Deputies Darlins toy and gift drive underway
By LOIS KINDLE
Using cash donations, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Dist. IV deputies Bobby Howard, Tom Bosley, Nicholas Cruz and Luis Bermudez, of the HCSO Maintenance Department staff, shop for gifts during last year’s Deputies Darlins holiday drive.
TRACY HOWARD PHOTO
Dist. IV deputies will work as Santa’s helpers again this year during their annual Christmas gift drive for families in need.
They’ve officially been doing it since 2002, when Ruskin resident Donna Budd, then a community service officer for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Dist. IV Command, founded the nonprofit group Deputies Darlins. As a struggling single mother of three young children, she had made it a personal mission more than two decades earlier to help South Shore families going through tough times. As her co-workers began pitching in, the effort mushroomed.
Thanks to the generosity of the community’s residents, businesses, clubs and civic groups, the 501(c)3 organization has helped countless children have a Christmas morning. Financial support has come from Brandon Ford; the Sun City Center Leathernecks, Aquasizers, Amateur Radio Club and American Legion Ladies Auxiliary; South Bay Hospital; Clay Banks; Masonic Desoto Lodge 105, Riverview; Summerfield Ladies Club; the Village Shoppes; Sumner Cattle Company; and the International Independent Showmen’s Association. The local Defenders motorcycle club donated $500 for this year’s drive, and the Desoto Lodge is hosting a pancake breakfast Dec. 11 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at 10801 Desoto Road, Riverview. The cost is $5, and all proceeds go to Deputies Darlins. For information, call 813-677-6315.
Although Budd retired three years ago, the program continues through the organizational efforts of her son-in-law Bobby Howard, an HCSO motorcycle deputy; his wife, Tracy (Budd’s daughter); and several other deputies and their spouses.
As more and more families began requesting help over the years, the program grew to the point where demand for gifts exceeded the number of donations coming in. Last year, more than 80 families received help.
To keep resources from stretching too thin, priority will be given to families nominated by Dist. IV squad members this year, Tracy said.
“Beyond that we will try to help those who have already called in but on a much smaller scale than in previous years,” she said.
Motorcycle Deputy Bobby Howard organizes the annual Deputies Darlins collection for families in need with the help of his wife, Tracy, and several other deputies and their spouses. LOS KINDLE PHOTO
“We’re going back to what the program was originally intended to do, helping families going through temporary crisis,” Howard added. “We can no longer serve the same families year after year.”
Next year, each of the district’s eight squads of deputies will “sponsor” two families, he said. And district supervisors may also refer a family or two. That way, each one will have a quality Christmas experience.
“This was never meant to make people reliant,” Tracy said. “It’s not that we don’t want to help people, but it’s one thing to need a hand up and another to continue needing a hand out. Our focus must be on serving those with temporary needs.”
Deputies Darlins is seeking toys and gifts for children of both genders ages 1 to 17. There is a special need for gifts for teenage girls. All cash donations are used to purchase additional items, especially where there is a shortfall.
If you’d like to help, drop a new, unwrapped toy in a Deputies Darlins box at any of the following businesses or District IV substations through Dec. 10:
• Apollo Meats, 26 Apollo Beach Blvd., Apollo Beach
• The Dog House and More, 106 U.S. 41 N., Ruskin
• True Nails, 3802 S.R. 674, Ruskin
• Fringe Benefits Salon, 701 U.S. 41 S., Ruskin
• Bette’s Tip to Toe Salon, 102 First Ave. N.E., Ruskin
• Ruskin Drive-In, 5011 U.S. 41 N., Ruskin
• Sun City Center Chamber of Commerce, 1651 Sun City Center Plaza
• Gibsonton substation – 11072 U.S. 41 S., Gibsonton
• Progress Village substation – 7935 Flowers St., Tampa
• Riverview substation – 7416 Commerce St., Riverview
• Sun City Center substation – 948 Cherry Hills Drive, Sun City Center
• Bloomingdale substation – 3622 Erindale Dr., Valrico
Other business owners who’d like to add a box at their locations can call 813-247-0455.
Items or cash donations may also be left at or mailed to the Dist. IV command office at 508 33rd St. S.E., Ruskin 33570. Checks should be made payable to Deputies Darlins.
Boxes of toys, wrapped by Dist. IV deputies and community volunteers, sit ready for pick-up at the Village Market in Ruskin during the 2015 Deputies Darlins holiday drive. TRACY HOWARD PHOTO
