Nov 12, 2025

Power Home Remodeling and Tampa Bay Thrives Champion Mental Health Spaces for Local Students

It’s no secret that service is at the core of who POWER is — service to our employees, our customers, and also our communities. Through POWER for Good, that commitment to service has lead to creating meaningful change in our communities where our employees live and work by teaming up with nonprofits across the country, including Tampa Bay Thrives — an organization dedicated to improving mental health and substance use disorder issues in the Tampa region.

Through the creation of wellness rooms, POWER and Tampa Bay Thrives are fostering a stronger sense of mental health for local students in the city. Read on to learn more about the impactful project.

Getting Involved at the Grassroots

As part of POWER for Good — POWER’s philanthropy program that places employees at the helm to decide where and how time and POWER’s corporate dollars are donated to causes they care about, each one of POWER’s territory offices (that have been open for at least a year) are given the opportunity to select a cause they’re passionate about, and partner with an associated nonprofit through a grant donation.

For employees in POWER’s Tampa office, mental health programming was most important to them, so they collectively decided to team up with a nonprofit who is leading the charge in that space. Tampa Bay Thrives is an influential nonprofit in the region whose mission is to strengthen behavioral health outcomes by mobilizing communities, improving early intervention, and guiding access to professionals.

Dave Amidon, a Project Production Manager in Tampa, who helped spearhead the partnership, explains what set Tampa Bay Thrives apart. “What really attracted me about Tampa Bay Thrives was how their work started at a grassroots level by helping children, so that they could develop the right tools and be better prepared to navigate mental stressors and life in general.”

A Space to Thrive

With any of POWER’s philanthropic partnerships, we want to do more than just sign a check to check a box; it’s important that we engage beyond the grant to show up for our partners in a holistic way.

POWER’s $100,000 grant funded the creation of mental health and wellness rooms in three high-need schools in the region — Brandon High School, King High School, and Pinellas High Innovation — providing a calming space that meets the varying needs of students.

“This amount of funding is so significant in terms of allowing us to do this kind of work and buildout three separate sights across three counties, as well as pay for some the programs and supplies for the rooms,” said Tampa Bay Thrives President & CEO, Carrie Zeisse. Sound bath therapy and music therapy days have also been implemented onsite to create a space where students feel safe, supported, and able to thrive.

In true POWER fashion, our employees went the extra mile, donating their time to help with demolition of the space, making an even deeper investment in the partnership.

Enhancing Learning, Changing Lives

Our environments and our experiences directly influence our well-being — especially for high school students during some of their most impressionable years. That’s why it’s instrumental to have spaces where they feel safe and can connect with one another to support their learning and overall development. Brandon High School principal, Allison Wright, explains why these wellness rooms are so impactful for her students.

“POWER and Tampa Bay Thrives coming in and doing this for our school means the most. As the principal, I know that our students don’t learn unless they are mentally well and feel safe. Knowing that there’s people out there that really want to see students succeed that aren’t directly in the line of education, is inspiring to see.”

And for the students at these schools, they’re already feeling the positive impact of these wellness rooms. La’Coix Charles, a senior at Brandon High School, shares his thoughts about the space.

“My first time in the wellness room felt amazing. It feels like it’s going to be a big help for not even just the senior class, but for Brandon High as a whole. I really do hope that other schools look at our room and want to do the same for their students, because I’ve already felt the impact that it already has, and I know it’s going to do something really good at the school.”

If you want to be a part of Tampa Bay Thrives’ mission, check out their website to see how you can get involved.

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