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Economy Sends More Needy Looking For Meals

News Channel 8 photo by JOE MARTIN

Volunteers dole out helping of food at Metropolitan Ministries' annual Thanksgiving day meal.

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By TED JACKOVICS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 27, 2008

BRANDON - Cynthia Pinckney ministers to the needy, so she's extremely well versed on the economy these days.

By the looks of the gathering she organized in Brandon that swelled to more than 600 guests for a multi-course Thanksgiving Day meal, the U.S. economy could use a big boost.

Pinckney agreed. "Some of the volunteers from a year ago have become needy themselves," she said.

The gathering exceeded last year's attendance by at least 100.

Other charities drew more people than last year, which they also attribute to the poor economy. At the Metropolitan Ministries continental breakfast and Thanksgiving noon meal at its Florida Avenue holiday tent in Tampa, one of several tri-county locations where the social service agency provided meals for 3,500 people and food deliveries for another 24,000 families.

"We added more than 5,000 families to our roles this year," said Ana Menez, a spokeswoman for Metropolitan Ministries.

But thanks to efforts by the Cynthia Pinckney Ministries, the Metropolitan Ministries and other caregivers throughout Tampa Bay, people's spirits got a boost on Thanksgiving if only for a couple hours.

"No matter what position we are in today, we can always say thanks," Pinckney told the gathering before noon at the Brandon Boys & Girls Club.

Jay Meek, 43, stood patiently in line for a Thanksgiving meal of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes and a selection of desserts from pumpkin pie to carrot cake.

"Last year. I didn't have a Thanksgiving at all," said Meek, who worked in the pest control business before losing his job in bad economy. "There are a lot of nice people here, so today is much better."

But he still can't find a job.

"I've got skills, I"ve got a good background," he said. "But I don't have residency. It gets down to that and I can't get hired."

In Pinellas County, about 100 people at a homeless shelter in Hudson had a bittersweet Thanksgiving Day meal.

Lisa Henry, the director for 19 years at the Holy Ground Shelter, is in bad health and was spending the holidays in the hospital, volunteer Billy Selby said.

It was Henry's custom to gather homeless people on the streets in Pinellas and Pasco County to take them to the shelter for Thanksgiving for the past two decades.

Donations kept pace this year despite the bad economy, and more than 100 guests joined the 35 people at the shelter, Selby said. But the economy has taken its toll in creating more needy people, he said.

"Morale is pretty good overall these days, but today we are a little low because Lisa is not here," Selby said.

Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at (813) 259-7817.

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