HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Uno, Corn hole, Connect Four, and some good ol’ team building took over Feeding Tampa Bay’s warehouse Wednesday. It also happens to be the third day of Mental Health Awareness Month.
“It’s a time for us to rest, relax and recharge,” said the Communications and Culture Officer Jaycee Peters.
You don’t often see this happening in their headquarters, especially over the last few years.
“There’s been a lot of pressure on our team, on the organizations,” Peters said. “And on the whole community.”
Normally, you see employees and volunteers in the warehouse unloading or loading trucks, sorting, bagging, and boxing food. Due to the pandemic and inflation, this work has increased.
“One of the things that concerns me most,” CEO and President Thomas Mantz said. “We are providing more meals than we have. We are providing more services than we ever have.”
According to Mantz, they’ve gone from 10 to 15 million meals a year to 90 million meals, which is still not enough.
For the employees and volunteers, it’s been mentally, physically and emotionally draining.
“We’re not often grouped in with first responders. But, when you are out in the community serving food, or you’re trying to provide benefits to somebody who is struggling, that takes a toll,” he said. “You see folks who are perhaps at their worse. The other part, all of us understand to the extent that we’re good at our job, more people have food and resources.”
With the genuine possibility of their workload increasing this summer, they all say this day was crucial.
“It’s something that fills up all of our cups,” Peters said. “It fills our soul to make sure we can serve the community.”
