations are a way the civic association can give back to the community. "We're always fighting against something," she said of the association, known for its combative stance against unwanted development. The charitable work, by contrast, "makes people feel good," she said. Originally from Pennsylvania, Smith moved to the Tampa area 30 years ago to take a job at a local veterans hospital. There she met her future husband, Robert Smith III, a practicing clinical psychologist. They married in 1974 and had three children. To say they nurtured PAR from the very bottom is an understatement. Leaving his practice, Robert Smith began selling a special scorecard to grade psychological tests. On a shoestring they enclosed the carport at their new home off Gunn Highway. That became his office. With help from his uncle they packaged materials on the pool table. Four years later Smith quit her nursing job to assist the growing business full time. PAR, on N Florida Avenue about a mile north of Bearss Avenue, now employs 52 people. She considers finding employees with the volunteer spirit part of the business. Harjung, of the Hair Den, said he is glad to help out the less fortunate, as are his customers. "We have so much," he said. "They don't have anything." -- Josh Zimmer covers Keystone/Odessa, Citrus Park and the environment. He can be reached at 269-5314 or zimmer@sptimes.com . Have a special neighbor? Do you have a neighbor who belongs in the newspaper? Please let us know. We're looking for people who have done remarkable things, but might not otherwise be featured in our news pages. Please send your idea, including where the person lives, to sokol@sptimes.com.
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