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MAKE AN IMPACT Give From Your Heart

By Paul Catala

Zandra Eardly’s goals are straightforward and practical. Among them are providing meals, showers, personal hygiene kits, clean clothes, mentoring classes and assistance with housing, government benefits and healthcare services.

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And it’s been through Eardly’s diligence, persistence, financial support and her 10 children that she has been able to accomplish most, if not all, of her goals.

In 2020, Eardly founded the All Rise Foundation Coalition for the Homeless Inc. (ARFCH), with a mission of fighting homelessness in the community and assisting the homeless with their basic necessities. According to the Foundation’s website, it’s “helping the homeless with a new journey back to a better life.”

Over the past three years, from her Riverview home and with the help of her children and family, Eardly has been a beacon of benevolence in the south Hillsborough County community, having served home-prepared lunches and distributing personal hygiene bags every other Saturday – to date, more than 9,600 lunches she and her family’s gift of generosity have been distributed.

Included in Eardly’s mission to help end homelessness in Hillsborough County is social services assistance, connecting those in need with ways and means to become employable through ARFCH help or through various government programs available to everyone.

And eventually, Eardly says she wants to open a permanent Resource Center that will be staffed by medical professionals offering medical screenings to assist the homeless in maintaining their health and living healthier lifestyles.

Eardly, 56, says through donations and the help of her children, she’s handing out over 200 bag lunches every other Saturday afternoon from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Using her own funds to finance her altruistic venture, she says she’s always been a nurturer with her own children and wants to extend that to others. She’s up at 5 a.m. Saturdays to get lunches and goods together. Included in those lunches are often ham and cheese sandwiches, chips, cookies and bottled water and “a can of Vienna sausages for later.”

“I want everything to be fresh and I want people to be treated with dignity and respect. A lot of it is, everybody has the same problems – whether alcohol, being out of work – that’s the real part of the story you hear when you’re out there talking to them. They don’t have the opportunity to change,” she says.

A certified nursing assistant nurse 1982 graduate of Blake High School, Tampa and a 1985 graduate of Florida College of Business, Tampa, Eardly has a passion for service and helping others. Through her work as an office manager for her 39-year-old son Lamar Davis’s healthcare business, she’s able to afford to do that. She adds even during the covid pandemic, “we wore our masks, put on gloves and we still were able to go out.”

It has also been through various ARFCH events that Eardly has been able to solicit contributions and raise funds for her outreach efforts and the ARFCH Resource Center she eventually hopes to build and open.

June 24 at Tampa’s River Tower Park, various vendors and outreach organizations came out to provide services and assistance information for those in need – medical services, hairstylists, employment agencies and transportation services. In addition, Cove Behavioral Health distributed overdose prevention kits and those attending were treated to hamburgers, hot dogs and lemonade.

And from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 23 at River Tower Park, the ARFCH will hold its “Christmas in the Park” event. That day, ARFCH volunteers will pass out 500 sleeping bags, 500 blankets and “nice, hot meals” and other resources.

There's a lot of work to do on top of school and jobs for Eardly and her family to keep the ARFCH functioning and fulfilled. But through her own persistence and the will of family, friends and outside providers, she hopes to maintain and expand the organization’s presence and influence.

“I just want to get (those in need) the opportunity to change their situations and get back on track. I’ve always loved helping people. I like to see the homeless population happy that someone cares; often, they don’t think anyone cares, but we do.”

Email for contact allrisefoundation@gmail.com, see www.allrisefoundation.org or call 813-553-9602.

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