DUFFELS OF DIGNITY DONATIONS FILL NEW CHILDREN’S HOME NETWORK DONATION CENTER

Staf Report

to working closely with Michael Francis, the remarkable Florida Orchestra musicians, a great board and an energetic staf.”

“I am delighted Ignacio Barrón Viela will join us as president and CEO of TFO,” said music director Michael Francis. “From our first meeting, it was clear that Ignacio has a genuine passion for music, a strategic mindset and a charismatic ability to communicate deeply about our wonderful art form. With his fascinating background as a musician, engineer, senior management consultant and successful orchestra CEO, Ignacio will bring a highly skilled, experienced and dynamic approach to leading The Florida Orchestra.”

Barrón Viela holds a Master of Industrial Engineering degree from the University of Zaragoza and an MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business, with an emphasis in arts leadership through the USC Thornton School of Music. In 2020, he was nominated as one of the ‘40 Under 40’ most successful leaders in Montana, and in 2022 he was recognized with the Community Builder Award by the Downtown Billings Association.

Barrón Viela and his wife, Brianna, enjoy exploring the great outdoors, running road races and learning from and engaging with people from all walks of life. They will make the move to Tampa Bay over the summer.

Season tickets are available now at https://floridaorchestra.org/. Single tickets go on sale on Monday, July 31.

Thanks to an amazing show of generosity by residents, Hillsborough County recently delivered more than 160 dufels, backpacks and suitcases stufed with personal care items for children in foster care. The donation coincided with National Foster Care Month in May.

The Dufels of Dignity program helps children in foster care or other difcult and traumatic situations who often leave without even a bag to carry their belongings. The program partners with nonprofits throughout Hillsborough County to donate items to its clients. The Children’s Home Network has been a partner since the program started, and most of the items collected through the Dufels of Dignity program are given to youth in foster care or who are temporarily housed at the Children’s Services campus.

The items were delivered to the Children’s Home Network’s new Donation Center on May 25 in Tampa. County Commissioners Michael Owen and Gwen Myers were in attendance, along with Irene Rickus, president and CEO of the Children’s Home Network, and Craig Jewesak, Hillsborough County administrative services coordinator.

Dufels of Dignity ofcially launched in October 2022. The idea came to fruition after Jewesak and his family realized they had extra dufels and smaller suitcases in nearly new condition that could be do- nated. “Being in children’s services, I am acutely aware of the needs of foster children and the kids who are going through very traumatic experiences, … and the program bloomed from there,” explained Jewesak.

Thursday’s delivery was the largest in the program’s history and will make an immediate impact for Hillsborough youth who need it most. In total, Dufels of Dignity will have donated an estimated 900 duffels, backpacks and suitcases packed with much-needed items such as toothbrushes, combs, shampoo, deodorant and more.

In addition to the Children’s Home Network, organizations that have received donated goods through the Dufels of Dignity program include Metropolitan Ministries, ECHO (Emergency Care Help Organization) of Brandon and The Spring of Tampa Bay, which helps women and their children escape domestic violence.

The program is ongoing, and donations can be dropped of Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., at the Hillsborough County Children’s Services Administrative Ofce, located at 3191 Clay Mangum Ln. in Tampa. Dufels of Dignity also has an Amazon Wish List. Items purchased from this list will be delivered directly to the Children’s Services campus. More information and a link to the wish list is available at www.hcflgov.net/ dufelsofdignity.