Page 16 - Florida Sentinel 12-15-17

Tis The Season
Tampa General Employee Embarks On 28th Year Of ‘Giving’
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
The Christmas tree in the garden at Tampa General Hospital is decorated with Angels. Employees stop by, look at the red and green An- gels, select one, and walk away. And, Delwyn Collins replaces the Angel with an- other.
Each green Angel repre- sents a teenager and each red Angel represents a younger child. They all share the fact that they are living in foster care in Hillsborough County.
The Angels contain infor- mation about a child and what he or she wants for Christmas. On Tuesday, representatives from Foster Angels of Hills- borough County collected the toys and gifts for distribution.
Collins said, “I do all I
As his efforts became noticed, others joined in to help. Today, Tampa General and USF Health staff, physicians, volunteers, patients, and their families have joined in. The hospital is now the largest contributor since joining the program in 1989.
But Collins still selects dozens of names from the tree. He then purchases three items for each child or teenager he has selected.
Last year, Collins was honored as a Tampa Bay Lightning Community Hero for his unselfish dedication to the program. He selected the foster Angels of Hillsborough County as the recipient of the $50,000 donation through this honor.
This year, thanks to Collins and other contribu- tors, about 500 children and teenagers will have gifts on Christmas morning.
Delwyn Collins is shown placing Christmas Angels on the tree at Tampa General Hospital.
can every year. I shop all year long.”
Collins is a Kitchen Assis- tantatTampaGeneralHospi- tal. He is legally blind and
rides a bicycle to work. Collins is single and does not have any biological children.
As the child of a single, working mother, Collins overcame his learning disabil- ities. And 28 years ago, he began purchasing gifts for children in foster care with his own money.
During some years, Collins even took on a part- time job to fund the project.
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