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 Thanks to our Community Supporters (December and January) 

 
 
For the sixth year in a row, the Mike Alstott Family Foundation hosted an exciting and fun Sports Buddies event!
 
 
Congrats to our first place Clays for Kids team...the Tampa Police Department, naturally! Our Clays for Kids fundraising was a lot of fun and a great success this year. Thanks to presenting sponsor Wiregrass Ranch Foundation, as well as Publix Super Markets Charities, Earth Tech, Florida Medical Clinic Foundation of Caring, Transportation Control Systems and everyone who came out to volunteer and join in the fun!
 
Thanks to United Way Suncoast for being a fantastic supporter of our mentoring programs.
 
 
Thank you to Verizon Foundation for donating $15,000 to support our Domestic Violence Emancipation Mentoring Program (DOVE), which allows us to provide one-to-one mentors to children who have witnessed or experienced domestic violence.  
 
Thanks to Gracie South for hosting a fantastic mixed martial arts match event for us!
 
Thank you to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for continuing to support Big Brothers Big Sisters' military mentoring efforts, so that we can develop and grow our new Operation Bigs mentoring program.
 
 
Thank you to JPMorgan Chase for supporting our mentoring programs...and coming over personally to deliver the check!
 
 
Thank you to the Conn Memorial Foundation for supporting our Sulphur Springs Transition to Success Program.
 
 
Thank you to the Hobbs Foundation for supporting our annual Big for a Day and other program activities. 
 
 
Thank you to City of Tampa for continuing to support our mentoring programs.

 

JAMIE FOXX ANNOUNCES BIGGEST ROLE EVER:NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON, BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF AMERICA

Click here to read all about it!

 

Thanks to our Community Supporters (November)

 

 

 
Thank you to Big Sister Christina Pitalo for not only being a great Big but also nominating us as the beneficiaries of Professional Philanthropy Network Happy Hour...and thank you to the Professional Philanthropy Network for hosting the happy hour for us, too!
 
 
Thank you to City of Tampa for providing us with funds that allow us to serve more low income youth in the City of Tampa.
 
Thank you to the Children's Board of Hillsborough County for supporting mentoring in Sulphur Springs, West Tampa and East Tampa.
 
 
Thanks to Florida 21st Century Community Learning Centers for providing us with a grant to mentor 24 children in our site-based mentoring program. Big Brothers Big Sisters is proud to partner with the Boys and Girls Clubs (site partner) and the Children’s Board (lead agency) in this innovative afterschool program that serves 250 Title I elementary school children each year.
 
 
Thank you to Wells Fargo for providing us with a $2,500 grant to support our Bigs Inspiring Scholastic Success mentoring program in Pasco County and Polk County.
 
 

Thank you to Derby Storage in Holiday for hosting a Family Fun Night on Halloween to support Big Brothers Big Sisters.

 
 
Thank you to the Driscoll's Charitable Fund at the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County for providing us with a $250 grant to support mentoring here in the Tampa Bay area.
 

Thanks to our Community Supporters (September and October)

 

Thank you to the Hyde Park Music Festival, and our volunteers from Krewe of Agustina. We had a great evening and the event raised more than $2,000 to support our mentoring programs!
 
 
The Citrus Center Kiwanis in Lakeland donated $500 to Big Brothers Big Sisters. In addition to donating money, Kiwanis Club members also volunteer at match activities and provide meals and games for our Littles. Thanks to long-time Big Brother and Kiwanis Club member Tom Baroody, Kiwanis Club President Kerry Chalet and all the members for recognizing how mentoring can make a difference in the lives of children.
 
 
Thank you to Walmart Store #5036 for providing us with funds so that we can serve more children who need mentors!
 
 
Our Littles are equipped to tackle their homework, thanks to the generosity of employees with Pepsi Beverages Company who donated nearly 200 backpacks. They raised money through bake sales and other donations to make sure children in our community were well equipped this school year. The employees, based in Hillsborough, Pasco and Polk, say it’s a great way to give back.
 
 
We appreciate the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for supporting Big Brothers Big Sisters of America so that we (and other affiliate agencies) can mentor more at-risk kids.
 
 
Thank you to Sephora for holding a fun makeup workshop for some of our older Little Sisters--and sending them home with goody bags!
 
 
The United Way of Central Florida is another great partner who is helping us to change the way kids in our community grow up.
 
 
The Children's Board of Hillsborough County gave us a grant from its Technical Assistance Fund so that we can purchase an electronic fingerprint machine.
 
 
Thank you to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice for continuing to fund our New Directions program (an empowerment workshop for girls) and our Mentoring Alternative Perspectives Program (which addresses disproportionate minority contact).
 
 
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office gave us a Community Enrichment Grant that funded summer learning workbooks for our Littles in Hillsborough County.
 
 
 
Thanks to all the great CarMax Associates who volunteered for us and put on a great field day in Pasco County...and thanks also to The CarMax Foundation for awarding us a $1,000 CarMax Cares Volunteer Grant in recognition and support of their associates' dedication to our agency.

Thanks to our Community Supporters (August)

  

Thank you to the Tampa Yankees Booster Club for donating lots of tickets so that our Littles could enjoy one our favorite summer pastimes--baseball!
 
 
We appreciate Carnival Cruise Lines' Carnival Foundation for providing us with a $5,000 grant to support Bigs Inspiring Scholastic Success.  
 
 
Thank you to The CarMax Foundation for providing us with an $8,500 grant to support our Bigs Inspiring Scholastic Success mentoring program in Pasco County.
 
 

Publix Super Market Charities continues to be a wonderful supporter for our mentoring programs. Thanks, Publix!

Thank you to United Way of Pasco, for awarding us a $45,000 grant to support our mentoring programs in Pasco County.

The Glazer Family Foundation awarded us 130 Buc-Packs from their Back-to-School program, and we got a sneak peek of the players at training camp! We are ready for some football...and we're ready for school, now, too.

Thanks to our Community Supporters (July) 

 
  
Thank you to Helios Education Foundation and Mark Fernandez, Helios Foundation Education Director's Discretionary Community Investment, for donating $5,000 to support our Sports Buddies program. 
 
 
We are proud to be a MetLife Foundation Hispanic Mentoring Site and appreciate the $17,500 grant received from MetLife Foundation in order to continue our efforts to increase outreach in the Hispanic community.
 
We enjoyed "Big Night at the Rays" on June 28! Thank you Tampa Bay Rays for providing tickets and creating a special night for our supporters and matches.

 

 
Thank you to the Florida Department of Education for providing funds for our Bigs Inspiring Scholastic Success Program.  
 
 
 
Thank you to the Florida State Employee Charitable Campaign and Combined Federal Campaign for supporting mentoring and making it possible for goverment employees to donate to our agency through payroll deductions.
 
 
 
Thank you to the Florida Campus Compact Vista Initiative, which provides us with hardworking full-year and summer AmeriCorps Vista members.

 

Thanks to our Community Supporters (June)

  

  
Thank you to the Florida Medical Clinic Foundation of Caring for supporting mentoring in Dade City with a $15,000 grant.
 
 
Thank you to Walmart Stores 5622, 4852, and 6642 for their donations to support mentoring in our community.
 
 
We appreciate being accepted into the Patel Conservatory Community Partner Program.  Our Littles will receive a basic introduction to the performing arts, plus the opportunity to attend performances/dress rehearsals, master classes and workshops. 
 
 
Thanks to the Hillsborough County Sherriff's Office our kids will have productive summers! They awarded us with a Community Enrichment grant to purchase summer learning workbooks for our mentees in order to help prevent summer learning loss. 
 
 

Thank you to Altria, parent company of Philip Morris USA, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco and John Middleton Co., for their financial support, which allows us to better serve our matches.

Thanks to our Community Supporters (May)

   

Thank you to Walmart Store #988 for their donation to support mentoring in our community.

Thanks to our Community Supporters (April)

We are very thankful to have received a 2012 Partnership Grant from the Rays Baseball Foundation, which provides $25,000 in support of our Sports Buddies Mentoring Program.

Congratulations to Big Brother Justin Miller, who earned the John H. Sykes Community Service Award from his company JHS Capital Advisors in recognition of his dedication to mentoring his Little Brother for the last four years. And thank you to JHS Capital Advisors for the $1,500 donation to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay.

Thanks to the Community Foundation of Pasco County, a division of the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay, for providing us with $1,500 to purchase summer learning workbooks for nearly 170 Pasco County students in kindergarten through 8th grade.

Thanks to the TD Charitable Foundation for supporting our Bigs in Schools and Sites Mentoring Program in Polk County with a $5,000 grant and for providing us with a $919 scholarship for two of our staff members to increase their training.

Thank you to Board Member Rakesh Thakkar for applying for and receiving a $1,000 Volunteer Ventures award from MetLife Foundation to support our mentoring programs.

In honor of the opening of new Walmart Store 5622 in Riverview, store representatives recognized the work we do in the community with a $500 donation. What a great neighbor and supporter!

Thanks to our Community Supporters (March)

MetLife Foundation encourages employees who volunteer for non-profits to apply for a Volunteer Ventures grant to help support those non-profits. Thanks to Big Brother Brandon Bessette, we received a grant from MetLife Foundation so that we can recruit more great mentors like him.

Thank you to Big Brother Neil Armstrong and the Lightning Foundation. As a Lightning Community Hero, Neil selected Big Brothers Big Sisters as one of his charities of choice and we received $25,000 from the Lightning Foundation to support mentoring.

 

Thanks to our Community Supporters (February)

Thanks to the Couch Family Foundation for supporting our Bigs in Schools and Sites mentoring program.

Thanks to Walmart Store 5760 for making a donation to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is a strong supporter of mentoring. Our agency received OJJDP grants to provide more mentors for youth ages 9 and older who are at high risk of juvenile delinquency and living in Dade City and Winter Haven, as well as more mentors for youth who have active parents in the military.

Thanks to our Community Supporters (January)

 
 
Thanks to the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County for funding our Mentoring Training Program, which provides uniform, scheduled, high quality training to volunteer mentors.
 
 
 

Thanks to Florida 21st Century Community Learning Centers for providing us with a grant to mentor 24 children in our site-based mentoring program. Big Brothers Big Sisters is proud to partner with the Boys and Girls Clubs (site partner) and the Children’s Board (lead agency)in this innovative afterschool program that serves 250 Title I elementary school children each year. 

 
 

Thanks to Pasco County Government for funding community-based mentoring in Pasco County, as recommended by the United Way of Pasco County's Community and Partnership Development Committee Investment Review Team.

 

Thanks to Badcock Home Furniture & More for donating $250 to Golf for Kids' Sake.

 

Thanks to Publix Super Markets Charities, Tampa Bay Rays and Pin Chasers for sponsoring our 31st Annual Bowl for Kids' Sake.

Thanks to our Community Supporters (December)

  

Thanks to Willow Oak Baptist Church, the Jaycees, Jesuit High School students,Junior League of Tampa, Suncoast Key Club, Toys for Tots West Pasco, Susies Too Restaurant, Macy's at Wiregrass, the Plant City American Legion Post,and the Guzman Law Group, who all helped make the holidays brighter for our Littles and their families.

 

Thanks to the United Way of Tampa Bay for its ongoing support of our mentoring programs.

Thank you to the Department of Juvenile Justice as it continues to support two successful prevention programs serving at-risk youth: our Mentoring Alternative Perspectives Program (MAPP) and New Directions.

Thanks to the Conn Memorial Foundation for funding Transitions to Success, a mentoring program aimed at Sulphur Springs Elementary graduates as they transition to middle school.

 

Thank you to the Children's Board for matching the funding that we get from DJJ and the Conn Memorial Foundation to help support our targeted mentoring programs.

 

Thanks to the Florida Department of Education for helping fund our Bigs in Schools and Sites program.

 

Thanks to our Community Supporters (November)

 

 

The Verizon Foundation awarded Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay a $15,000 grant to support our DOVE program, which provides mentors to children who have witnessed or been the victims of domestic violence and also trains volunteers in domestic violence issues. This is the third year that Verizon Foundation has supported this very important program.

 

During the Macy's Thanks for Sharing promotion, Macy's stores in Florida raised more than $300,000 for Big Brothers Big Sisters! Our agency will get a portion of that, based on the number of participating shoppers in Hillsborough, Pasco and Polk Counties. 

Thanks to the Community Foundation of Greater Sun City Center Hadley and Helen Hill Fund for providing us with a grant of $3,505 to be used to present an informational luncheon at Sun City Center. We look forward to letting Sun City Center residents know more about Big Brothers Big Sisters. 

 

Just as the weather started cooling down, The Junior League of Tampa brought us a bunch of coats and sweaters they had collected to keep our Littles warm through the winter.And they'll be helping us with one of our holiday parties, too. Thanks to The Junior League for making us its Treasures for Tampa recipient and for the many things they do to help kids in our community. 

Thank you to David Gavin Salon in South Tampa for inviting staff and volunteers to be hair models--which really means getting free haircuts! 

 

 

Thank you to Florida Wellness & Rehab for making us one of the beneficiaries of its First Annual Tampa Health & Wellness Expo in downtown Tampa.  

A New Tradition at Blake High School: Blake-A-Boo

On October 26, the Student Government Association of Blake High School launched Blake-A-Boo--their own fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay. Community members, students and Bigs and Littles showed up for trick-or-treating, face painting, dancing and a "Haunted Hall." They raised $500 and had a great time doing it! Many of Blake's students are also Bigs who mentor kids at Just Elementary. Though they are young, they are committed and enthusiastic about mentoring children in need of guidance and friendship.                         

 

Thanks to our Community Supporters (October)

 

Thanks to The CarMax Foundation for providing us with a $10,000 grant to support our Bigs in Schools and Sites mentoring programs in Pasco County.

 

Thank you to Wells Fargo for providing us with a $15,000 grant to support our Bigs in Schools and Sites mentoring programs in Polk and Pasco Counties.

  

Thanks to Walmart store #1501 for making a donation to our agency.  

We appreciate the ongoing support of the Bailey Family Foundation, who gave us a grant for $20,000 to support our mentoring programs. 

Thanks to the Helios Education Foundation for supporting Sports Buddies, which encourages mentors to share their passion for playing and watching sports with a Little. 

Thank you to Christian Business Connections for donating $250 to support our agency.

 

 
 
 
 

 
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