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Congregations Aim To Fill Food Banks

By LAURA FRAZIER

lfrazier@tampatrib.com

Published: November 23, 2008

BRANDON - Throngs of churchgoers dismissed early today from services will shop en masse for groceries to stock the shelves of local food banks.

George Thomasson, senior assistant pastor at Bell Shoals Baptist Church, said more than 20 churches in the greater Brandon area today will furnish parishioners with grocery lists and dispatch them to shop with their own money for groceries earmarked for a dozen local charities.

The effort, dubbed Feed The Bay, was launched last year by Bay Life Church in Brandon, whose members collected 30,000 pounds of food in three hours.

The idea for the congregate effort developed at a luncheon hosted in June by Bell Shoals Baptist. The church held the fete to thank other congregations that offered practical assistance and condolences in May after the church pastor, Forrest Pollack, and his 13-year-old son, Preston, died in a plane crash.

"We discussed partnering to do together what we could not do separately, and decided to expand on Bay Life's program," Thomasson said.

The churches hope to collect more than 150,000 pounds of food, enough to stock a dozen local food banks with provisions to last through the holidays and well into 2009.

Volunteers will help shoppers unload their carts into trucks at participating Publix and Sweetbay stores in Brandon, Valrico, Lithia, Riverview and Seffner. Shopping lists will also be available for walk-ins who want to contribute.

The goods will be divvied up and delivered to food pantries this afternoon. Volunteers also will cook a free meal for thousands of people today at Metropolitan Ministries in Tampa.

Thomasson said about 10 years ago he and Pollack floated the idea of partnering with other churches to reach out to Hillsborough County.

"When Forrest died, all these churches responded so beautifully, and sure enough they wanted to do something together," he said. "It's going to be an awesome day."

HOW TO HELP

The public can pitch in to help Feed The Bay by shopping at or delivering nonperishable food items to participating stores from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Stores include:

Sweetbay Supermarkets

•1247 Kingsway Road at Windhorst Road, Brandon

•2535 State Road 60 at Miller Road, Valrico

•1101 Bloomingdale Ave. at Bell Shoals Road, Brandon

•16751 Lithia-Pinecrest Road at FishHawk Boulevard, Lithia

•10665 Big Bend Road at U.S. 301, Riverview

•6929 U.S. 301, Riverview

•750 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Seffner

Publix Super Markets

•1220 Kingsway Road at Windhorst Road, Brandon

•939 State Road 60 at Kings Avenue, Brandon

•11255 Causeway Blvd. at Gornto Lake Road, Brandon