Left to right: Chris Preston, Nicole Beaupre, Sam Bracero, Serita Cronin, Stacy Ketthavong, and Katee Morales

The Outreach Committee continues to be small but mighty. We have been busy helping others, raising funds to help even more, and working together to make our local community a little better for all.

We are currently raising funds to purchase and serve lunch to the homeless at Pinellas Hope. It is not easy to raise the funds we need, but we are determined. We have had several small fundraisers. We celebrated National Yo-Yo Day by taking a donation for a yo-yo. We sold hot dogs at one fundraiser and have had two ice cream fundraisers; one with sundaes and cones, and in the other, we added milkshakes.

In September will be raffling a swag basket with all kinds of Tampa Microwave items (a shirt, a Yeti, and more) All have the TM logo on them. Plus a gift card to a local restaurant.  Don’t miss out on your opportunity to purchase a ticket.

We participated in The Hobb Giveback program called Pack A Snack. We collected non-perishable and healthy snacks for school age children who were identified by teachers as needing some food available to them over the weekends and school holidays. TM came together and donated so much!

TM has adopted a mile of roadway through Keep Pinellas Beautiful, Adopt-A-Mile program. We are working to keep our mile clean from litter and debris. Our first clean-up was at the beginning of August. The next one will be in December.  We collected over 13 pounds of trash and considering it is almost all paper, that is a lot of litter.  We enjoyed some cold drinks and pizza together after the cleanup.

Let a member know if you would like to join us – or reach out to [email protected].

Since the inception in the late fall of 2022, we have volunteered 191 hours and have more planned. The value of those volunteer hours is over $6,000.00. We have also donated, or raised and donated, over $15,600.00.  Please consider volunteering or donating.

“ Volunteering is at the very core of being a human. No one has made it through life without someone else’s help” – Heather French Henry

L -R Brandon Lee and Josh Rapoza having fun after donating and getting their own yo-yo’s to practice doing tricks with.

L-R Malay Raval, Kim Jacobs, Ursula Michals, Ede Enobakhare, Katee Morales, Mark D’Angelo, Lori Desiato, Chance Lawrence, and Aaron Brosnan at the first Adopt-A-Mile cleanup at TM.

L-R Committee Members Chris Preston and Katee Morales at a Keep Pinellas Beautiful clean-up on the Dunedin Causeway.

Katee Morales was the lucky winner of a hammock chair to relax in after a long workday or on the weekend.

The Outreach team also had a fundraiser called, “What’s in the Mystery Can”? This can, without a label, was found while volunteering. For $1.00 employees gave their best guess as to what was in the can. We had a pizza lunch and opened the can in front of everyone. It was black beans. There were 4 people who guessed correctly so they each got a ticket. The winner was drawn for a hammock chair, generously donated by Tampa Microwave.  This was a fun way to raise a few dollars toward purchasing lunch for Pinellas Hope. This not-for- profit is a temporary shelter for homeless men and women. They offer three meals a day, which are possible through generous donations by local businesses.  Each person has a case manager to assist them with their pursuit of self-efficiency by providing them with services like adult education, mental health services, medical services, and much more. This non-profit, like so many, is struggling to stay afloat. We hope to ease their burden a little by providing lunch for about 140 homeless people.