LAND O' LAKES, Fla. — A non-profit that helps boys in foster care were told they must move out of their building in Land O' Lakes. They're now boxing up everything to help at-risk teenagers.
Ginger Rockey-Johnson and her husband, John Sheid, are scrambling. Rockey-Johnson is a guardian ad-litem and for years brought kids under her care to Garage 517.
“I bring about 40 to 50 young men here,” she says. “The day I came in at the last part of April, the owner set aside and said, ‘Hey, we need to talk.’”
In April, the couple were asked to take over the Christian non-profit, which gives clothes, haircuts and a safe place to hang out for young men in foster care.
“I was a little surprised because they were leaving May 1, so it was just a few weeks away,” she says. “But we talked about it, and we said, ‘you just can't let it die.’”
When signing everything over, they learned their landlord didn't want to offer their space for free anymore and they had to go. They've been setting up meetings with churches to possibly find a new space, but so far, they've had no luck.
“It did feel kind of like a bait and switch,” she says. “We've been searching high and low.”
They're packing up everything to put it in storage, but they haven't had time to find a space for that either.
“We're going to need a big one,” Rockey-Johnson says. “We have a lot of stuff.”
As the clock ticks to June 15, when they say the locks will be changed, they couple is asking for the community's help to find a new home to keep their mission alive.
“There's got to be a church that's got some space that they're not using,” Sheid says.
“We've got to find a home for this,” Rockey-Johnson says. “We can't just let it die because these kids don't have anything.”
If you’d like to help Garage 517 find a new storefront, you can contact them at by clicking or tapping here, or calling 813-317-5868.