Mort Community Partnership students treated to holiday shopping spree

TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — It was a holiday shopping spree adventure for 20 Mort Community Partnership School students on Friday.

Students either affected by the recent hurricanes or without a home for any other reason got the chance to spend $100 on whatever they felt like grabbing at Target.

Latiecea Hailey-Brown, the Chief Operating Officer at the University Area CDC, said it’s been an exciting time preparing for the shopping haul.

“I applied for a grant via Target, and we were one of the lucky winners as a nonprofit to afford this opportunity to the students,” she said. “When we started thinking about the kids in this neighborhood, they have been through a lot with Hurricane Milton. So many of the kids that were selected were impacted directly by Milton. In addition to that, many of the students from the school have been selected because they are currently in a homeless situation.”

Deputies with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office were right by their sides to help the kids decide and calculate the cost.

Captain Samuel Portalatin with HCSO serves District One. This is a community near and dear to him.

“My father had a church here on Nebraska on 131st, so I’ve seen this community for a while, since 1990, and it’s been a community that has been needy and hurting for many different reasons, but specifically after this hurricane,” he said. “We saw families in need, losing everything. Those families, some of them didn’t have much to start off with, and then losing the little that they had. And so that’s a lot. It’s a lot to take in, a lot to see. So a day like today where Target can help us come here with some of these families and some of these kids to give back to them, really, words can’t describe how, how that affects your heart to see a good thing like this happening at Christmas.”

For so many kids, their focus wasn’t on what they wanted. They were focused on gifts for others. Te’Aree Ford and her little brothers spent their money buying for their younger sibling and cousin.

“I love my family, and I just want to get them stuff because most people, they don’t have stuff, so that’s kind of nice to do is get stuff for my family,” Ford said.

To her brother Tyreece, here’s what he said the highlight of his day was.

“The shopping and meeting cops and buying stuff for other people.”