Plant City Main Street raises visibility of local business.
Plant City Main Street (PCMS) has awarded a $332 sign grant to Visiting Angels. In summer 2024, PCMS initiated this program for downtown businesses to support them in their purchase of a new sign.
“Visiting Angels is such an asset to our community,” Dawn Hyatt, PCMS Executive Director, said. “Debbie, Mike, and their team could not be more deserving, and we are honored to present them with this grant. If you haven’t been to their downtown location, I highly recommend it—just beautiful!” The Visiting Angels office is located at 106 N. Collins Street in downtown.
“I saw this building up for sale during COVID. I decided I wanted to buy,” owner Deborah Kelley said. Kelley is a Certified Senior Advisor, and Home Care Coordinator. “The owner at the time considered the offer for a few weeks because he didn’t really want to sell the property.” But, in the end, he changed his mind, and sold the brick two-story built in 1907 that, at the time, was a department store. In 2023, Plant City’s Mozart Construction reconfigured and refurbished the interior for Kelley. Visiting Angels relocated to its new home in October of that year. Kelley decorated it. She clearly has a gift for design, and the result is impressive.
The caregiver matching office is in the prior shoe section near the entrance. The first floor also boasts a kitchen to train contractors how to correctly use different sorts of appliances.
Visiting Angels is a Florida licensed Nurse Registry. The company operates using a self-directed model of Senior Care. They refer thoroughly vetted and trained caregivers to provide one-on-one non-medical care and assistance to seniors who want to remain independent in their own homes instead of moving into an assisted-living, or medical, facility.
“We cover all of eastern Hillsborough County—taking care of 200 people a day,” Kelley said. “We have about 175 caregivers. They are independent contractors. They range from homemaker companions, to Certified Nursing Assistants, home health aides, LPNs, and RNs to go out and care for people at home. When hospice gets involved, we partner with them to take care of people at home so they don’t have to go to a hospice house. They can stay in the comfort of their own home if they want to do that.”
For Visiting Angels, the sign grant means, “More visibility,” Kelley commented. “It makes us feel part of Main Street because we weren’t very visible to people when they were riding by, so it helps us to become more visible in the community, and we appreciate that we were able to have that grant to help us.”
A sign grant award can be between $100 and $1000. The criteria to win the award are: 1. be a Plant City Main Street Partner; 2. have an approved city permit for signage; 3. have a receipt or invoice; 4. have a rendering or a picture of the sign. 5. Complete and submit an application on the website at www.plantcitymainstreet.org.
For more information about how to apply, go to the Plant City Main Street web site.
