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Bowen: Help for Pasco's hungry comes at the end of a line or at the front door

 
ALESSANDRA DA PRA   |   Times    People lined up in a parking lot to receive staple food distributed by Make A Difference Inc. and Feeding Tampa Bay on March 22 in Dade City.
ALESSANDRA DA PRA | Times People lined up in a parking lot to receive staple food distributed by Make A Difference Inc. and Feeding Tampa Bay on March 22 in Dade City.
Published March 26, 2018

LAND O' LAKES — The volunteers trickle in while the boom box in the corner provides morning accompaniment to the handshakes and hugs. It's a classic rock song by Supertramp from the group's best-selling album recorded 40 years ago.

Breakfast in America.

On this morning, it is the mid-day American meal that is of concern. Lunch is coming from St. Petersburg to Land O'Lakes to Hudson and other destinations. But not for much longer.

The meal service at the Land O' Lakes Senior Center is going to stop getting take-out. County officials and dignitaries cut the ribbon Monday on a new commercial kitchen that will allow vendor GA Foods to produce a thousand meals a day to help feed Pasco's senior population.

Consider that number again — 1,000 meals daily. Still, there is a waiting list of 365 seniors seeking to join the food program.

"And that's just the ones we know about,'' said Ann Marie Winter, executive director of the Area Agency on Aging.

The county used a $250,000 state grant (vetoed initially by Gov. Rick Scott in 2015) and community donations to build the kitchen. The Pasco School District provided the commercial-grade mixer and other equipment; Welbilt did likewise with the walk-in cooler. Withlacoochee Electric Cooperative ponied up cash.

By cooking the meals on site, the county expects to save $120,000 annually, freeing up money to help reduce the waiting list.

"You have a population in Pasco of more than 130,000 people over the age of 60,'' said Gabriel Papadopoulos, the county's director of community services. "This service will always be in demand, especially as more baby boomers are retiring.''

Indeed. The state estimates the number of people 60 and older in Pasco and Pinellas counties will grow by more than a third over the next two decades, reaching nearly 610,000 people by 2040.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Elder Affairs estimates that fewer than half of the 65,000 seniors in Pasco and Pinellas counties who are eligible for food stamps participate in that program. In other words, hungry people are among us.

About 70 percent of those 1,000 meals are delivered to home-bound seniors in Pasco, said Papadopoulos. The rest are served at the congregate dining centers around the county.

But until the freezer and cooler get stocked with staples, the ovens get turned on and the dishwasher starts cleaning, the county is relying on its current system for a few more days. The prepared entrees and sides arrive daily from GA Foods in St. Petersburg via truck. A half-dozen volunteers and county staff members form an assembly line filling white plastic bags with five frozen entrees, like chicken or meatloaf; beverages; bread; butter and deserts that will be delivered to senior citizens who can't get out.

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The exercise is repeated each weekday at five other sites around the county.

Likewise, hot food comes in trays to be ladled out to the seniors who arrive at the center for nutrition, recreation and camaraderie. There are 32 signed up for meals in Land O' Lakes, but only 14 made reservations on March 21.

That day's offering was meatball marinara, Tuscan blend vegetables, pasta, whole grain bread, mixed fruit and a container of 1-percent milk. Other days it might be Irish beef stew, meatloaf or cheeseburgers.

"The food's good, but I've gotta watch my figure,'' deadpans George Pereira, 79, who has been coming to the center for the past six months.

The county's effort is aided by Feeding Pasco's Elderly, a non-profit formed in 2014 to boost the elderly nutrition program. The charity came together after the county lost $83,000 in federal aid for the feeding service in 2013.

"They should not be waiting for meals. That should not happen,'' said Commission Chairman Mike Wells Jr., who also sits on the board for Feeding Pasco's Elderly.

Non-profits are helping the hungry elsewhere as well.

In Dade City last week, James Powell, 69, of Zephyrhills, arrived before 5:30 a.m. for a food giveaway that wasn't starting until 10 a.m. Six hours after Powell became first in line, people were still joining the back end of the row to receive food staples from Feeding Tampa Bay and Make A Difference Inc., a non-profit started 11 years ago by Realtor Larry Guilford. People also could get pet food from Animal Welfare and Rescue of Zephyrhills, and hygiene products and toiletries from Well Care Health Plans.

Guilford, 67, said he used to focus his charitable work overseas, but realized a few years ago "I really need to do more for the community that made me who I am. There's a lot of people barely hanging on and a lot of people that are just one or two paychecks from being out on the street.''

Guilford talked to those in line, exchanging hugs, handshakes and a rub on the shoulder while offering his agency's other services if people needed additional help. The food, however, was the big attraction.

"I've got a very bad back so I can't work anymore, so it means a lot,'' Toni Boyd, 74, of Dade City, said about the mobile food pantry.

It was a sentiment repeated throughout the morning.

"We're both retired. We just have a fixed income so a little bit of help here and there makes it worthwhile, said James McKinzie, 81, of Zephyrhills.

They left with bags and boxes containing packages of ground beef and chicken, a half-dozen tomatoes, a dozen cucumbers, cabbage, water, pre-made sandwiches and meals-ready-to-east left from Hurricane Irma relief efforts.

Last week marked the fifth mobile pantry in east Pasco by Feeding Tampa Bay and Make A Difference Inc. They alternate monthly distributions between Wal-Mart in Dade City and Lowe's in Zephyrhills. By the end of the day, people had picked up food for 289 households, providing meals for 981 people including 361 children.

The area's demographic data explains why. Feeding America estimates nearly 68,000 people in Pasco County are considered food insecure with limited or uncertain access to an adequate amount of food. In other words, people are at risk of going hungry.

Likewise, large portions of the county are classified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as low income, low access to food. That means people are more than a half-mile from a grocery in an urban setting and more than 10 miles away in rural areas.

Just before the food distribution began, Don Germaise, a former broadcast journalist who now volunteers for Feeding Tampa Bay, addressed the rest of the volunteers as they packed food into plastic bags.

"Look at that line... the hungry people in Tampa Bay are not homeless people. They are families with homes and jobs, but not enough money to make ends meet,'' he said.

"They will eat this week because of you guys.''

Reach C.T. Bowen at ctbowen@tampabay.com or (813) 435-7306. Follow @CTBowen2

RELATED: Group to aid elderly nutrition.