This is not a story about what could have been done better, but what is being done right. And you can find what’s being done right by looking to local businesses.
The support and love that lives in the Tampa Bay community is overwhelming. We are blessed to live in a community where people truly want to help, and support, one another. And we at TBBW LOVE to hear, and share, these stories. Keep sharing, keep caring. The feedback from the region has been nothing short of amazing! People are reading, and are ingesting, the positive news: with a sigh of relief.
We are in this together!
We will continue to bring you these “round-ups” of what is being done right here in Tampa Bay!
Metropolitan Ministries gave out food in a carl line that stretched one mile long. Tampa Police officers showed up and decided to stay and help.
The Laxer Family Foundation, and the Bern’s Family of Restaurants, gave $20,000 to Feeding Tampa Bay in response to COVID-19.
Haven’s staff agreed to donate all gratuities during the shutdown to the relief cause, in order to support charities like Feeding Tampa Bay.
“We feed people, it’s what we do. As a long time staple of the Tampa Bay Community, we want to give back and, at these unprecedented times, this was crucial. We are proud to support Feeding Tampa Bay and the families they serve,” said David Laxer, proprietor of Bern’s Steak House, Haven and founder of the Laxer Family Foundation, in a statement.
Taco Bus, in partnership with Express Beverage, donated meals to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office District 2.
Taco Bus is available for take-out, delivery from UberEats (who have waived delivery fees) and DoorDash. Taco Bus is also offering “A Bus-Load of Essentials” where you can purchase toilet paper, paper towels, meat, bread, shrimp and other essentials that are hard to find at local grocery stores. Information can be found on the website www.Taco-Bus.com.
Spectrum released a statement saying the following:
To ease the strain in this challenging time, beginning Monday, March 16, we commit to the following for 60 days:
“COVID-19 Remote Education Credit – Beginning Monday, March 16, we’ll offer free access to internet and WiFi for 60-days for new Pre-K to 12, college student and teacher households who don’t currently have internet or WiFi service. This discount will be applied as a credit for your first two months of internet services. We’ll waive any installation or pre-payment fees to help get you started.
You can qualify for this offer if you: Have a student of qualifying age at your service address with remote education needs and/or have not subscribed to our internet services within the past 30 days. Call (855) 243-8892 to sign up for this offer.
Spectrum also said they would not terminate service for Spectrum Internet, TV or Voice residential, or small business, customers who face difficult economic circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, they won’t charge late fees for those customers facing difficult economic circumstances related to the pandemic.
Gratzzi Italian Grille, in St. Petersburg, has been offering free meals from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. daily, to all fellow hospitality and food service personnel who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic and plans to do so until supplies run out. Each meal offered includes a healthy, hearty salad along with fresh bread and an entree.
DunAtHom is creating a way to stay close to your loved ones, no matter how far apart you are.
A 2-hour DunAtHome Zoom video party allows you to invite some of your local, Pinellas County friends to join in on a Host Instructor guided cocktail party. One of St. Pete’s local bartenders will teach you, and your guests, how to create fun, mixed drinks using the liquor from your home and the ingredients that arrive at everyone’s doorstep the day before your event. For more information: https://www.dunathom.com/.
Patrick Craven, director of Center for Cyber Safety and Education, is currently offering their Garfield program, for free, to help parents with children stuck at home. You can read more about the program here and get more information here. www.IAmCyberSafe.org
Kahwa Coffee Roasters is offering free coffee to doctors, nurses, health care providers and first responders at various cafe locations in the Tampa Bay Area. Any medical professional or first responder that visits a Kahwa Cafe drive-thru (or to-go) can present their work ID to receive a free small coffee beverage.
A team of ThreeBridge experts banded together in response to a Florida-based client’s immediate need. Thousands of the client’s patients relied on hospitals to provide their in-person health programs until the COVID-19 outbreak posed a danger for elderly, and health-compromised, patients coming into contact with the illness on hospital campuses. As hospitals halted these programs, ThreeBridge quickly worked to stand up a virtual platform for the client’s health program, capable of providing a seamless transition for the users from in-person to virtual treatments. The ThreeBridge team has continued to work day, and night, to ensure accessible video content, build a tracking system for program users and develop front-end, and back-end, security systems for the program. ThreeBridge consultants leveraged their experience in Web Development, Product Management, User Experience Design and Research and Copy Editing to stand up the platform, which is set to launch enterprise-wide next week.
As COVID-19 has become more widespread, the shortage of critical personal protective equipment has become increasingly problematic. When the team at Taylor White learned of a local project focused on hand-making masks to provide some protection to health professionals on the front line…they were all in. Within a few hours they had gathered over $500 to donate to this inspiring cause.
All proceeds are being allocated toward purchasing supplies to provide to volunteer sewers’. As of today, The Mask Project has received requests for over 5,000 masks from local healthcare facilities.
Link to The Mask Project’s FB Page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/themaskprojecttampabay/permalink/2483951495044812/
Last week, Catering by the Family delivered food to a fire department in west Tampa and a Tampa Police station. In addition, the company gave out pans of pasta, with meat sauce, for 100 families. On Saturday, they will deliver 150 meals to Community Pantry .
