Recently David and Susan had the opportunity to visit the “Because of Jason” toy and train museum, operated by the Jason Ackerman Foundation, located at 5319 Ehrlich Rd, Tampa.  The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 10am to 4pm. Admission is free, but donations to the foundation are appreciated. We strongly recommend you bring “children” of all ages.

We were treated to approximately 3,000 square feet of trains and memorabilia. There are 2 large rooms dedicated to a very large O Scale Lionel layout, which features a circus layout, portions of Tampa, and a very large portion devoted to Walt Disney World.  Many trains run simultaneously all featuring some of the most entertaining operating accessories and lightning.  The second primary focus room is full of operating slot car tracks.  They go from mini motorcycle racing all the way to larger scale corvette racing. You can actually race your friends (or your grandmother).

When leaving these two primary rooms every corner you turn and every room you enter seems to have a different theme. There are rooms of Coke & Pepsi products, Bozo the clown, matchbox cars, vintage metal operating banks and vintage pedal vehicles of all kinds.  Now you would think this was enough, but no, the gift of a visit there keeps on giving.  Rooms full of race cars, die cast motorcycles, Budweiser signage, vintage gas pumps, a soon to be completed extra room that contains more memorabilia, including children’s pull-toys, a vintage toy box, and so many other things, too many to mention in this short story. There’s something for the young and the old in every room.

What a wonderful experience it was for both of us. The “Because of Jason” toy/train museum was created with the primary focus of facilitating a safe place that children struggling with traumatic illnesses and/or circumstances to come and just enjoy time with their siblings free from doctors and hospital visits. You can see from the smile on Ron’s face that he totally loves to tell stories about his memorabilia to the children.  He shared a few with us, including how much he loves to explain to the children what some of the things are; as quite a few have never seen Bozo or a metal bank that actually deposits the coins for you.

The foundation was created to honor the memory of Ron and Tina Ackerman’s (of Ackerman Jewelers’) son who lost his life at the young age of 21.  While a junior at USF Jason tried to save the life of his friend. Unfortunately they both lost their lives.  Jason loved to tutor school age children any way that he could, so therefore his parents found it fitting to start a foundation that would raise funds to grant scholarships to individuals in need and with a strong desire to be a positive influence in their community.

The Jason Ackerman Foundation is a 501c 3 organization (non-profit).  To date they have given away in excess of 1.7 million, yes you read that correctly million in scholarships.  This is a hidden gem waiting to be discovered here in Tampa Bay, a great “staycation” destination.