HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Richard Knepp and Jimmy Wells stood between their two vans and two shopping carts packed with food. Both men had smiles plastered on their faces as Knepp read from a ripped sheet of paper in his hand.
“Jimmy had 480. I said 550,” Knepp paused for a second. Then he said, with joy, “the total was 972. That’s the most we’ve ever had.”
That’s 972 lbs of food they’re donating to Metropolitan Ministries on behalf of the Brandon Moose Lodge.
“This is wonderful,” Wells said as he and Knepp looked at each other with two big smiles.
Knepp and Wells do this every year, donate and compete to see who can guess the correct amount of food they collected. This year, both men were way off. But they’re happy because they collected more than they thought. All of that food will be used to help Bay Area families have a great Christmas.
“We’re about helping the community, elderly, our children,” said Wells.
With just four more days till Christmas, their donations, along with hundreds of others dropped off Wednesday, are desperately needed right now.
“It takes a million pounds of food to serve everyone for Thanksgiving and Christmas,” said Justine Burke, the Vice President of marketing for Metropolitan Ministries. “The 900, almost 1,000 pounds of food… really makes a difference, but it’s still not enough.”
According to Burke, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Metropolitan Ministries will help about 34,000 families this year.
During the pandemic, they helped about 40,000 families.
Burke said while the number is lower this year, they’re still above average; however, donations are down 24 percent compared to last year. Donors like the Brandon Moose Lodge, Knepp, Wells and others are crucial right now.
“I think inflation is the issue,” Burke said. “We’re all paying more at the grocery store. It's straining our resources, And we’re hearing from donors that it’s just hard this year.”
Burke said they still need food items, especially ham and toys for teens.
If you can donate or want to volunteer, you can do so at their holiday tent on North Rome Ave. You can get more information about Metropolitan Ministries and make online donations on their website.
