TAMPA, Fla. — Jon Boyd has always been community-minded. A few years ago, he rented out an ice cream truck and drove around the Bay area giving away free cones.
“Ice cream is the best thing in the world,” he said then. “When I sit back and reflect on all those moments when I was happiest, it was around my birthday.”
Jon ended up giving away 500 cones after raising more money than expected for his project. He was also able to give about $3,000 to organizations that help kids in foster care.
But, those were pre-pandemic days. Things have changed since then. Boyd admits the COVID-19 surges around the world put him in a “dark place." Social isolation was difficult for such an outgoing person. He figured others were struggling, too.
“People really want to help but they just don’t know how,” said Boyd, who graduated from USF St. Petersburg in 2015. “I think if we begin to teach people to help I think we generate the same results every single time.”
He teamed up with Macy Kober and artist Cheryl Weber, who goes by the artist name Jujmo, to create a Tampa-theme coloring book with uplifting messages on each page designed to help people get through the pandemic woes. They sold out in less than 24 hours and had to rush to order more.
KEEO CARES launched in January, nearly a year into the pandemic. It was a way for a trio of friends to try to connect the dots between helpers and those in need. The coloring book sells for $20, and money from the sales is donated to mental health programs around Tampa Bay.
“Out of COVID and like all that hardship, that was so much fun and it kind of took out minds off of everything,” said Jujmo.
Kober agreed.
“During the height of the pandemic, everybody was going through so many personal things with job loss, with family, with not being able to connect with people in person,” she said. “Choosing to give back to mental health services for the book I thought it was perfect.”
The stock has been replenished. The KEEO Cares crew hopes to inspire a community that means so much to them. Tampa Bay is home for each of them, and helping the community overcome dark days related to the pandemic is important.
“This is just the beginning,” he said.
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