Local Community Rallies to Support School for Christmas

Hello, My name is Amanda Pratt and I live in the Campbell Park neighborhood. When I bought a home here in 2021, I knew I wanted to invest in the local community and get to know my neighbors. We got involved in local cleanups and my partner Stewart actually joined the neighborhood association running the cleanups and is still involved in helping keep Campbell park clean. I, on the other hand, am a social worker and while I’m in private practice now as a mental health therapist, I spent years as a school social worker for pinellas county schools. One of the things I missed was making sure families who needed support for thanksgiving and Christmas got what they needed to be able to celebrate the holidays with a little less stress. I decided I wanted to bring that to Campbell Park, so I reached out to the local elementary school resource officer who coordinates these efforts and 2021 was the first year I got involved in helping fundraise around students’ families here for holidays. This year will be the fourth year! Every year it’s been so amazing to see the neighborhood and local communities come together to support our students and their families. In the past 4 years, we’ve collectively fundraised to help 15 families and 35 kids have their wishlists granted while also providing the families with extra gift cards to use for other needs like groceries or toiletries. This year we are fundraising for an additional 4 families with 11 kids collectively, many who’ve been critically impacted by the hurricanes. Each year Carlos sends me their wishlists and I create an easy to shop from Amazon wishlist of curated items based on their wishlists. I also collect cash via Venmo to put towards gift cards and other miscellaneous gifts that can’t be purchased on Amazon. The Campbell Park Neighborhood Association supports these efforts by sharing the link and encouraging neighbors to participate. Overwhelmingly, this is a story of neighbors helping neighbors as I’ve seen even neighbors who’ve moved away still show up to donate every year. It’s an amazing testament to local action and organizing and how, when things in the world feel so overwhelming and uncertain, sometimes the antidote lies in taking action in our own communities where they have immediate impact. I’d love for you to share our story to help inspire others and also provide people with a direct opportunity to help our students and their families right here in Campbell Park.

Amazon Wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3IDYWRLL3O9LF?ref_=wl_share

I’d like to further add that while I am a clinical social worker and have experience organizing, I want to stress that anyone can do this in their local community. All it takes is reaching out to your local school or community center and asking them what the need is and how you can help. I’ve learned that our local elementary school also has a family pantry on site where people can donate toiletries and other household needs to support families throughout the year, so we try to fundraise for that periodically too using the same method. Once you know what the needs are, anyone can create an Amazon wishlist and share it with their neighbors, family, and friends, and encourage them to donate once the items are shipped to you as the wish list recipient all you have to do is organize and deliver. I do, of course, a lot of shopping and wrapping and organizing myself, but imagine if everyone got involved in their local communities this way? The impact would be tremendous. I’m very passionate about this cause and hope it inspires others to take action as well. Happy Holidays!