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Suncoast Pasco News

Former Member Leading Pasco Boys and Girls Club

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By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: January 20, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - A homegrown Pasco product will take the reins as executive director of the Boys and Girls Club facilities in Pasco.

A former Boys and Girls Club teen member, Chris Letsos will oversee the club's Pasco region, which has four facilities serving some 1,000 children, in the newly created position.

He will work with the current staff, including Julie A. Johnson, senior club director for the three West Pasco clubs; Gary Moses, director of the Port Richey Youth Center; and Dawn Anderson, senior program specialist.

"I'm a result of Boys and Girls Club," Letsos said in a telephone interview. "I know what we're capable of."

"I grew up in the club," Letsos recalled about the main Youth Center clubhouse near Ridge and Little roads.

LETSOS

A big influence on Letsos during his teen years was Cliff Stoner, the former director of the Pasco club. Stoner took a similar position in Illinois.

"I've been picking his brain," Letsos said with a chuckle of his recent conversations with Stoner.

"Mr. Stoner made a huge difference in my life and I want to do the same" for the current generations of Boys and Girls Club members in Pasco, Letsos said. "I have a lot to live up to."

His specialty is finding grant money, even during tough economic times.

"First and foremost is not cutting any services," Letsos said about his goals as county executive director. "Our families are the ones affected first" by recession.

Letsos grew up here during his teen years and graduated from Gulf High School. He then earned his bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Florida and master's degree in international affairs from Florida State. He and his relatives still reside in West Pasco.

He also brings more than 10 years of professional experience in working for Boys and Girls Clubs, including four years in the Tallahassee area before returning to the area. During the past few years, he has been the director of grants and programs at the Tampa-based regional office, assisting all 21 clubs in the region.

"It is gratifying to be able to give back to a community that had given so much to me," Letsos said in a press release. "Pasco County is such a special place, with residents who truly care about their youth and quality of life. I am so excited to be able to focus more time in helping those clubs advance our mission of becoming the leading youth development organization in Pasco County."

Letsos' "personal connection to the community and his extensive organizational expertise made him the ideal person to take on that important role," Bradley Baumgardner, Boys and Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay's president, said.

So the local clubs will continue to "focus on academic excellence, character development and achieve success," Letsos added during the phone interview.

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