2024 started out to be a normal year but towards the end of September the lives of so many people in the Tampa Bay region were turned upside down. Although Hurricane Helene did not make landfall in the area, it was just offshore. The massive storm surge absolutely devastated tens of thousands of people. One estimate indicates that hundreds of homes were completely destroyed while almost 20,000 suffered major flooding. While we were fortunate to avoid this, half of our little town was not. Many people lost just about everything. Front yards were littered with people’s belongings for weeks. Many homes had to be stripped down to the studs.
To make matters worse, many people in this area seem to have been ignored by the Federal Government and large charities. Thankfully, local charities and neighbors like us stepped up to help those in need. Over two months later, we are still helping people try to put their lives back together. As a result, a large part of our giving this year has focused on these local charities that are doing they heavy lifting day in and day out.
This was also my first full year as a travel agent. Total earnings from my travel agency along with some money on Facebook and credit care referrals totals about $9500. Total costs were about $3000 resulting in a profit of $6500. As you can see, our donations were more than 100% of the profit. With your help, we’ll hopefully be able to increase these numbers in 2025. For all of you that booked travel with us or used one of our links to apply for a credit card, Heidi and I would like to thank you for helping us to help all of these great causes.
Please keep me in mind if you are looking to book a cruise. Not only will you save money, you’ll be supporting great causes.
Charitable support in 2024: $8700
Of this amount, $3000 was given to organizations that provided storm relief to local residents. The majority of our charitable support was made up of direct cash donations. This amount exceeded the profit made in 2024. In some cases, we supported charities by purchasing memberships or through in-kind donations. Not included in this number are all of the times we made small purchases at various charities’ stores, craft fairs, bake sales, thrift stores, etc. While we don’t keep track of those numbers, we shop at as many of those charitable stores/events as possible. One of our favorites is Life’s Treasure’s Thrift Store which supports local hospices.
Charities that we supported in 2024:
Oldsmar Cares (storm relief)
Life is a Donation (storm relief)
360 Eats (storm relief)
United Methodist Church of Oldsmar (storm relief)
Save the West Klosterman Preserve
Seaside Seabird Sanctuary
Tampa Bay Bird Rescue
SVdP CARES (homeless)
ARC
Holmdel Theater
The Turtle Hospital
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Humane Society of Pinellas County
Suncoast Animal League
Homeless Empowerment Program
Cancer Research Institute
The Tortoise Conservancy
Raptor Center of Tampa Bay
Muscular Dystrophy Association
The Dingo Sanctuary
Amazing Animals
The Australia Zoo
Zoo Tampa
Clearwater Marine Aquarium
The Dali Museum
Goodwill