TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Pantry Brings Holiday Help To Those In Need

ADVERTISEMENT

By GEOFF FOX

gfox@tampatrib.com

Published: November 27, 2008

WESLEY CHAPEL - Ashley Ralston pulled into Lily of the Valley in a white Dodge Caravan that needed work.

As she grabbed 10-month-old son Andrew, from his car seat, her other son Avery, 4, smiled wide as he bounded toward the food pantry opened eight years ago by nearby Victorious Life Church.

At a place where hard-luck stories are as common as a can of soup, everyone knows Avery's family.

The boy is being treated for acute lymphbastic leukemia.

His father, Troy Ralston, died three years ago.

His mother is close to losing her home.

Ashley Ralston, a mother of three, said her shelves are as empty as her gas tank always seems. Without Lily of the Valley, housed in a double-wide trailer in the heart of Angus Valley, a community with a mix of well-kept properties and less-maintained mobile homes, Ralston said she would be "stuck."

"It's been really rough," said Ralston, 26, of Land O' Lakes. "I've been trying to find a job, but I don't know. They've helped me out so much here. It's a real blessing."

The food pantry has been voluntarily run by Anna Grover, 45, and her daughters, Grace, 18, and Hope, 22, for several months. Food is distributed from noon to 6 p.m. Thursday at the pantry at 6542 Applewood Drive. This week, food distribution was Tuesday.

Grover, who grew up in the area off Old Pasco Road, just north of County Road 54 (Wesley Chapel Boulevard), is passionate about the non-paid work and the community. Her father, Bob Hope (no relation to the comedian), once pastored a church in Angus Valley, which she has always considered home.

A former office manager, Grover and her family, including husband Mark, returned to the area a few years ago after living in Naples.

A Life Altered

"We were attending Victorious Life Church, but I didn't realize they had a food pantry," Grover said. "Six months ago, we were feeding 35 families. Now, there are a hundred and something families every week."

Under Grover's guidance, the ministry now also helps area residents apply online for Medicaid and food stamps, prepare for GED testing and furnish their homes with donated furniture, among other things.

For pantry 21-year-old volunteer John Hendricks, who was raised in Angus Valley, contact with Grover and the ministry has been life-altering. In January 2006, he was arrested on a charge of grand theft and later failed to appear for a court date, according to Pasco County Sheriff's Office records.

Hoping to change his life as a trial date neared, he began volunteering at the food pantry this year. He told Grover and other church officials of his legal issues. Seeing potential in the hard-working volunteer, Grover and Victorious Life Pastor Ed Russo wrote letters on Hendricks' behalf to the circuit court in Dade City.

"They put their name on me," Hendricks said. "They took responsibility for me."

The correspondence didn't spare Hendricks from two weeks in jail, but he said he believes he would have served longer without the show of support. He said Grover and others associated with Lily of the Valley have helped him in other ways before and after his Aug. 14 release.

"They've helped me spiritually," he said. "They've helped me see that God moves in more ways than you can imagine. I used to be a very judgmental person.

"And, I've been sober for about 130 days."

'Absolute Passion'

Dennis Bingham, an associate pastor at Victorious Life, credits Anna Grover's "absolute passion" for transforming Lily of the Valley into more than "just a food pantry."

"She just has a heart for people and when there's a need she does her best to meet it," he said. "She was able to get a grant recently for the ministry they started within Angus Valley of trying to beautify the community and getting the children there involved.

"The whole premise of that is we want to do things for these kids and enhance their lives as far as athletics and things, but we want them to learn a work ethic that will help them in the long run, as well. And it was all her idea."

On a recent weekday, Grover supervised as Hendricks stuffed hundreds of plastic bags full of canned pumpkin, diced tomatoes, tuna, apricots, pasta, rice, soup and other food.

The pantry distributes as much as 13,000 pounds of food each month, Grover said. The food comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as well as local businesses such as Sweetbay and Publix.

And it's not just people in Angus Valley who use the ministry.

Grover said she has seen an increasing number of people from affluent communities in New Tampa, Wesley Chapel and Zephyrhills traveling to the pantry.

When Hendricks was done stuffing bags, he and volunteer Erin Boyd, 22, loaded several of them into Ralston's van.

Avery was due for a chemotherapy treatment the next day, Ralston said.

"We caught it real early," she said of his leukemia. "He had leg pain, arm pain, stomach pain. He was just crawling on the floor. But, he has a pretty good chance of surviving.

"I don't know what I'll do if I lose my house, though. It's just hard right now."
LILY OF THE VALLEY
For information about programs at Lily of the Valley food pantry, call (813) 994-0685.

Keyword: Lily for an audio slide show. Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 779-4613.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT