TAMPA BAY, Fla. — It has been a record-setting year for Metropolitan Ministries as the need for help continues to grow.

What You Need To Know

  • Volunteers, staff members cooked and boxed thousands of dinners

  • Meals include hundreds of pounds of food like turkey, mashed potatoes and pies

  • Pandemic cut down the number of volunteers, but everything was on time

On Thanksgiving morning, a team of staff members and volunteers cooked and boxed thousands of dinners. They were then packaged and sent to two different locations in the Tampa area to be distributed to those in need.

According to Justine Burke with Metropolitan Ministries, the need for holiday assistance during Thanksgiving and Christmas has doubled this year. Last year, the team distributed 26,000 meals and this year they are on track to hit 50,000.

In order to make the hot, Thanksgiving Day meal possible, the kitchen staff prepared:

What's Cooking in the Kitchen?

  • 900 lbs. of turkey
  • 990 lbs. of mashed potatoes
  • 750 lbs. of vegetables
  • 90 gallons of gravy
  • 288 lbs. of stuffing
  • 550 pies
  • 3,300 dinner rolls

The group managed to finish the cooking on time with less volunteers than ever before due to the pandemic and need for social distancing.

This year, instead of the traditional sit down meal, the dinners will be distributed grab-and-go style.

If you are in need of a Thanksgiving Day meal, they can be picked up from 10 a.m. to noon in two locations:

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

509 East Twiggs St., Tampa

The Coalition for the Homeless of Pasco County

5652 Pine St., New Port Richey