TAMPA, Fla. — It is a busy day inside the kitchen at Metropolitan Ministries in Tampa. Starting at 4 a.m. vegetables are steamed, pies are cooked and sliced, and aromas from all the Thanksgiving delights fill the air.

Alice Mann is manning the vegetables on Thanksgiving Day. She came to Met Ministries four years ago, after a 30-year career in fast food that wasn’t cutting it. 

“I decided when I turned 60 that I did not want to be in fast food anymore. One of my friends came down to volunteer at Metropolitan Ministries, she told me about a program that they have free to the public. I took her up on it, I came down, they gave me a job, I went to class and worked,” said Mann, kitchen manager at Metropolitan Ministries. “Once I got done, they’ve seen what I was worth and they gave me a job, gave me an opportunity.”

Many working and volunteering in this kitchen say opportunity is what got them here, and keeps them here. 

Shirley Shumake came through the same culinary arts Program that Mann did. Shumake says when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she didn’t just lose one of her jobs — she lost all of them. 

“I lost three jobs, and I had to start all over again,” said Shumake. 

She has job security now working at Metropolitan Ministries, and that relief contributes to her joy in giving back. 

“There are not a lot of places where you can take your children and show them where to do good deeds, I can bring my children here and show them how to do good deeds,” said Shumake. “I am following my dream, I have always wanted to cook.”

To say good deeds are plentiful in this kitchen may be an understatement. Just feet away from Shumake working on the mashed potatoes, stands another product of Tampa Bay. He is tall, with a strong arm stirring the vat of gravy.

It’s Titus O’Neil. 

“I am always on mashed potatoes, that is my assignment every year — for years that is all I do,” said O’Neil. 

The WWE superstar and global ambassador came bright and early, like all the other volunteers. He says every year this is where he chooses to begin his Thanksgiving. 

“Because I was one of the families that came from a family that if it wasn’t for the generosity of others, I wouldn’t have a Thanksgiving,” said O’Neil. 

He was raised by a single mother, and knows how much these meals will mean to so many families in the Tampa Bay community. In total, 10,000 meals were given out to people in Polk, Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. 

“I just love it, it’s just brings me such joy,” said Mann. “Best job I ever had.” 

She smiles as she said those last words, then gets back to preparing the vegetables.