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'I Want To Be Part Of History,' Vendor Says

Tribune photo by JULIE BUSCH

Sheilah Youngblood, left, and her sister Ola Abreu wait are ready to serve voters at Fair Oaks Recreation Center voting precinct Tuesday.

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By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 4, 2008

11 a.m.: There are no lines of voters going into the Fair Oaks Recreation Center on 34th Street just south of Hillsborough Avenue. There are no lines either at the Pictureman Catering lunch bus parked across the street.

That's OK with Sheilah Youngblood, who is taking a break, sitting in the driver's seat, reading a newspaper in a Barack Obama apron.

"We're here offering people food as they wait to vote," she says. Hot dogs and water are free. Shrimp and chicken wings cost.

She says the lunch bus has been busy lately, parked outside the College Hill Library during the early voting period, giving away hotdogs and water to voters. Youngblood says she thought that would help people stay in line and increase voter turnout.

"Since the beginning, I think we've given away 9,000 or 9,500 hotdogs and tons of water," she says.

She's been staging these Election Day giveaways, she says, "since the Clinton administration."

"We are making sure people are satisfied," she says, "so they stay in line."

The bright yellow truck has been at the precinct since 7 a.m., she says. Business has been good, and voters going into the polls and coming out give a loud "hello" to Youngblood.

"It was a lot more crowded earlier," she says.

She made sure she had no other plans today.

"I want to be part of history," she says, adding that she will drive the truck around to different precincts this afternoon. "I'm just doing my part," she says. "We've been doing this a long time. We enjoy it. It feels wonderful. It's an opportunity to unite with people and let them know we are giving something back."

On the side of the truck is the menu, and this:

"Bail Bonds."

She said she hasn't written any bonds yet.

"And," she says, "hopefully, we won't for the rest of the day."

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