Dungy family backs Lutz fundraiser for New Life Warehouse

Former Buccaneers head coach Tony Dungy and his wife Lauren are headlining a Friday, Nov. 6 fundraiser in Lutz for New Life Warehouse. The Oldsmar nonprofit has furnished more than 5,000 homes across Tampa Bay since opening in 2020.

The fifth annual "Home for the Holidays" event will feature a German Christmas market, live music, a holiday dinner, a dessert room and silent and live auctions, according to the nonprofit's event page. Individual tickets and sponsorships are available. A cash bar will also be open.

The main draw: a raffle for four people to attend a Buccaneers game with Tony and Lauren Dungy in a private suite. Founder and director Stephanie Haile told Tampa Bay 28 the Dungys donated the game-day experience, with the Buccaneers providing the suite. All proceeds go to the nonprofit.

"We have a special opportunity that Tony Dungy gave us, him and his wife, Lauren, they are donating four tickets to a Bucs game where you get to go with Tony, and you get to experience the Bucs game with him and sit in a corporate suite and have food and drinks," Haile said.

The Dungys have fostered children for more than 40 years and have used New Life Warehouse themselves. In an Oct. 14 interview with WFLA, Lauren Dungy recalled getting a foster placement in the middle of the night and calling New Life the next morning for a crib. Tony Dungy told the station the partnership grew from there.

Haile started New Life Warehouse after working as a guardian ad litem. She said she saw children unable to return to family members because homes lacked basic furniture like beds, couches and kitchen tables. The nonprofit collects donated items, refurbishes them and delivers them to foster families, veterans, people experiencing homelessness and disaster victims across Tampa Bay.

Haile told WFLA that 93% of the money the organization receives goes directly back to families. She said the annual fundraiser generates most of the operating budget for the entire year. The nonprofit served more than 100 families in September alone.

Raffle tickets can be purchased online ahead of the event, and a live auction will take place that evening.

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