TAMPA, Fla — Tucked inside a peach-colored stucco building in Tampa along Columbus Drive you'll find owners Mariely and Chino Reymoso and the family they have created at their businesses.
“We try to give back as much as possible. I don’t think we do enough. Even if we do enough I don’t feel that way," Mariely said.
Their business has called Tampa home for 12 years. Chino has called the area home since he was 5-years-old.
“I always come back to Tampa. I always want to do something for Tampa because Tampa has done a lot for me," Chino said.
Throughout the years the couple has donated to everything from kids' baseball leagues to Tampa Pride and they have gone far beyond giving monetary donations. They're giving those who have battled addiction a second chance and a job. In fact, an artist they hired opened a tattoo shop of his own.
Now, those years of giving back could be life-saving for Chino.
"I had a kidney disease four years ago and I was diagnosed. Doing chemo and steroids," Chino said. A bout with COVID put him in the hospital for three months and worsened his condition. He's living with stage five kidney failure, but a Facebook post his wife made him share proved to work.
Less than 24 hours after the post an old friend who he had helped in the past called him.
"He saw the post that I put out yesterday and today this morning he told me that he is actually headed to the doctors to see if there is any way that he can do be a donor. So, that was shocking for me," Chino said. Chino said the hardest part isn't the wait but the thought of his kids.
"I have a 9-year-old little girl and a 19-year-old boy," Chino said. “We’re ready. We’re ready for this journey.”
