Community Company For Home

Lighting team helps more than 200 students rise and shine with donated breakfasts

Call them the Breakfast Club. From left to right: Kim Lague, Jodie Brett, Ed Washington, Justin Marciniak, Connie Caldwell and Liz Toledo. Not pictured: Richard Pierceall, Marney Murin, Mary Knight, Fred Williams, Tim Bailey
Call them the Breakfast Club. From left to right: Kim Lague, Jodie Brett, Ed Washington, Justin Marciniak, Connie Caldwell and Liz Toledo. Not pictured: Frank Ferguson, Richard Pierceall, Marney Murin, Mary Knight, Fred Williams and Tim Bailey.

Keeping streets bright is the charge of the Tampa Electric team that Jodie Brett is on, but for her and her community-focused co-workers, watching the faces of children light up has its own rewards.

Brett, a planner scheduler with the company’s Lighting team, organized a day of free pancake breakfasts spread over five days last week for children across Hillsborough County. With donations from vendors including Winn-Dixie, Publix and Wal-Mart – and the help of Tampa Electric team members she works alongside – the group delivered pancakes and juice to more than 200 children at several camp locations.

“The pancake breakfast started out as a teambuilding effort by our team as a method of helping to feed the children of our community,” Brett said. “As many parents know, getting children out of the house in the morning is not always easy and breakfast can be the one thing that is put aside. Our team felt that our efforts were best suited in feeding these kids that may not have had the most important meal of the day.”

Brett said a driving factor for her, Lighting Analyst Kim Lague and others on their team was the knowledge that an estimated one in six children in the United States go hungry daily. The county programs involved in the effort provide lunch to attendees but not breakfast.

Jack Reeder, recreation program specialist with Hillsborough County, praised the effort.

“The children loved it,” Reeder said. “Hillsborough County and the community appreciate TECO for this gesture – what a blessing. The kids got a good breakfast and the team that provided it was very courteous. They brought everything.”

Brett, who has a long history of helping others, said last week’s effort could be the start of something.

“We strive in Lighting to be active in our community,” she said, adding that the team hopes to provide more pancake breakfasts next summer – serving up another opportunity to help others. “The amount of “thank yous” we received was remarkable. We had such a wonderful experience, we felt like we benefitted more than the children we served.”

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