Turkey Creek First Baptist Church holds appreciation day.
On May 29, Turkey Creek First Baptist Church put on a school bus driver’s appreciation day.
The church treated school bus drivers, transportation aides, and office staff to breakfast at the church on Trapnell Road. In 2024, Dr. Daniel Middlebrooks, the senior pastor of the church, and school bus drivers who attend the church put together a plan to “show the love and bring the blessings” to current drivers. The first year of this “Brunch and Blessing” event brought out 120 bus drivers. This year, 160 came to the church for the event.
“The desire from the church and men and women that serve our drivers and aides is that other churches will take the lead in their communities and pour a little love, coffee—and maybe some chocolate milk—into the often tired and frazzled souls of these professional and passionate heroes of the highways,” Middlebrooks stated. The church’s goal is to show, “….deep love and respect from a local church that simply wanted to say to these highway heroes and their team. We see you. We need you. We love you. THANK YOU!”
When school bus drivers and aides arrived, they were greeted with smiles, gifts, tickets for drawings, and a bag full of items to remind them of how special they are. Outback, Chili’s, Chick-fil-A, Johnson’s Barbeque, Culvers, and Mi Casa donated gift cards for the bags. Mango Cleaners added tickets for their services.
“It is an awesome event—and nice,” Stephanie Desir commented. “I am thankful they are doing it for the bus drivers, because we don’t get recognition, or any praise for what we do. But we get up every morning—5:00 a.m., and get on the highway with these crazy drivers who jump in front of our bus—to make sure the kids, our future generation, get to school on time. For the church to do this for us is amazing.”
“It is a great thing the pastor does for the bus drivers, because the bus drivers do so much for the community, for the kids,” HCPS Transportation Manager Richard Moore said. “They don’t get appreciated as much as they should. This is the second year he has done this for the bus drivers, and he has given so much to this community. Bus drivers don’t get enough recognition—I’ll tell you that. These people don’t know what these kids go through at home. You talk to the kids, you find out they have a lot of rough stuff going on at home. These bus drivers buy them shoes, they buy them clothes, they do a lot of stuff for these kids.”
After breakfast, church members handed out gift cards, gift baskets, and an Igloo cooler with several gift cards to raffle winners. My Family Jewelers donated a diamond pendant necklace for the raffle grand prize. This item brought the most cheers and applause when Middlebooks announced the winning ticket number.
“I thank the church so much for having a breakfast, and prizes for us,” Cindy Platz said.
“We are very appreciative,” Mandy Wiggins said. “This is very nice—super nice. Bus drivers and the attendants get overlooked a lot of times, so this is super sweet that the church did this.”
“When you drive a school bus and you have 50 young lives behind you, you have a profound ability to make a positive impact in those kids’ lives,” Laura Hill, General Manager for Hillsborough County Public Schools Transportation Department, said. “You are the first one that sees them in the morning to start the tone for their day, and the last one to see them in the evening. When you are in the community you get to know families, and families appreciate you caring for their kids, and you develop those relationships. It is astounding to be able to act as a community partner.”
HCPS is looking to hire 100 more drivers by the beginning of the next school year. The starting salary is $18.65 per hour, and those who are onboarding are paid during the four weeks of training to get a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) with a school bus and passenger endorsement. HCPS also provides mentors to walk through training with new hires. Drivers are guaranteed 35 hours, but because HCPS is facing a shortage, most of them end up making overtime. Working a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the afternoon can be an excellent schedule for retirees and mothers, among others.
