The 16th Annual SWC Charity Christmas Bash was one for the record books, with record attendance we celebrated the season giving back to 4 amazing organizations in our community!
This is by far our favorite event of the year. We invite our loyal customers, friends, family, dealers, and community to come together in the spirit of Christmas; the true spirit of giving from the heart! Everyone that attends comes with in-kind donations to donate to the 4 selected charities, or cash to purchase raffle tickets from the charity of their choosing. Attendees can support their favorite charity or support all involved. The best part is that the organizations are present and they get the opportunity to talk to our attendees one-on-one, and share the great work they are doing in the community. Since this is not a revenue driving event for SWC, we feel that the charities being there to reap the benefits and get exposure is the best part.
This year we raised $6060.00 for Tampa Bay Waterkeeper, $3010 plus a huge heap of in-kind pet food/supplies for Suncoast Animal League, $2200 plus $1500 in in-kind donations for Lotz of Blessings, and $4000 in-kind toy donations for Egypt Shrine Childrens Holiday Party!
Why did we select these organizations? See below where we have links to learn more!
Tampa Bay Waterkeeper 501(c)(3) Non-Profit: As members of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a global network of over 350 grassroots leaders in six continents, the are fighting to protect everyone’s right to clean water! Learn how to be come a member at: Member Signup
Suncoast Animal League 501(c)(3) Non-Profit: Est. 2006, Suncoast Animal League has aided and adopted out over 20,000 cats and dogs, and helped thousands more wildlife! Want to help? Sign up: Volunteer or Donate
Lotz of Blessings 501(c)(3) Non-Profit: Their mission is to empower and inspire today’s youth to demonstrate kindness through acts of service to change the world. They have provided 25,000 snack bags to local schools through Pack-A-Snack, 480 Lunch Thermals with school supplies to local teachers, and have 200+ youth volunteer changing the world! Support: Donation
Egypt Shrine Childrens Holiday Party: Every year the Egypt Shrine in Tampa Bay gathers in-kind toy donations. These donations are set up in “Santa’s Workshop”, all of the children (patients) from the Shriner’s Childrens Hospital in Tampa are invited to come to Santa’s workshop to select a toy and enjoy an afternoon with Santa, receiving a gift, enjoying sweet treats and having the opportunity to take a break from their treatment to just be children. Support: Donation
We could not be more thankful to everyone that came out especially our generous food donors Captain Chad Archambault of Dunedin Charter Company & Kyle Huber with Morgan Stanley that provide an incredible snow crab and wild boar sausage low country boil for all of our attendees!
A very special thank you all of the donors that made this night such a great success! Our title sponsor this year was LIVE Watersports! They added the Grand Prize donation of a LIVE Watersport LX with custom Skinny Water Culture decking from Marine Mat! This years winner Matt Giles and his son were absolutely thrilled!!!
Please be sure to support the all of the very generous event raffle donors because without their support this event would not be possible! Year after year they come back and give and we couldn’t be more grateful for their long time friendship and support of SWC!
2024 Generous Raffle Donors : Live Watersports, Abyss Battery, JL Marine Systems Power-Pole, Backwater Provisions, Reel Swag , Turtlebox Audio, RCI Optics, Frigate Reserve Rum , Bajio Sunglasses, Quiet Waters Wood Works, Big Up Sup Co, Compound Board Shop, Reboot, E-Sea Rider, Engel Coolers, Routh Outdoors, Weldin Willy, Tunnel Master Boats, Rex Hannon World Wild Angling , Dorky Daisy Photography, Ashley Weber Art, Jason Di Batista, Dunedin Soap Company, Reel Local, Ea McGill’s Salon & Barbery, Bull Bay Rods, Orvis, Zmann, danco Pliers, Florida Fishing Products, Tarpon Fishing Outfitters, Tailwaters Outfitters, Relentless Knives, Christina Hurst, All Hands, and Ocean Vodka.
Huge thank you to our awesome collective of Captains that donated trips to benefit the 4 awesome charity organizations! These are all amazing Captains that give from the heart! If you need to book a trip please reach out to them. They not only donate the charter, they also sacrifice a day they could have made money, so it’s a bigger donation than most think.
2024 Charter/Guided Trip Donors: Captain Chad Dubose, Captain Derek Rust, Captain Mike O’Dell, Captain Paul Fisicaro, Captain Dustin Pack, Captain Jeff Vickers, Captain Shawn Kelly, Captain Tommy Flemming, Historic Coast Outfitters, Leatherneck, Backcountry Fishing, Captain Sean McDonnell, Captain August Cook, Captain William D Cochran, Captain, Hunter Brasington, Captain Court Douthit
Check out more event photos on our facebook page!
We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas & a very Happy New Year as we welcome the adventures 2024 will be bring! We hope to see you all at our coming event!
Merry Christmas,
Vince, Chase, Jenn ~ & the whole SWC Family ❤️
