TAMPA, FL \u2014 The Red Cross Angels Tampa Bay chapter will host its annual signature fundraiser, a Silver Coffee, on Wednesday, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., in Tampa.<\/p>\n
All funds raised at the event will benefit the Red Cross Service to Armed Forces division.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s basically an event where people come together to socialize and also celebrate the services to the Armed Forces program,\u201d Leslie Jennewein, the chapter\u2019s president, told Patch. \u201cIt\u2019s not just a morning of hospitality, it\u2019s about carrying forward a message of service.\u201d<\/p>\n
The local chapter is especially important given the Tampa Bay area\u2019s connection to the MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, she added.<\/p>\n
The event will feature finger foods, including tea sandwiches, mini scones, tarragon chicken croissants, provided by Sally Cook of Cook\u2019s Kitchen.<\/p>\n
It will take place at a South Tampa home with a view of Palma Ceia Golf & Country Club.<\/p>\n
The fundraiser dates back to 1982, when Beverly Austin created the chapter and hosted the first Silver Coffee in her South Tampa home, where 200 women became charter members.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe event has been going on ever since, except for, I think, one or two years where we didn\u2019t have it; one being COVID,\u201d Jennewein said.
The Red Cross Service to Armed Forces serves military personnel \u2014 including active duty, National Guard and Reserve, and veterans \u2014 as well as their families, according to the nonprofit\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
This includes emergency services, such as helping service members with returning home for family emergencies and financial assistance. Red Cross volunteers and employees also work with military and Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics.<\/p>\n
The organization also helps families cope with a military lifestyle through various community programs, including mental health, preparedness, and health and safety courses, health-care job certification training, and volunteer, networking, and support opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey help build strong families and resilient communities,\u201d Jennewein said.<\/p>\n
All money raised at Wednesday\u2019s fundraiser helps military families in the Tampa Bay area. The group hopes to raise between $50,000 and $75,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely augments the local [Red Cross] budget. They really appreciate it,\u201d she said. \u201cMore than ever they need the support financially. They\u2019ve taken a hit, as far as budgets go.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Red Cross Angels local chapter also works on projects throughout the year, Jennewein added.<\/p>\n
This includes its Bundles for Babies initiative that provides supplies to young military families, baking cookies to soldiers at MacDill, sending cars to soldiers serving overseas, and Holiday for Heroes, where they collect items to fill stockings delivered to soldiers overseas or veterans in hospitals and nursing homes.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne simple holiday card brightens their day,\u201d she said. \u201cEven if it\u2019s just a small thing, it shows our appreciation and tells them they\u2019re not forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is a minimum donation of $50 to attend Wednesday\u2019s Silver Coffee. Those interested in the event or donating to the organization should email redcrossangels@gmail.com.<\/p>\n
Silver Coffee Event To Raise Funds For Tampa Bay-Area Military Families<\/a> originally appeared on the Tampa Patch<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, FL \u2014 The Red Cross Angels Tampa Bay chapter will host its annual signature fundraiser, a Silver…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[457,18340,18341,18339,585,135,1526,9019,137,136],"class_list":["post-23941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-armed-forces","tag-leslie-jennewein","tag-macdill-air-force-base","tag-red-cross-service","tag-south-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-area","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}