GULFPORT, Fla. — A Pinellas County woman has a personal reason for making sure homeless people have enough to eat. Jax Taylor is doing that at her small Gulfport café.
What You Need To Know
Jax Taylor operates Jax In And Out Café in Gulfport.
Customers donate to a food pantry for needy and homeless residents.
Jax gives away donated turkeys and meals at Thanksgiving.
Customers pay for meals for needy people and put certificates that can be redeemed on the “magic mirror” by the front door.
Taylor takes in donated food from customers and community members at Jax In And Out Café at 4928 Gulfport Boulevard South. She also donates some of the food herself.
In one of the rooms at the café, she has a special table set up for people to drop off the food. “These are some of the supplies that people brought in today,” Taylor said as she showed off the food, which included stuffing mix and individual servings of Cheerios.
“And you’ll notice that the beanie weenies have pop tops on them, so it’s easy for the un-homed to be able to open it up and eat it,” she said.
Taylor also has a large pantry filled with food that will be given away to people in need. Taylor is in her 70s but says she has had a heart for feeding people in need since she was 14 years old in Ohio. She said she set up a coffee and sandwich ministry for the homeless in a church basement.
“None of this is mine. This all belongs to the people,” said Taylor about the donated food. “I don’t think anybody should go hungry. It’s not acceptable.”
There is a mirror at the front door of the café. It is filled with sticky notes that can be redeemed by a needy person for freshly cooked meals. Customers pay for the meals in advance.
“Absolutely the pay it forward idea,” said Taylor about the free meals.
Taylor said she also stages turkey and Thanksgiving meal give-a-way events each year.
Grandson Daina Gandarillas runs the front counter of the restaurant and appreciates Taylor’s generosity. “Grandma has shown me that giving what you can gives you more than you would have gotten originally,” he said.
Gandarillas said he has seen his grandmother’s generosity firsthand. He struggled with drug use for years and was sometimes homeless. He said Taylor and his mother helped him through his struggles, and he has been drug free for years.
Taylor said she also had drug problems and was sometimes homeless in the 1970s, so she and her grandson feel compelled to help people with overwhelming personal issues. “Yes, we do. Yes, we do,” she said. “Because that’s part of you getting well.”