Can’t Do It Without You!!! 

The 2010 Distribution would not have been a success without volunteers! And, there were so many!! 

First, there were some large company donations last year that gave us a jump start, thank you:

American Surveying, Inc., Tampa, FL

Dircks, Tommi CPA, Valrico, FL

Hoffman Realty, Tampa, FL

McRae-McRae Realty, Hernando Beach, FL

MVP Marketing, Brandon, FL

Test Standard Labs, Dade City, FL

Wells Fargo, Lakeland, FL 

And, there were many individual donations over $100 to $200 that took us even further! Thank you! 

From there, in poured the donations from $99 down to $10 and many bags left on our door step….this brought us home! Thank you! 

The job just can’t get done without volunteers! I Am Hope Café (check out IAmHope.org and echofl.org.) and various church groups associated with I Am Hope brought volunteers – a LOT of volunteers!  Vince Ferraro, President of I Am Hope Café, and Tom and Lisa Gill with the firm Thomas P. Gill, Jr., PL brought friends and family, including Wendy Pergolise and her kids and Nancy O'Brien…there were so many with this group and I don’t have all their names - sorry.  Danielle and Tamela worked all weekend and haven’t missed a distribution since the first one.  Lon Swonger with Test Standard Labs took charge of the stenciling process, hand stenciling 1028 bags, while other volunteers unpacked and organized the bags. 

Without all of this help, there is just no way we could have distributed the bags before the thermostat dipped into the low 30’s!!!  When we heard the weather report…a severe cold front was on its way, we bumped up the distribution date. Many of our annual volunteers were out of town and there was no time to get the word out.  The newcomers saved the day. 

Where Did Last Year’s Bags Go?

12 bags to homeless living in the woods, Zephyrhills, FL

10 bags to Tamela Maley, distributed to homeless in her area of Tampa, FL

30 bags to Salvation Army Center of Hope, Pt. Richey, FL

50 bags to Lon Swonger to distribute to DayStar, Dade City, FL

116 bags to Jericho Soup Kitchen, Hernando County, FL

25 bags to Vicki Smith, distributed to homeless living in the woods, Pasco Co.

125 bags to Patrick McRae, distributed to DayStar Gibsonton, FL

125 bags to Brandon Shelter at Sadie Park Rec Center Brandon, FL

50 bags to I am Hope Café Seffner, FL

30 bags to AmeriCorps VISTA at the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County

125 bags to Tailbot House, a soup kitchen and shelter, Lakeland, FL

40 bags to Portameno of Hope Café, Brandon, FL

290 bags to downtown homeless distributed by HelpKeepWarm.org in coordination with T.H.O.R.N. 

Many Thanks

For those of you who were so generous last year, thank you so much!!! We hope you will make HelpKeepWarm.org an ongoing tradition, next to your favorite sweater, winter sports, a fat turkey, and snow angels.

In spirit and love,
Ricki South
Founder
http://www.helpkeepwarm.org

(813) 404-2410