Community Corner

Local Churches Join Forces to Feed the Bay

The Feed the Bay event runs March 24-25, and residents from Brandon, Bloomingdale, Valrico, Riverview and Lithia are needed to help donate food for the hungry.

More than 35 churches and 11 agencies throughout the area will join forces this weekend to follow the Biblical mandate to feed the hungry in the sixth annual Feed the Bay event.

During the event on Saturday, March 24 and Sunday, March 25, residents of Brandon, Bloomingdale, Valrico, Riverview and Lithia are urged to fill their shopping carts with food items for the hungry and drop off the bags of groceries at trucks stationed near local Publix and Sweet Bay grocery stores.

"We'll have 20 to 25 trucks out both days, stationed at just about every Publix and Sweetbay store in the area," said Debbie Weisemann, one of the team leaders for the event.

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For those who can't shop that weekend, Publix will have bins for residents to deposit groceries in prior to the March 24-25 collection, said Weisemann.

According to Feed the Bay, more than 17,000 people in Tampa Bay don't have enough food and depend on local food banks to put dinner on the table.

Find out what's happening in Bloomingdale-Riverviewwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Feed the Bay event helps put food on the shelves of local food banks, including:

  • Beth-El Farm Workers Ministry in Wimauma
  • Cynthia Pinckney Ministries of Seffner
  • Amazing Love Ministries
  • The Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO) of Brandon
  • Feeding America Tampa Bay
  • Good Samaritan
  • Lighthouse Ministries
  • The Lord's Lighthouse Ministry
  • Manna on Wheels Inc.
  • Nativity Outreach Food Bank
  • Metropolitan Ministries in Tampa
  • Ministry of Hope Through the Lord Inc.
  • Restoring Hope Global
  • The Women's Resource Center in Brandon

"The need is greater than ever," said Weisemann. "The agencies have told us they receive plenty of holiday donations but, by this time of year, their shelves are empty."

This year Feed the Bay hopes to collect 190,000 pounds of food, bringing the total to 1 million pounds since the effort began in 2006.

"I think it’s really doable," Weisemann said. "We live in a very generous community. People have experienced difficult times themselves and are willing to step up when they have opportunity to go the extra mile to bless others."

Grocery lists of needed food items will be available at the participating churches as well as online at Feed the Bay's website.

"Residents buy what they can from the list and drop it off at one of the nearby trucks," Weisemann said. "Or, if they wish, they can purchase gift cards. We can all do a part and, together, we can do more."

She added that the food will be dispersed to the 11 agencies Monday following the collection.

The first event in 2006 collected 30,000 pounds of food, and each year the effort has grown with more churches participating. Last year, 129,193 pounds of food and more than $9,000 worth of gift cards were collected. To date, the event has collected more than 815,900 pounds of food.

Also this year, TrueCouponing of Valrico is partnering with Feed the Bay to show residents how to use coupons to gather more items for less money. For more information, visit the TrueCouponing website.

Local participating churches include:

  • Bell Shoals Baptist
  • Bay Life
  • Brandon Assembly of God
  • Celebration Church of Bloomingdale
  • Cornerstone Baptist Church
  • First Baptist Church of Brandon
  • FishHawk Fellowship Church
  • First United Methodist Church of Brandon
  • Grace Community United Methodist Church
  • Holy Innocents' Episcopal Church
  • Horizon Christian Church
  • Journey Church
  • Kings Avenue Baptist Church
  • Presbyterian Church of Seffner
  • Hope Cumberland Presbyterian Church
  • Sunset Bay Chapel
  • The Crossing
  • South Shore United Methodist
  • Simmons Loop Baptist
  • South Brandon Worship Center
  • River of Life Church Ministries
  • Redeemer Presbyterian
  • Grow Life Church
  • Gospel Fellowship Church


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