TAMPA (Florida Sports Wire) – The Tampa Bay Lightning honored Kathleen and Michael Kilgore as Lightning Community Heroes during the first period of the game against the San Jose Sharks.
The Kilgores, who received a $50,000 donation from the Lightning Foundation and the Lightning Community Heroes program, presented by Jabil, will donate the money to The Spring of Tampa Bay.
For over 20 years, the Kilgores have provided holiday and other support annually to the 12 families residing in the Spring’s transitional housing apartment complex. The Spring is an organization providing safe spaces and empowering services to survivors of domestic violence and their children. They buy several gifts for each child, as well as provide gift cards to the moms to shop for their families. To date, they have provided hundreds of families at the Spring with holiday gifts, household goods and hope for a brighter future.
The grant tonight will be used to support the mission of The Spring of Tampa Bay. Specifically, the funding will allow The Spring to renovate two apartment units. Another portion of funding will be used to renovate a new property just purchased, which will house expanded nonresidential Outreach Survivor Services and a Donation/Retail Center. These renovations will make a significant impact on the survivors and families The Spring serves.
The Kilgores became the 529th Lightning Community Heroes since Jeff and Penny Vinik introduced the Lightning Community Hero program in 2011-12 with a $10 million, five-season commitment to the Tampa Bay community. Through tonight’s game, in total, the Lightning Foundation has granted $28.82 million to more than 700 unique nonprofits in the Greater Tampa Bay area. During the summer of 2021, the Viniks announced the community hero program will give away another $10 million over the next five seasons.