TAMPA, Fla., (WFLA) – The Metropolitan Ministries is working to make sure anyone who needs a hot meal on Thanksgiving can get one.

In order to help the community, Metropolitan Ministries is asking the community for more donations so they can give hot meals to those who need them.

According to Metro Ministries, donations are down, but the need has been going up.

“People are counting on us and we can’t do anything without the community’s support. We are a true non-profit and if you look around here, you will see the shelves barely have food on them,” said Justine Burke, with Metropolitian Ministries.

Many families are still hurting after Hurricane Helene and Milton.

“When the hurricanes hit, we had to hit the pause button on those preparations and go into emergency recovery mode to assist people that were really just upended and had nowhere to go,” Burke said.

The non-profit stated they are seeing a 24% drop in their donations as the countdown to Thanksgiving gets closer, but the number of families in need has increased by 20%.

Officials said more than 1,800 families are in urgent need over these next few days.

“We have more families in crisis than ever before, we designed this program to help 30,000 families. We decided to increase that to 33,000 families because we know that there are some out there that never came to us for help,” said Tim Marks, CEO of Metropolitian Ministries.” They were maybe a volunteer or donor, this year because they lost everything, they need some help.”

In partnership with the community, 15,000 turkeys and hams, plus food boxes will be distributed at holiday tents and pop-up locations.

These efforts will help provide more than 600,000 warm, individual meals to those who need it, but they said that doesn’t cover everyone.

“We have people signing up who have never asked for help before. In fact, they may have been a donor before,” Burke said.

Items Metro needs the most:

  • Frozen turkeys and hams
  • Canned yams
  • Stuffing
  • Canned vegetables
  • Boxed potatoes
  • Cranberry sauce
  • Gravy
  • Cereal
  • Rice
  • Beans
  • Macaroni and cheese
  • Dessert mixes
  • Gift cards
  • Toys/gifts for children ages 4-17.

Any monetary donations will be matched by a donor to help twice as many families in need, which will double the impact of your holiday generosity.

The Tampa tent on Rome Avenue and the West Pasco tent on Little Road will close early at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 27.

For more information on how to donate or where to pick up a warm meal, click here.