ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Positive Impact Ministries needs donations and volunteers this summer.
“The need for food is really great in this community,” said Karen Rae, Executive Director.
Positive Impact Ministries has been serving the St. Petersburg area for years, specifically the neighborhood surrounding Tangerine Plaza, which is considered a food desert.
“It’s not okay that we live in an area where people cannot get to a grocery store. They depend on that,” said founder Karalynne Brubaker.
Almost every weekend, the group gives out free, fresh food at Tangerine Plaza.
“We do that through a drive-thru grocery distribution event,” said Rae.
However, over the summer, it gets harder to do that because families need more food, which means Positive Impact needs more donations.
“In the summertime, the need for food increases because the children are home for school,” said Rae.
“It’s our donors who make it possible for us to provide groceries for children and their families year-round,” they added.
The group is also short of volunteers over the summer as people travel.
“It’s a lot of work to do what we do, and it requires around 50 volunteers every single Saturday. And in the summertime there have been some Saturdays where we have only had about 35 volunteers. It makes it so much harder on each one of the volunteers to accomplish what we’re setting out to accomplish. And that’s making sure that each one of our neighbors has food. And that the children and those families do not go to bed hungry in the summertime,” said Rae.
“It’s a lot of extra stress if we don’t have enough people,” said Beth Cole, who’s volunteered for the group for the past 4 years.
Positive Impact has seen the need for food grow in this community as they work to help as many families as possible.
“As the years have gone on, I think everyone knows the economy has kind of gotten worse. Inflation has gotten worse. Prices keep going up and up and the lines, both in the cars and the walkups, are getting longer and longer,” said Cole.
The organization is now calling on the community to volunteer to help them get through the summer.
“We have about, I would say, anywhere from 80 to 100 families that walk up weekly,” said Brubaker.
“We all just become a family and it gives you a purpose and a meaning behind what you’re doing,” she added.
“A lot of it is hard work, but it’s also extremely rewarding,” said Cole.
For information on how to donate or volunteer, click here.
