LOIS KINDLE PHOTO According to people who know her, Melanie Davis is the epitome of someone with a ‘good heart.’

Inspiration for helping others started early for Melanie Davis

By LOIS KINDLE

After Melanie Davis’ parents divorced when she was very young, she, her mom and sister moved in with her grandparents. Miss Maebell Smith worked in their South Carolina home as a housekeeper, and once the children arrived, she became their nanny and was considered a member of the family.

Davis adored Miss Maebell. Although the woman was extremely poor, she was always smiling, always kind and that made a lasting impression on the child.

“We used to go out every day to collect cans to cash in to help support her family,” Davis said. “She lived nearby on the poor side of town and had 11 children of her own.

“When she was 68 and I was 4, we learned to read and write together by visiting a bookmobile each day and then practicing with my grandmother.

“Although she lived in extreme poverty, she appreciated the smallest things in life and showed so much love,” Davis said, 42. “It made such an impression on me. Even now, that is what inspires me to reach out to people in need. I instantly connect with them.”

Miss Maebell with Melanie Davis at 4 years old.

Anyone who knows Davis today is aware of her drive to ease the pain of folks suffering from tragedy, poverty or abuse. Her life is filled with examples of her ability to connect people who have with the needs of those who don’t.

After Hurricane Katrina, for example, Davis envisioned and coordinated Calm and Comfort after the Storm, an effort resulting in a semi-truck filled with donated toys and dolls for young children, blankets, diapers, baby food and more being sent to Louisiana to aid the recovery.

In 2006, there was her coffee drive for the Marines stationed in Iraq, and she has since initiated numerous other care packages for military members serving in war zones overseas.

That same year, she helped raise $10,000 for the family of Baby William, a child born with Pfeiffer Syndrome, a genetic disorder that prevents the skull from growing normally and affects the shape of the head and face.

Other examples include raising tens of thousands of dollars since 2010 for Queena Phu, a teenage girl brutally attacked by a man outside the Bloomingdale Library in Brandon, the Children’s Home of Tampa Bay and Haitian earthquake victims.

In 2014, Davis helped coordinate a fundraiser called ABC Fun Run for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Austin Bradley Coates, a 4-year-old Apollo Beach resident who died in a tragic accident.

There have been tons of food drives for local food pantries, fundraisers for victims of house fires, domestic abuse and more. The list is seemingly endless.

“Where do I start,” said Carrie Elwell, president of the SouthShore Chamber of Commerce Educational Partnership Committee, which Davis, as the chamber’s executive director in 2008, formed to fill the needs of South Shore’s public school teachers not covered by the Hillsborough County Schools’ budget. “Melanie’s heart is bigger than all of South Shore. She knows so much about the people who live in this community, and when she learns of a need, she’s the first to jump in to connect others to fill it.

“I love her as both a friend and community resource,” Elwell continued. “She restores my faith in humanity because people like her exist.”

A new passion

For the past 11 years, Davis’ heart has gone to the migrant community, starting with a family whose 35-year-old mother was dying of pancreatic cancer.

“Their living conditions were miserable,” said Davis, who went to LifePath Hospice and pleaded to have the woman taken in. Once there, Davis arranged for the husband and her five children to celebrate Christmas there, complete with gifts and a decorated tree, before the woman died Christmas eve.

Davis said she stayed close to the family after the matriarch passed away and got to see firsthand how migrants live.

Her efforts have mushroomed since.

“I quickly realized the basic things these families are lacking are items that are so easy to get,” Davis said. “All I have to do is tell a story or express a need, and people are drawn naturally to help. None of what I’ve done has been without the help of South Shore businesses and residents.”

Every year the chamber hosts the Migrant Graduate Banquet to celebrate the achievement of graduating high school seniors and to thank the family members who supported them along the way.

In 2016, she rallied about 25 community volunteers and raised $10,000 to “add color, excitement and inspiration” to the playgrounds of Gibsonton and Reddick elementaries, both Title 1 schools.

One of Davis’ most recent projects involved helping an 18-year-old Lennard High School student who was dying of cancer receive his greatest wish, his high school diploma. Another was a diaper drive, held during the COVID-19 pandemic, which collected more than 13,000 diapers for farmworker families with babies and toddlers.

Davis also founded Helping Hands of SouthShore, a 690-member, closed-group page on Facebook.

“It’s a storytelling vehicle,” Davis said. “The page helps open people’s eyes, which in turn makes them open their hearts.”

Miss Maebell’s lessons have certainly made their mark.

“I just can’t imagine if she were here today,” Davis said. “She’s be smiling and proud, and I know she’d be involved somehow.

“Her legacy is one I’m passing on to my three girls,” she continued. “As far as I’m concerned, it will never go away.”