Bay Area business uses government payroll protection funds to pay it forward

TAMPA, Fla. - Academy Prep Head of School L' Tanya Evans is glad to see business owner Linda Manci and her crew working in the school's vegetable garden. 

"We haven't been here for over six weeks,” Evans said. “The garden had overgrown.  A lot of the vegetables were starting to go bad. It was just a lot to tend too." 

Manci owns Image 360 and just received funds from the Payroll Protection Program to pay her employees. 

"We were fortunate enough to get the PPP money and then we thought, ok we have our team, but we don't have enough work coming in like we use too," Manci explained. 

They decided to volunteer at area non-profit organizations. "Until we are back to full-time working, this is something that we are committed to doing, giving back to the community," said Manci.

Evans is thankful for the kind gesture. "What they were able to do was come out and clean it up for us,” Evans said. “It looks great. It’s absolutely beautiful now. So, we are really appreciative." 

John Amores is a driver for the company. "If more businesses get their employees to go out in the community and volunteer their time and effort, we can make it a better place for our future generations,” he said. 

Manci said the whole community is better when everybody pulls together. 

"You can focus on the negative or you can focus on the positive and when you are serving others you just feel good," Manci said. 

Image 360 said they will be doing more projects in the future.