A Mission of Many Hearts & Many Hands

Greater Brandon Area Meals on Wheels (GBMOW) has been serving medically needy, homebound residents in the Brandon, Valrico, and Seffner area since 1976. Seventeen area churches are serving approximately 200 hot nutritious mid-day meals Monday through Friday.  It may be their only meal that day. Also, for many, a visit from our volunteers is the only human contact they may receive that day. 

The need is great. Through the third quarter of this year, GBMOW has served over 36,000 meals!

So how does St. Andrew’s figure into all of this? As of the end of the third quarter, St. Andrew's has served 2,325 of those meals!  

On Tuesdays, a dedicated group of volunteers, led by Phala “the flavor queen” Pesano, prepares and packages between 65 - 70 delicious, nutritious hot meals for delivery to our clients.  Each hot meal is complete with a main course protein item (chicken, beef, pork, or fish), a starch, a vegetable, a salad, bread, and a dessert.  While we have a lot of flexibility in what we prepare, GBMOW does designate what main course protein each church will provide each month.  For example, for the month of October, our main course protein item will include beef.  As you can imagine, Phala does a lot of menu planning, shopping, and prep leading up to Tuesdays. 

Once the meals are prepared and packaged, an equally dedicated group of drivers deliver the meals to our clients. We currently have 11 routes that cover an area south of Highway 60, as far east as Dover Road., west to Providence Road, and south to the Alafia River.  We are also blessed with a group of substitute drivers that fill in, sometime at a moment's notice, to cover the absence of one of our primary drivers.  The willingness of these individuals to answer when called is amazing!

Our St. Andrew's Meals on Wheels Team are a "Mission of Many Hearts and Many Hands".

How do YOU figure into all of this? 

Volunteer! While we have a very reliable team of 11 delivery drivers, scheduling conflicts do arise. We are always looking to add to our substitute driver list. If you wish to volunteer, contact Tim Bridge at tbridge51@yahoo.com.

Can’t Volunteer? Make a charitable contribution. GBMOW is NOT government funded but relies on contributions from individual and business donors. Food costs are increasing, and we are fully supporting St, Andrews’ Creation Care initiative by transitioning from Styrofoam food containers to bio-degradable containers which will increase our supplies cost. While GBMOW provides reimbursement to our church, your contributions are what make it possible to sustain this vital program. 

Tim Bridge, Coordinator

Meals on Wheels

St. Andrew's United Methodist Church -Brandon, FL

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