St. Pete is celebrated for its fabulous weather, beautiful vistas, world-class food scene, and thriving cultural atmosphere but the people of St. Pete truly make this city something special. In appreciation, each month Green Bench Monthly shines a light on one of the many people who make St. Pete unique.
As program director for the Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services Heart Gallery of Pinellas & Pasco, Patsy Stills is passionate about her role in helping facilitate adoption of the “hardest to adopt — teens, children, and special needs children.” This devotion to helping those children most in need has defined her path for more than 30 years.
A Light-bulb
Moment Born and raised just north of Boston, in Andover, Mass., Stills is the seventh of 10 children. She was “a poor kid in a rich town,” she says. From an early age, she was determined to become a police officer so she could help people. Her parents wanted her to have a college education. With the help of Pell Grants and work-study jobs, Stills entered the criminal justice program at Westfield State University. Her path shifted during a required juvenile-justice sequence in the final year of the program. Interacting one-on-one with kids in a group home brought her a “light-bulb moment.” What if, instead of being a police officer, she “could help children not become criminals?”
Finding a New Path in Tampa Bay
Stills moved to Tampa Bay immediately after her 1985 graduation despite having no job waiting. Not long afterward, she took a part-time position in the Pinellas public defender’s office in Clearwater and supplemented her income working as a part-time DJ. By 1986, she was an instructor for the Associated Marine Institutes (AMI) alternative education program for teenagers in the juvenile-justice system. Over the next three decades, her career in both the public and private sectors remained focused on helping at-risk populations, especially children and families. Stills married, started her own family, and continued her part-time gig as “DJ Patsy.” By 2018, with her kids grown and her DJ gear mostly retired, she took the opportunity to run a non-profit devoted to directly helping children who are at risk of falling through the cracks. She had been preparing for it throughout her career.
The Heart Gallery & Heart Strings
Since taking over as the executive director of the Heart Gallery, Patsy successfully managed its transition into a program under the umbrella of Gulf Coast JFCS. This shift allows the Heart Gallery to focus on its primary goal: “Connect children in foster care with their forever families through adoption,” and offer support to families throughout the process. To date, the Heart Gallery has helped in the adoption of 394 children. Stills and the Heart Gallery hope to connect even more youngsters with their forever families. The annual Heartstrings evening of “inspiration, music, and FUN with heavy hors d’oeuvres and cocktails” offers one opportunity.
For information about the Nov. 4 event, visit www.gcjfcs.org/heartstring. Visit www.heartgallerykids.org to view the children who are candidates for adoption and learn about spreading the word, considering adoption, and/or donating your time or funds.
