After working with her church to provide Thanksgiving meals to homeless families of South St. Petersburg Elementary, Melody Proud wanted to create an initiative to further help underserved students in the community.
Proud got busy creating “Live Love St. Pete” T-shirts adorned with a drawing of the St. Pete skyline complete with the new pier. All proceeds raised go towards items such as breakfast food, school uniforms, other clothing and shoes, incentives for reaching scholastic goals, as well Christmas gifts and special activities for the children in local underserved schools.
The shirts ($26, shipping included) come in an assortment of colors and sizes from kids to adult XXL.
“I learned that outside of academics there are so many things these children look to the school to provide. Things like supplemental food, hygiene items, uniforms, underwear, and shoes. Often times school staff use their own money to help the children. My husband and I began providing some of these materials, as well as Christmas gifts and goal incentives, for a single school a few years ago, but there is so much need, we wanted to do more,” Proud wrote.
This sentiment has not gone unnoticed by the community. In a release, the principal of a South St. Pete elementary school shared: “the Live Love St Pete campaign is a gift to schools like ours where the needs of the school community outweigh the funding resources provided through government allocations! These private donations allow our staff to offer basic provisions to our families and classroom enrichment supplies and incentives we would otherwise be unable to provide.”
If 2020 taught us anything, it is that we need to look out for one another, Tampa Bay. What better way to support your city than grabbing some merch for a good cause?
Select stores throughout the ‘Burg will also have the shirts in stock. For the list of participating shops and more information about the initiative, visit livelovestpete.org.
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This article appears in Jan 14-20, 2021.