Food pantry trucks zoom along county roads almost every morning, picking up tens of thousands of pounds of food to be shared with almost 300 families each week in Wimauma.
“Our work on Saturday mornings distributing food to those in need hinges on our being able to collect food from many sources,” said Our Lady’s Pantry co-director Kim Kordalski. “We drive to Feeding Tampa Bay, four Aldis, three Publix, Sam’s Club, Sprouts, Winn-Dixie and Costco four days a week. We have two trucks and a wonderful team of drivers. But keeping our trucks on the road is the key to our survival in fighting hunger among the underserved.”
“We want someone with some basic knowledge of maintenance who can check fluid levels and tire pressure regularly,” said Dave Mariconda, manager of the pantry’s drivers, who has been driving for Our Lady’s Pantry for several years already. “We would point out our areas of concern and ask this individual to oversee the general health of our trucks. If anything needs to be done in that general sense, he or she would do that as well.”
Mariconda is also looking for more drivers to add to his team. No special license is needed to drive the pantry’s trucks.
To meet some of its drivers, please visit www.ourladyspantry.com/on-the-roadagain-2/.
If you wish to help maintain or drive the pantry’s trucks, kindly contact Our Lady’s Pantry co-director Tom Bullaro at 813-373- 3787. Our Lady’s Pantry is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity. These are volunteer opportunities. Thank you.
