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Volunteer’s efforts ensure 100,000 meals

Posted Aug 25, 2010 by Beth Gaddis

Updated Aug 25, 2010 at 11:31 AM

I went grocery shopping last week and as I got out of the car, I saw a former neighbor with his two kids.  Five years ago, he had everything.  Then, in rapid succession, he got divorced, got cancer, lost his job and lost his house.  As we went into the store together, we parted ways and I thought about how quickly life can change.

Millions of people who used to have good jobs and happy homes are hurting now.  And millions have to use food stamps or turn to food banks to get the most basic necessities to feed their families. 

One woman’s efforts just ensured 100,000 hungry people in our area would get a meal.

Northwestern Mutual Foundation named Tampa financial representative Melissa Powell its outstanding volunteer of the year.  The company gave $25,000 to Feeding America Tampa Bay, where Powell has been a board member for seven years.  The money will pay for 100,000 meals.

“We have about 600 agencies that work with Feeding America in the Hillsborough-Pinellas County area, including soup kitchens, Metropolitan Ministries, the kids’ café where we feed kids and the backpack program where we send kids home with food for the weekend,” Powell said. “We have 18 million pounds of food that went out last year.  That impacted a half-million people in our community and the need is even greater.  It’s twice that.”

Powell, 45, has a full-time job and is the mother of three boys, Joshua, 11, Jackson, 9, and Jarrett, 6.  I asked her how she finds time to also volunteer. “Just go do it,” she said.  “Put it on your calendar to pick up the phone and call a charity.  See what tugs at your heart. There are a lot of things that need manpower and brain power.”

Powell is teaching her kids to make a difference, too.  Her boys are in Cub Scouts, and two years ago her son asked the Council if the local Cub Scouts troops’ food drive could go toward Feeding America.  They put 700 paper bags in mailboxes, and collected 2,500 pounds of food.  Now, all Cub Scouts troops are donating to the same cause.

“It’s not the guy on the street corner begging for food. It’s somebody who is at church, somebody who has lost their assistance, somebody who just needs help after having a bad time (that benefits),” Powell said.

She told one story about a caregiver at a group home who started using Feeding America Tampa Bay’s services a few years ago, and is now saving $1,500 a month on her food bills. “That’s $1,500 she can now use for the kids, for soccer lessons, violin lessons, field trips.  She took them to see Tallahassee. That’s huge, because if you can’t take care of the most basic needs, everything else falls to the side. It brought tears to my eyes.”