Man behind 'Harvest' spends Black Friday helping the hungry

While many people spent Friday bargain shopping, Will Carey was bargain giving.

Carey distributed deli sandwiches from 7-11 stores to charities that feed the hungry and the homeless. By year's end, Carey said, he and his staff of volunteers at Tampa Bay Harvest will deliver around 22,000 free sandwiches that would otherwise go to waste.

They regularly make the rounds at restaurants such as Pizza Hut, The Olive Garden and Red Lobster looking for surplus food.

"We're one of Tampa Bay's largest recyclers," Carey said. "It's a gold mine."

Carey is the sole employee of Tampa Bay Harvest, a local charity that distributed more than 3 million pounds of food last year to more than 200 other local charities that feed the needy.

"This is a very special person," said Keral Kronseder, executive director of Tampa's Alpha House. "We're fortunate to have him living here."

Carey spent part of Tuesday stocking the Alpha House pantry with food. Kronseder said the food will help feed the pregnant women, mothers and babies who find refuge at Alpha House during the holidays.

"Very often they appear on our doorstep and on our curb," Kronseder said. "They haven't eaten for days and this is the first meal that they get."

When he's not delivering food himself, Carey coordinates more than 600 volunteers. By local charity standards, his pay is modest, about $36,000 a year. Carey said the charity's entire annual budget is around $50,000.

"If I was looking to get rich I probably would have stayed a chef and worked for Sheraton or one of those organizations, but it's not about the money at all," Carey said.

Carey's wife is a teacher and that enables him to work for Tampa Bay Harvest without benefits like insurance and a pension plan, often delivering food in the back of his own Subaru station wagon at his own expense.

"I couldn't do it without my wife, obviously," Carey said.

As recently as October, Tampa Bay Harvest was so short on cash it almost folded. But when word got out, a donor gave enough cash to keep the organization operating.

The challenge now is to meet a growing demand for food at a time when giving is flat.

Despite the headaches and frustrations of trying to meet a need that never ends, Carey said he can't imagine doing anything else.

"When people are hungry," Carey said, "It's hard for them to be happy."

More information on Tampa Bay Harvest is available at tampabayharvest.org or (727) 538-7777.