USF-to-UCF run helps needy kids

By Sharon Kennedy Wynne, Times Staff Writer
In print: Thursday, May 1, 2008

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Friends and total strangers are coming out to cheer on, and pack a backpack full of school supplies for, a college student who is running from Tampa to Orlando through the weekend for one of Tampa's poorest schools.

Brandon Bessette, 22, was carbo loading early Wednesday before his business law final and getting ready to head out Wednesday night for a run that will take five days and more than 100 miles.

The University of South Florida accounting major was moved to do something by the abject poverty he witnessed as a Big Brother of a student at Shaw Elementary in Tampa, where 96 percent of the students are on free or reduced lunches. He was stunned by kids who didn't have basic needs like proper shoes or even haircuts, not to mention school supplies.

He and a group of friends created what they call 100 Miles for a Needy Child on Facebook, and are asking people to donate a backpack full of supplies to the school. News of Bessette's journey from the USF campus to the University of Central Florida campus in Orlando has college students across the state throwing down challenges.

Bessette got a call from a woman who works at Moffitt Cancer Center who read about him in the St. Petersburg Times. She is organizing her women's group to give him eight full backpacks. His boss at Health Care Parking Systems of America, a valet and guest service company, is coming up with a per-mile sponsorship and other donations.

Bessette is a little embarrassed about all the attention.

"This is a real group effort," he said. "I want to make sure it's not about me, it's about the kids. We've got people in Tallahassee and Orlando and at Florida Southern all helping out."

He's not sure yet what he's raised for the school. "I'm staring at six backpacks in my apartment right now," he said. "We don't have a definite number but I'm pretty optimistic."

This experience has prompted him and his friends to create a nonprofit organization that will hold events every few months for needy kids. Next up: a drive for winter coats and jackets in the fall.