TAMPA, Fla. — The last time we told you about Garage 517 in Land O' Lakes, they were packing up and in search of a new place to serve the community. Now the non-profit has a new home, telling 10 Tampa Bay they hope to serve even more at-risk foster teens.
Two months ago, Ginger Rockey-Johnson and her husband John Sheid were told they had to find a new place for Garage 517, which gives haircuts, clothes and a safe space to hangout for young men in foster care.
“We've got to find a home for this,” Rockey-Johnson said when we interviewed them in May. “We can't just let it die because these kids don't have anything.”
“There's got to be a church that's got some space that they're not using,” Sheid said at the time.
A couple of weeks ago, Christ Fellowship pastor Bruce Moore got in touch with the non-profit through a mutual friend.
Garage 517 is now unpacked in their new space in Old Seminole Heights, which is much closer than Land O’ Lakes to the teenagers they serve.
“We have lots of space on this campus right here,” says Moore. “And so we just thought, man, them having the clothing store right here on our campus in Seminole Heights would be amazing.”
Rockey-Johnson is a guardian ad litem and was asked to take over the mission with Sheid earlier this year, without being told they'd have to immediately find a new place. That's because their Pasco County landlord refused to continue letting them stay there rent free.
“I think it's going to be fabulous because we're centrally located,” she says. “I mean, we serve four counties, and we're right by I-275, so it makes it easy for everybody to get to.”
The fit is made all the more meaningful to Moore because in addition to being a pastor, he’s a foster dad with two adopted children.
“Adoption is really at the heart of God,” he says. “Taking care of the marginalized, taking care of the forgotten, taking care of those kids might have been looked over is really at the heart of who God is and his love is for us.”
They credit 10 Tampa Bay's coverage to raising their profile, increasing their social media following and donations.
“We really appreciate and are grateful for [10 Tampa Bay],” she says. “Thank you so much.”
Rockey-Johnson and Sheid are still putting the final touches in place before Garage 517 is ready for foster kids to come hang out. They plan on having a grand re-opening on Saturday.
“There were a lot of sleepless nights,” Sheid adds. “A lot of times you wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep because you start thinking about, ‘What are we going to do? What if nobody comes to help us?’ I think prayer got us through it.”