FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Community Cooperativeis on a mission to feed 10,000 families this holiday season.
Your community correspondent, Miyoshi Price, spoke with a woman who now has all of the fixings to make a Thanksgiving meal and groceries for the rest of the month.
WATCH HER FULL REPORT BELOW:
Christina Angle went grocery shopping for free Wednesday at the community cooperative food market. She says she's homeless, but has some friends she will cook with for Thanksgiving.
Following the interview, Angle became very emotional as she explained all the food she has because of the Cooperative's market.
"It's awesome," she said.
The community cooperative, located off of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, is open every weekday from 10:30 a.m. until noon.
"Our community market is going to be our emergency food pantry, where individuals who are in need can come and get a week's worth of groceries and really anything that they need to make sure that they can keep food on their own table," says the CEO of the Community Cooperative, Stephanie Ink.
Sam's Community Cafe, also known as the Fort Myers soup kitchen, is a program where the agency provides hot meals for anybody who is hungry.
"We also do hot meals at all of our mobile food pantries all throughout southwest Florida as well," says Ink. "So we're really about feeding people here, community cooperative."
A full Thanksgiving spread will be given to families in need on Thanksgiving. Volunteers will start setting up at the cafe by 4:30 a.m. and they expect the line to start as early as 7 a.m.
The doors will open to the public at 10:30 a.m.
Meals on Wheels Manager Dave got excited when Price asked about the Thanksgiving menu.
"Turkey and we have stuffing that's made right here at the community cooperative," he said. "It's our own recipe." They will have almost all your traditional sides, like mashed potatoes, green bean cream casserole, and more.
Dave says you must contact them in advance if you need them to drop food off.
Ink says they will distribute about 3,000 turkeys this holiday season.
"Everybody has something that they can give back, and if it's not here at the community cooperative, find another organization in southwest Florida to support, but we love dollars to be able to support our mission in the work that we do and volunteerism," Ink said.
She says it takes 120 volunteers a day to run all of the programs.
Angle said she felt so thankful for all of the food she gained by going to the cooperative.
