About us
We started as a light show
FLP grew out of a South Tampa holiday light show that spent eight seasons bringing people together and raising money for local charities. Hurricanes Helene and Milton eventually gave that community a very different job to do.
2015 to now
Our story
In 2015, a computerized holiday light show went up in a front yard on Sylvan Ramble Street in South Tampa. It grew to include flame effects, water, smoke, and thousands of individually controllable lights choreographed to music.
More than 500 people came on peak nights. Across eight seasons, the show welcomed more than 20,000 visitors and raised roughly $50,000 for local charities, including organizations feeding and clothing children across Tampa Bay. It was eventually featured on NBC Nightly News.
By 2023, the event had outgrown a residential street.
Then Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit Florida 13 days apart in 2024.
We stepped outside our usual mission and began helping families with lodging, transportation, storm information, phone service, damage documentation, cleanup, and recovery resources. With no staff or operating budget, the response relied entirely on volunteers, equipment we already had, and community partners willing to help.
By the end of the response, FLP had assisted more than 50 individuals and families.
In 2025, the organization became the Florida Lantern Project. The light show had always been about bringing people together to help others. The new mission built on that same idea in a different way.
The record
Our impact
Numbers we can stand behind, with the stories behind them on the response pages.
50+
individuals and families assisted
Helene and Milton, 2024
20+
placed in emergency lodging
in the days before Milton made landfall
$0
operating budget that year
delivered entirely through partnerships
20,000+
neighbors who came to the light show
raising ~$50,000 for local charities
A message from Mayor Castor
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor recorded this message for Beacons of Hope, our first gala, in June 2025, recognizing grassroots disaster response.
Why we exist
Mission and vision
Mission
Bring light in times of disaster
To bring light to communities in times of disaster by providing innovative, immediate, and family-centered relief, critical resources, and community-driven support.
Vision
No family faces disaster alone
A Florida where no family faces disaster alone. Through decisive action, we ensure aid reaches those who need it, when they need it, no matter the obstacles.
Values
What our values mean
Family first
Our decisions start with what keeps a household safe and stable—including its pets.
Community-led
Local communities usually understand their own needs better than an outside organization does. We work with them rather than around them.
Red tape free
We keep our own processes simple and help families work through complicated systems when we can.
Transparent
Our board, filings, and available financial information are public. Supporters should be able to verify who we are and what we do.
Innovative
We use whatever practical tools make sense for the problem, from drones and eSIMs to more traditional volunteer and recovery support.
Leadership
Board of directors
Our board serves without pay and meets quarterly.
Samuel Johnson
President
Dominic Schaefer
Vice President
Miqueias Torres de Almeida
Secretary
Sandra Jimenez
Director
About our founder
Sam Johnson, President
Sam Johnson founded the organization that became the Florida Lantern Project in 2015, at age 16, as a Halloween light show in a South Tampa front yard.
Across eight seasons, the show drew more than 20,000 visitors, raised roughly $50,000 for local charities, and received national coverage from NBC Nightly News.
When Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit Florida in 2024, the organization shifted from fundraising for other local causes to direct disaster relief. FLP ultimately assisted more than 50 individuals and families through the two storms.
Sam holds an FAA Part 107 remote pilot certificate and conducts FLP’s aerial damage-documentation work. Sam also runs Crossroads Technology, a Tampa technology company serving churches, schools, small businesses, and other organizations.