By PENNY FLETCHER

About 800 families a week come to the Good Samaritan Mission in Balm to meet these basic needs. The problem is, the mission is in need itself.
With so much farm land being developed, coupled with hurricanes and other natural disasters having used up so much of the area’s volunteer manpower and financial donations, the mission’s shelves are often bare, said Good Samaritan’s co-founder, Dora Cruz. Cruz has operated the mission for more than 25 years with her husband, the Rev. Bill Cruz, along with the help of a small staff and volunteers.
“We operate on faith,” Cruz said. “We had to close our daycare for two years but recently we reopened that on faith. Somehow, the Lord will provide.”
Every Tuesday, hundreds of men, women and children line up to receive bags of beans, rice, flour, cooking oil and other foods. Other days, those same people in need may also pick up day-old bread donated from local stores.
Donors come from as near as the South Shore area, and as far away as many other parts of the country, according to Cruz. .
“We even got restaurant-size cans of applesauce from Michigan,” Cruz said. “And a group of home-schoolers from Clearwater comes regularly to bring us food and help out with the work.”
South Shore residents also donate their time and money, but the mission could definitely use more.
Of everything.
“People from the Sun City Center Methodist Church come every Wednesday and bring us rice and chicken and cakes and lots of other things,” she added. “But people are waiting in line to get them. They do not last long.”
Often, Cruz is seen racing through the hallways of the mission, pointing volunteers to boxes of blankets and pre-measured bags of rice and beans to be handed out to the many waiting in line.
Today is no different. Except for the moment when she pulled a gray-colored man’s sweater over the head of a young father, two small girls clinging to his legs. The children were both wearing coats against the chill, but the father, clad only in a short-sleeved T-shirt, was shivering from the cold.
“Many come like this,” Cruz said. “They care so much for their children.”
Many parents, with toddlers and babies wrapped in blankets, and sometimes packed two or three to a stroller, expressed their gratitude for the food and blankets they received. Most of the conversations were in Spanish.
“The mission staff is so dedicated,” Cruz said. And all are bilingual.
Janet Tirado, who works in the daycare, is trained in both dentistry and accounting. Yet she chooses to work at the mission.
“My husband was stationed at MacDill (Air Force Base in Tampa) when I fell in love with this place,” Tirado said.
Rosa Borras, assistant kitchen manager, recently became a full-time employee at the mission. Once a farmworker herself, she and kitchen manager Aurelia Gonzelez try to feed the multitudes with a supply that never seems to be quite enough.
“When the shelter (at Bethune Park in Wimauma) opened last night – because of the cold – the county called and asked us if we could feed them,” Cruz said. Chicken and rice were taken to the people who slept in the park’s heated building. The leftover chicken was combined with some spaghetti to provide a hot meal the following day.
“Some people from the Methodist church (in Sun City Center) make take-out plates when they can so the farmworkers – when they come in late, tired and dirty – have a hot meal right there waiting for them,” Cruz said. “There are so many loyal volunteers here, but the Lord keeps sending people to us and we need more and more to help them.”
At Christmas time, the needs are especially great. More people are out of work for the winter, and Cruz would like to see every family get at least one toy for each child and a good meal on the table.
“With faith it can happen,” she said. “We do everything on faith.”
A list of needed items, a brochure about the mission and other information are available by calling 634-7136, visiting the mission at 14920 Balm-Wimauma Road, or e-mailing Cruz’s daughter, who also works at the mission, at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).