TAMPA, Fla. — Over the last couple of years, when someone in the Tampa Bay Area goes missing, We Are the Essentials has been there.
Amanda Reece serves as We Are the Essentials’ vice president.
“Our passion is just to help our local communities,” she said.
At no cost to the families, the team of former law enforcement, military, FBI, and private investigators step in.
ABC Action News was there as they searched for missing Westchase mom, Anu Awasthi.
“There were gators, there were snakes, coyotes, just in that small area alone and the mosquitoes and how she was in there for six days and managed to survive,” Reece said.
Awasthi went missing in Oldsmar last month during some of the year’s hottest days on record.
“We were all in shock when Nico said he heard her whimpering. And he called out her name, and she made that noise again,” Reece recalled.
We Are the Essentials’ reach is growing, now attracting attention on a nationwide scale.
“I was just contacted by the Tamia family. Last night, the mother and her brother,” Reece said.
Tamia Taylor went missing from Memphis over the weekend during a birthday celebration.
Desperate for help, the family is looking to We Are the Essentials.
“Unfortunately, we just can’t travel to Memphis at the time. But one day, we do hope that we will be able to reach more families outside of this area and maybe just grow and have different investigators stationed everywhere,” Reece explained.
A thank you from the Awasthi family could change that. They’re raising money for the free-of-charge non-profit, vowing to match the donations up to $20,000.
“He wants to help us help the next family, which is important because there’s always a next family,” said Reece.
That money could do big things for the future of the organization.
“We need equipment, ground penetrating sonar. You would not believe the amount of money we spend (on) gas, hotel fees when we travel out of town. There’s so much equipment, water, Gatorade, clothing, bug spray, there’s just so much, but we want to be able to do this at a full-time and on a bigger scale. So we definitely need equipment, and we just can’t do that without the help from the community,” she said.