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Tampa Big Givers to help Carrollwood family

By Elisabeth Dyer, Times Staff Writer
In print: Saturday, May 3, 2008

The Rice family of Carrollwood has faced years of health and financial hardship. From left are Miriam Rice, 3, dad Robert Rice, mom Nicole Rice, Madison Rice, 6, and Audra Rice, 12.
	[CHRIS ZUPPA | Times]

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TAMPA — The Rice family stays home day in, day out, saving gas for necessary trips such as turning in job applications and getting the three girls, 12, 6 and 3, to school or to doctor's visits.

"We have nothing," Nicole Rice said from the Carrollwood home the family rents.

But help is on the way.

On Saturday morning, Taina Benitez, along with 30 do-gooders from a recently formed group called the Tampa Big Givers, will bring food, clothing and household supplies to the family.

"We're not here to solve their problems but to alleviate stress in the middle a bad situation," Benitez said. This visit will be the group's first joint effort.

For the Rice family, as is often the case, one unfortunate event triggered others.

In 2004, 18-month-old Madison was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome. Her kidneys stopped absorbing protein.

Now 6, Madison requires full-time care and a low-sodium diet. She may need a new kidney. A common cold can send her to the hospital. Her mother, Nicole, gave up her job at Wal-Mart to tend to her daughter's needs.

That same year, Hurricane Charley flooded the family's Avon Park home forcing them to evacuate into a FEMA trailer.

Then, in 2005, Nicole had a stroke. Then, in 2007, her husband, Robert, lost his job, after missing too many days to care for his family.

In March, a bank foreclosed on their home and the couple moved to Tampa with all of their possessions stuffed in a van.

"We just couldn't crawl back out," Nicole said.

Desperate for help, she contacted Drew's Big Give after watching the Oprah Winfrey Show and seeing the story of Drew, a 5-year-old who gave to the needy. Drew's Big Give referred the Rice family to the Tampa Big Givers.

Despite everything they lost, the husband and wife try to remain optimistic.

"We have each other and that's all that matters," Rice said. "None of that stuff means anything."