RUSKIN, Fla. — There’s a man in Hillsborough County who is dedicating most of his day doing philanthropy work to try to spread kindness in his community.

What You Need To Know

  • Patrick Rhodes is dedicating much of his time away from work doing philanthropy events around Hillsborough County

  • Rhodes, known as Patrick the Giver, has been delivering lunches to doctors and nurses during the pandemic and is now delivering books to students across the Bay area

  • His philanthropic work gained the attention of actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who donated to Rhodes' cause

  • Rhodes currently has a GoFundMe set up to raise money to purchase toys for local kids in the area

His name is Patrick Rhodes, but he goes by Patrick the Giver because he says giving is what brings him the most joy.

Between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Rhodes is likely to be found remotely working away at his kitchen counter.

“Basically,” he told Spectrum News, “I’m just doing auto finance.”

It’s something he’s good at, but it’s not his passion.

Growing up in Jacksonville, he moved down to the Bay area in 2020, right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He was watching the news and saw the hard work that the nurses and doctors on the front lines were doing, so he wanted to do something to thank them.

“I thought to myself, ‘What can I do to give back?’ so I called my local hospital here in Tampa and was like, ‘Hey, I want to deliver some lunch to you guys,’” Rhodes said.

So that’s what he did, and he kept doing it and it grew to more than just his local hospital.

He started delivering food to schools, teachers and other hospitals that he wanted to spread some kindness to.

And his following grew to the point where it caught the attention of someone pretty well known.

“The human being I want to illuminate is Patrick Rhodes,” said Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in an Instagram video on Rhodes’ profile.

Johnson loved Rhodes’ passion for kindness so much that he donated water and all-you-can-eat meals to the frontline workers Rhodes cared so much for.

“It just really made me smile that day and I was just blown away,” he said.

Even though time has passed since the peak of the pandemic, the work of kindness is far from being done in Rhodes’ eyes.

In the three years since he moved to Tampa, he’s now working on getting diverse books in the hands of schoolchildren throughout Hillsborough County so the kids can see themselves in what they read.

Sometimes, the giving he does comes right out of his pocket, but he doesn’t mind, because he’s seen his message of kindness grow to where people donate to his GoFundMe campaigns to help acquire more books for kids or meals for people who need them.

“It feels amazing,” Rhodes said. “I feel like I’m just getting started.”

And if this is what happens at the start, he can’t wait to see where it goes from here.

Rhodes currently has a GoFundMe for a toy drive he’s doing in the hopes of raising $2,500 to get toys for kids in Tampa.

He hopes to one day start a nonprofit organization as well as a technology center for at-risk youth in the Tampa Bay region.