The Most Helpful Time of the Year

The Metropolitan Ministres tent works hard to help everyone have a happy holidy season.

  Every year, Metropolitan Ministries raises a tent on Palm Avenue to collect goods to aid those in need for the holidays. The tent opened in late October, and will see a major influx of both volunteers and clients in the next couple of months.

  Around 17,000 families were helped for the holiday season last year, with an expected 20,000 families this year.

  Metropolitan Ministries’ mission statement is simply put, but contains a clear call to action, “Our mission is to care for the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless in our community through services…” (For the full statement, visit metromin.org).

  This year, there’s extremely high demand for food items including turkey, gravy, cereal, canned fruit and beans, cranberry sauce, and canned yams.

  There are also items called Box of Hope and Bag of Joy that can be donated. For this option, a donation of $40 will provide food for a family over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

  The HCC community has already joined the cause – Phi Theta Kappa is preparing for their annual food drive for the Plant City Food Bank.

  Adviser of the Plant City chapter, Diane Kelly, is placing bins in her classroom to make collecting goods easier for students. Phi Theta Kappa will also be decorating the bins they place around campus to make them more noticeable and festive.

  Other teachers use extra credit as a motivating factor to get donations out of students. Some of the participating professors in the drive for Metropolitan Ministries include Sarrah Conn, Katen Amin, Zach Cronin and Myria Evans.

  While it’s very important for the HCC community to get involved in giving for the holiday season, there are families in need throughout the rest of the year. Representative of the Metropolitan Nathan Gula told the Hawkeye that slow periods include January, April, May, August and September.

  There’s a wide variety of volunteer positions available throughout the year. From working in the kitchen, to data entry, to volunteering in after school programs, there is a position for everyone. Volunteers are always wanted and welcome.