About 17 percent of families in West Central Florida alone are food insecure, meaning they are not certain where their next meal will come from, according to Antoine Everette, volunteer supervisor at Feeding Tampa Bay in Tampa, Fla.
These words hit home for the Corporate Communications team from TECO Services Inc. They had arrived at the organization’s warehouse on a mission to feed the hungry that sunny, fall afternoon of Nov. 8.
Feeding Tampa Bay, founded in 1982, is a member of the national Feeding America network. The non-profit organization, which receives surplus food donations from a variety of sources, has supplied more than 40 million pounds of food to its 10-county service area this past year alone.
And TECO team members are no strangers to Feeding Tampa Bay, as was evident in the breakroom, which was aptly named the TECO Community Center.
“Our company prides itself on giving back to the communities we serve,” said Bill Longstreth, director of Corporate Communications at TECO Services Inc.
Music boomed through the warehouse speakers as Longstreth’s team members — along with other volunteers, including Noriel Castro, fuels information specialist at TECO Peoples Gas — formed an assembly line to sort through product expiration dates, stuff produce into meal bags and prepare 35-lb. meal boxes for shipping.
As the afternoon ended, Everette expressed gratitude for all the help. The produce packaged was for Gibsonton Elementary School and the grocery palettes would be distributed to residents across West Central Florida.
Astonishingly, based on Everette’s calculations, the group made 1,374 meals in only three hours!
“We went in as a team to give to others,” Longstreth said. “Why there? Just as the Feeding Tampa Bay slogan read…because no one should go hungry.”
For those who want to keep the trend going, the Feeding Tampa Bay website still has plenty of volunteer opportunities.
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