Hope, dignity – and crucially, food – are always on the menu at Tampa’s Trinity Café, where TECO team members have donated countless hours to help the homeless and hungry. And as they joined Hillsborough County Commissioner Thomas Scott and others to celebrate the ribbon cutting of a second Trinity Café, they welcomed even more opportunities to address a huge and growing need in the community.
Team members from Meter Services were on hand on March 29 for the ceremonial opening of the new Trinity Café on Busch Boulevard. And while unexpected delays of kitchen equipment pushed back the café’s ability to make meals, it’s serving eager patrons now – people who in some cases rely on it as their primary source of food.
“I make it a point to sit and talk to people who come to Trinity Café during times when this team has volunteered in the past at the original Nebraska Avenue location,” said Marion Fleming, material specialist with Meter Services. “I talked to a couple with kids who told me without it they’d have nothing – nowhere to go and nothing to eat.”
Meter Mechanic Robert Connelly is a longtime volunteer at Trinity Café and has coordinated recent efforts by his team to donate time there.
“It’s an opportunity to give something back to those in the community who have fallen on hard times,” he said. “They’re treated as honored guests at Trinity Café, with all the hospitality anyone could expect. It’s a truly rewarding experience to donate time there – that’s something everyone I know at TECO who has participated has expressed.”
On the Trinity Café website, volunteers can easily sign up to donate time, receive training, learn about the organization and more. Connelly, Fleming and others at TECO said they looked forward to serving meals at the Busch Boulevard location, especially considering the scope of hunger in the community. According to Feeding America Tampa Bay – another place TECO team members regularly donate their time – one out of seven people in Florida struggles with hunger on a regular basis.
“I’d encourage anybody who can to volunteer their time to serve meals to the hungry, because it’s the kind of need that could happen to anyone,” Fleming said. “It’ll make you feel good to give someone a good meal at Trinity Café. It’ll make them feel good too, and that’s the important thing – the hungry and homeless are the ones who need our help.”
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