Tampa nonprofit bracing for record level of need over holidays

Pandemic or not, Metropolitan Ministries will hold its annual Holiday Tent, but it will be grab-and-go turkey dinners this year.

TAMPA — For the past 24 years, tens of thousands of poor families have turned to Metropolitan Ministries for their Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and for toys for their children.

The nonprofit’s annual holiday tent, roughly the size of a football field, has become one of Tampa’s most visible works of charity.

But in a year where the coronavirus has ravaged the economy, the 2020 holiday season could be the biggest challenge the nonprofit has ever faced, said chief executive officer Tim Marks.

Read the full story by Christopher O’Donnell at Tampa Bay Times.