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Food pantry 'desperately in need of food'
By STAFF WRITER
Published September 12, 2005
TAMPA - Metropolitan Ministries, a Tampa charity that helps the homeless and needy families, has an empty food pantry.
"I know we're desperately in need of food, and we're going to be out of food by Wednesday if we don't get a large amount of donations," spokeswoman Tracy Clouser said.
It's hard to say whether the shortage is being caused by the amount of resources that have been diverted to needy people in Louisiana and Mississippi because of Hurricane Katrina, Clouser said.
Typically, summers are lean months for the food bank, which served 13,000 families last year.
"Usually we have enough to limp through summertime," Clouser said. "But we're not typically out."
The organization has seen about 100 needy families a day, and has handed out 750 boxes of food a week. Each box can feed a family of four for four days.
That's a 50 percent increase in clients over the last couple of weeks and a 20 percent increase compared with the same time last year.
Food bank officials think the increase is due to some relocated families from the disaster-stricken Gulf Coast and an increase in the number of local families financially struggling since the school year started.
Metropolitan Ministries was down to three pallets of food on Monday. Major items the food bank is nearly out of include peanut butter, canned meat, rice and potatoes - all food box ingredients.
The organization was down to a half-pallet of food until officials sent out e-mails Friday to 5,500 supporters asking for help. Food donors who came to the St. Pete Times Forum on Sunday looking to donate to Katrina victims were redirected to the food bank since trailers bound for the Gulf Coast already left, Clouser said.
Food can be dropped off at Metropolitan Ministries' donation center, 2101 N Florida Ave., Tampa. Money can be sent through the group's Web site, www.metmin.org or by calling 813-209-1044.
[Last modified September 12, 2005, 18:19:01]
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