The Africa trip will honor Robinson-Pickett's late husband and
raise money for children with HIV and AIDS.
As many people pack their bags for summer trips, a Lakeland mother and her son
are packing their suitcases with medical supplies and hope.
The duo is heading to Africa to help children with HIV and AIDS. The itinerary
also includes a memorial mission up Mount Kilimanjaro.
As each bag is zippered, Cathy Robinson-Pickett and her son Garrett are packing
a lot more than medicine. They're packing 700 pounds of hope.
"We can't see the need and not do something about the need," said
Robinson-Pickett, founder of Friends Together, a non-profit group sponsoring the
Africa trip.
They're heading to Tanzania on Tuesday to deliver medical and school supplies to
children with HIV and AIDS. Volunteers with Friends Together spent Sunday vacuum
sealing supplies.
Robinson-Pickett founded Friends Together in 2000 and was featured as a
Bay News 9 Everyday Hero. She dedicated
her life to the cause after she was diagnosed with HIV. She found out when she
was six months pregnant with Garrett. She said she contracted HIV seven years
earlier when she was raped.
"I'm very proud of her," Robinson said about his mother.
This will be Robinson first trip to Africa with his mother. It's Friends
Together's second trip. Robinson-Pickett and her husband, Steve, made the
journey in 2004. Her husband took in the sights by climbing his way to the top
of Mount Kilimanjaro. He died in a car accident the next year.
"This last year has certainly, emotionally been a difficult year,"
Robinson-Pickett founded Friends Together in 2000.
Robinson-Pickett said.
Robinson, 14, will honor his late stepfather by walking in his footsteps. He is
planning his own trek to spread his stepfather's ashes.
"When I make it to the summit, I'm just going to spread them out on top," he
said.
It's a mission of love for a late stepfather and husband.
"It's kind of closing the final chapter," Robinson-Pickett said.
And starting a new one for the dozens of lives who will be helped on their
journey.
The trek up the mountain is also a fundraiser for Friends Together.
