City of Tampa employees delivered holiday gift baskets to nearly 200 Tampa families today to help make the season extra special.
For the past several weeks, City departments have collected non-perishable food items, grocery store gift cards, and other holiday gifts to donate to families in need.
The goal for each box was to collect items that would be included in a traditional holiday meal, in addition to household staples. The shopping list of non-perishables included soups, green beans, peas, pancake mix, cookies, cake mix, yams, corn, turkey gravy, stuffing, and more.
Once all the items were collected, City of Tampa employees volunteered their time to assemble the boxes with care. Each City of Tampa holiday gift basket contains food and a gift card for a holiday meal.
In total, the City donated $5,075 in grocery store gift cards and was able to collect enough gift box items for 199 families.
Mayor Jane Castor made some special deliveries of her own, surprising four families with holiday gift baskets.
“The kindness we see each year through this program is truly incredible,” Mayor Jane Castor said. “Thanks to the generosity of our City of Tampa employees, dozens of families will enjoy a complete holiday meal this year. No family should have to go without, especially during the holidays."