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$500,000 gift boosts Alpha House

An anonymous donor gives a big boost to Alpha House, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

By Times Staff
Published December 3, 2005

TAMPA - The Alpha House of Tampa had half a million reasons to celebrate at a 25th anniversary ceremony Friday - an anonymous gift of $500,000.

Executive director Bonnie Christiano said it's the largest donation ever for Alpha House, founded in 1981 to serve pregnant women in crisis.

Over the past two decades, Alpha House has helped more than 1,200 mothers and 700 babies and children. The facility served 123 women last year.

The 39-bed shelter, known as Alpha Village, provides services to women at risk of delivering low birth-weight babies. The youngest person ever at Alpha House was 11, Christiano said; the oldest was 45.

Christiano said that 93 percent of the women who come to Alpha House are homeless or living in a dangerous situation. Most don't have a high school education, she said, and nearly all are in recovery from substance abuse.

"We are able to help these women deliver healthy babies that are free of drugs," Christiano said. "That, in and of itself, is a miracle."

Volunteers help residents with education assistance programs, childbirth and parenting classes, cooking classes and how to "return to the community a self-sufficient woman who is able to take care of herself and her babies," Christiano said.

Alpha House has no plans to use the money to expand its facilities, Christiano said. Instead, board of directors will meet next week to discuss using the money toward raising more money for programs and services.

Alpha House, on the 200 block of S Tampania Avenue, receives funding from federal and state grants and local county and private donations.

To learn more about Alpha House or its programs, go to www.alphahouseoftampa.org

[Last modified December 3, 2005, 01:21:14]