Tampa, Fla.-On Sunday, October 19, The Tampa Alpha House will host its inaugural Alpha Challenge and Family Fun event at George M. Steinbrenner Field, (1 Steinbrenner Dr., Tampa, FL, 33614) from 10 a.m.- 2p.m. Steinbrenner Field has donated their field to be used for the event at no cost and will allow food and beverage vendor sales for those participating in the event.

  This is not your typical field day event. Individual challenges will vary from the stroller obstacle course, baby-carrier distance run, and a diaper relay among others. None of the challenges requires any extraordinary feats of strength, but rather, they are designed for an enjoyable experience with your teammates.

  Each team may have between six and eight members and all teams may register up until the day of the event. Registration costs $300.00 to register each team. Profits will go to help the Tampa Alpha House with future and current programs.

  The Tampa Alpha House is one of the city’s few treasures that is purely selfless. Alpha House’s sole purpose is to house, support, and educate homeless pregnant women and mothers with young families. Alpha House was established in 1981 and has been a United Way funded “Safety Net” agency since 1984.

  In 2012, the Tampa Alpha House was able to help 142 women who were in need and 115 children. This is an organization that has been labeled as one of the nation’s “Points of Life”.

  The Alpha House has success through many of its previous programs. The programs help attain their goal of stabilizing the homeless women and children that have passed through their doors. One of the programs that they have instituted is “Parents as Teachers”, or “PAT” for short. This program brings in mothers who were in similar situations before, or had even lived in the very same shelters as those who are currently in need, and help the residents successfully navigate the obstacles that they have already overcome.
The Tampa Alpha House has proven time and time again that it can help women and children in need, but it has its limitations just like any other organization. On average, the organization can manage to help house around 144 women every year.

  While that is an impressive number of women who have increased their probability of success and survival, there are still plenty of women that the Alpha House must turn away due to a limited budget. The organizer of the Alpha Challenge event, Celeste Perrino, said “We would love to expand, if the budget ever allowed it.”

  The Alpha House is hoping to make sure that the Alpha Challenge becomes an annual event that will bring both money and attention to the organization. If you are looking to register for the event or would like to volunteer with the Tampa Alpha House, visit their website at www.alphahouseoftampa.org.