The Volunteer Way (TVW) is doing great this year. We have redone our front office
to accommodate more people that need help with food. Each day we sign up more nutritionally challenged people
that have been having a hard time feeding their families. As of March 2007, TVW has 4,280 families signed up to pick
up food once a month from our warehouse to help feed their families. We have more soup kitchens and food pantries
throughout central Florida signing up each month to receive food from TVW for their outreach in their community.
The reason many soup kitchens and food pantries will travel from Orlando, Ocala and points
south is that we are the only food bank in Pasco County that never charges fees for the 5,000,000 pounds of food that we distribute
each year. I would be very surprised if there were a handfull of food banks in Florida that do not charge for their
food. Most of the smaller food pantries and soup kitchen are in poverty areas and have the greatest need for food, but
do not have the funds to pay fees to get the food for the poor in their area. This is why they travel so far to pick
up food for their outreaches.
We have are site plans to build our new warehouse and hopefully we will have it by the
end of the year. At that point we will be able to expand our outreach to more counties. A lot of the food banks
are making a business out of people’s poverty and grief; today it is a big business. What happened to the compassion
of charities, are we so business-like that all we care about is money? Many are trying to put competitors out of
business so they can have full control and be able to charge any fee they care too. If all that energy was put into
doing what their mission statement said, we all could work together and be more effective and really end hunger. Many
do not want to end hunger, because it has become very profitable BUSINESS.
In the very near future we will be asking all concerned people to be writing their elected
officials and get some of these BUSINESSES back to being charities.
“Be The Change: Encourage Bold Thinking In Your Community”
