Christine Jerome and her grandmother Mary Ann Mowen. "My grandmother drove here from south Florida so we could feed the homeless," Jerome said. "Metropolitan Ministries was full and my pastor friend John Legg (of South Shore United Methodist) told me they needed help here." Added Mowen: "I took a three-hour trip to get here and I want to work. I wanted to work helping others." - MyPaperNow.com - Your Stories, Your Life.© / Join Us In The Journey© / Linda Chion Kenney

Your Stories. Your Life.©

COMMUNITY NEWS ONLINE / Join Us In The Journey©

Email: linda.MyPaperNow@yahoo.com

By LINDA CHION KENNEY: UPDATED 11-23: More than 850 people were fed at the Fourth Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner, held Nov. 22 at the Boys & Girls Club, Bill Carey Brandon Unit, at 213 N. Knights Ave. Hundreds more volunteered. Last year's dinner fed around 250 people, prompting organizer Cynthia Pinckney of Cynthia Pinckney Ministries to say: "I guess next year we're going to need a stadium." Visit: http://www.cynthiapinckneyministries.org. CLICK ON THE INDIVIDUAL PHOTOS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE EVENT.

Gallery pages: < 1 2 3 4 5 6 > >>

< 11 of 102 >

mypapernow > Volunteer Pam Brown works at the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce. "This is the largest in the last three years I've been here," Brown said of the Fourth Annual Community Day Thanksgiving Day Dinner. "We really need to be more aware of what our nonprofit organizations are doing and step in and help because the nonprofits can't do it alone." She noted that the chamber, at 330 Pauls Drive, has a box in which people can contribute nonperishable foods for the El Bethel Tabernacle United Pentacostal Church food pantry at 2121 South 78th Street in Tampa.

mypapernow > Christine Jerome and her grandmother Mary Ann Mowen. "My grandmother drove here from south Florida so we could feed the homeless," Jerome said. "Metropolitan Ministries was full and my pastor friend John Legg (of South Shore United Methodist) told me they needed help here." Added Mowen: "I took a three-hour trip to get here and I want to work. I wanted to work helping others."

mypapernow > Tommie Peters: "I'm an evangelist. The Holy Spirit led me to come here and help. We have so many people who are in need and they need to know people care about them, and most of all that Jesus cares about them."

mypapernow > From left, Betty Lund, Kahlia Lee, Amy Jo Rodriguez, Kanara Lee and Julie Robaus. Why give up a Thanksgiving Day at home? "Beause some people aren't as fortunate as other people," Kahlia Lee said. "So it's good to help out and to give back and to just be thinking about other people."

mypapernow > "This is our Fourth Annual Community Thanksgiving Day Dinner," Cynthia Pinckney, of Cynthia Pinckney Ministries, told the hundreds of people gathered to serve and to partake of a communal dinner. "Isn't God awesome? Yes, he is. We're so thankful to have you here, to come out from your busy schedule, to feed each other." There is, Pinckney added, so much to be thankful for. "No matter what your circumstances are today, you have so much to be thankful for."

mypapernow > The Potter family starts Thanksgiving Day helping others. From left, Elizabeth, Kevin and GraceAnn Potter. "It's a tradition we've always done for Thanksgiving, giving back to the community at Thanksgiving," GraceAnn Potter said.

mypapernow > Feeding and clothing the homeless, hungry and displaced, strenghtening the weak, and seeking the lost is the mission statement of Cynthia Pinckney Ministries. Email Cynthia, center, at cp@cynthiapinckneyministries.org.

mypapernow > Cynthia Pinckney, right, said it is imporant to "forget ourselves and see the hurts and needs of others." Whatever burdens we have, she added, 'I'm here to tell you, it could be worse."

mypapernow > From left. J.C. Howard, Tasha Grace, Dominique Grace, Cynthia Pinckney and Skip Wilson.

Christine Jerome and her grandmother Mary Ann Mowen. "My grandmother drove here from south Florida so we could feed the homeless," Jerome said. "Metropolitan Ministries was full and my pastor friend John Legg (of South Shore United Methodist) told me they needed help here." Added Mowen: "I took a three-hour trip to get here and I want to work. I wanted to work helping others."