Over 400 local charities and food pantries partner with Feeding Tampa Bay<\/a> to distribute groceries. One in four Tampa Bay children suffers from food insecurity.\u00a0<\/p>\n CEO Thomas Mantz said the state-of-the-art facility, which opened in May 2024, has helped Feeding Tampa Bay \u201cgrow our mission dramatically.\u201d He said the nonprofit is \u201cable to do what we do because partners like the Rays step in and make that possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Tampa Bay Rays mascot Raymond welcomed community members to the free market and bistro.<\/p>\n Rays volunteers worked in shifts at the center for nine hours. They helped select and package groceries, assisted recipients to their cars, directed traffic, stocked food and checked for quality issues at the facility\u2019s free market.\u00a0<\/p>\n Participants also staffed The Bistro<\/a> for a day, serving food, cleaning tables, working in the kitchen and completing other restaurant tasks. Guests can receive a free hot meal, pay what they can or \u201cpay it forward\u201d to the next diner.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I say \u2018takeover,\u2019 it\u2019s a total takeover,\u201d Mantz said. \u201cPeople really want to have a great Thanksgiving. It\u2019s a holiday that is uniquely American \u2013 we all enjoy it. It\u2019s important to sit around a table and enjoy those you love. The Rays are making that possible for a whole lot of families.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He noted that the market offers \u201cgood, fresh and healthy items,\u201d including pet food and personal care products. People select what they like and have a \u201cdignified shopping experience.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Mantz said The Bistro provides \u201cthe same thing.\u201d Diners receive a \u201cterrifically prepared\u201d sit-down meal, often with \u201cfriends you don\u2019t know yet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Guests at The Bistro receive a nutritious, hot sit-down meal served by volunteer wait staff.<\/p>\n The Rays have partnered with Feeding Tampa Bay for over 20 years. Tran called the nonprofit the \u201cperfect partner in this space to make sure that our community has what they need to feed their families and take care of their loved ones.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe find that to be an incredibly important cause within our community, and something that\u2019s ongoing,\u201d Tran added. \u201cThey are trusted partners \u2026 who do this incredible work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n That \u201cincredible work\u201d includes school food assistance programs, a food prescription initiative, a mobile grocery store, providing disaster relief, neighborhood services, workforce training, nutrition education and research to combat food insecurity.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe couldn\u2019t do this work without our staff, and they\u2019re so energized by all of our volunteer opportunities throughout the year,\u201d Tran said. \u201cAround the holidays, I think we all feel a little bit greater sense of devotion to that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The Rays Baseball Foundation sponsored the Thanksgiving meal giveaway. Tran noted that the team also offers staff paid time off to serve their communities, whether at their child\u2019s school or at a project planned by the community outreach department.\u00a0<\/p>\n Feeding Tampa Bay is among the local organizations leading efforts to mitigate the effects<\/a> of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Nearly 97,000 Pinellas County residents rely on federal food benefits to afford groceries.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the 43-day shutdown ended Nov. 12, Mantz recently told <\/a>WUSF<\/a> that he expects an acute local food shortage to continue for three months. Feeding Tampa Bay\u2019s website notes that 98% of all donations go directly to assistance programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Rays Thanksgiving Takeover, Mantz said the Causeway Center has allowed the nonprofit to increase services for previous clients and welcome people \u201cnew to our care.\u201d The \u201cterrific\u201d new facility has advanced the \u201cway in which we look after folks significantly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been inspirational to us as an organization,\u201d Mantz said of the center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over 500 people recently received Thanksgiving dinners and hot meals from the Tampa Bay Rays.\u00a0 Nearly 40 staff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-59207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rays-Feeding-TB-1-1024x592.jpg\")
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