TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 For a lot of families, being offered a shopping trip with Tampa Bay Fashion Foundation is music to their ears. But the shopping trip they\u2019re taking isn\u2019t what one would typically think of when it comes to filling up shopping bags. But for Mickesha Leggett, it\u2019s right on time.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing that we just went through a government shutdown, it\u2019s a big relief off of some of us parents that\u2019s going through a lot,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
The Tampa Bay Fashion Foundation assisted 250 families at the Silver Oaks Apartment complex
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Families could choose groceries ahead of Thanksgiving, alleviating financial stress
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The foundation’s efforts are part of an ongoing commitment to the community since last year’s hurricanes<\/p>\n
With the help of the foundation, Legget was able to pick out the items she wanted ahead of time so she could get items her family would eat. She already had her menu planned out.<\/p>\n
\u201cMacaroni, yellow rice, chicken, string beans, cornbread and a chocolate cake,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Leggett is one of about 250 families from the Silver Oaks Apartment complex that the Tampa Bay Fashion Foundation is helping this holiday season. It\u2019s part of a commitment organizers here made to those living in the low-income housing complex a year ago. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been working with Silver Oaks since last year in October after the hurricanes,\u201d said Tampa Bay Fashion Foundation Managing Director, Madison Gergely. \u201cWhen we went to the community, the members and individuals really touched our CEO and founder, Taneka Bowles. A lot of the residents came to her about how much it meant.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
With this food market, the Tampa Bay Fashion Foundation is using an approach they know well \u2014 shopping in person and filling up grocery bags with what they need.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel like charity. It feels like I\u2019m able to support my family and I\u2019m able to go shopping and get things for my family and for my kids without it being handed to them,\u201d said Gergely.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a shopping trip Leggett says she couldn\u2019t be more thankful for.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have been amazing. They are great. I mean from the day we started this program until now. I can call on them for any and everything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The S.O.U.L. Food Market shopping experience accepted community donations to help fill the shelves for these families the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n
The Tampa Bay Fashion Experience was founded by Taneka Bowles, wife of Tampa Bay Buccaneers Head Coach, Todd Bowles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 For a lot of families, being offered a shopping trip with Tampa Bay Fashion Foundation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3076,1011,1013,4369,1548,276,1190,115,4368,135,137,136,1189,835],"class_list":["post-60998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-good-news","tag-app-human-interest","tag-app-latest-human-interest-stories","tag-food-insecurity-and-hunger","tag-good-news","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-human-interest","tag-news","tag-saundra-weathers","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-thanksgiving","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60998","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=60998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}