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For 360 families, the Sheriff's Office's annual food drive brightens a bleak holiday season when the gift of a Christmas meal is delivered.
By CARY DAVIS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 24, 2002
NEW PORT RICHEY -- Paula Sprague was not looking forward to Christmas this year. There was no money to buy fancy presents for her two children. And what, she wondered, does a broke, single mother fix her family for Christmas dinner?
She had accepted that it would be a bleak end to a bleak year.
And then the bird arrived.
On Monday morning, Pasco County sheriff's Deputies Scott Gattuso and Kaii Gardner showed up at the door of Sprague's cramped, singlewide mobile home in New Port Richey. In their arms, they carried a 14-pound turkey and a box of canned goods.
"I can't thank you enough," Sprague, 47, told the deputies. "This is great."
Sprague was a recipient of one of the 360 holiday food boxes delivered by the Sheriff's Office on Monday to needy Pasco families. The families were selected by local social service agencies.
The annual food drive is a collaborative effort among Sheriff's Office employees and volunteers, area businesses, schools and civic associations.
Fundraisers and donations from businesses paid the $3,900 tab for turkeys, potatoes and stuffing. Area schools collected more than 10,000 canned goods.
For Sprague, the food filled the immediate need of what to do about Christmas dinner. "Now I can cook," she said. "And one thing I can do is cook."
Then a tear fell onto her cheek. The food, she said, is not nearly as comforting as knowing that others took the time to help, and to care.
"It's so nice to know that people in the community care for those of us who had a rough year," she said.