Wesley Chapel car dealership helps restock shelves at Metropolitan Ministries

WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. - On Saturday, Metropolitan Ministries teamed up with Volkswagen of Wesley Chapel for the second time to collect food donations at the dealership.

Metropolitan Ministries says the amount of people who are coming into its family support centers needing food assistance right now has doubled. The organization also says it is seeing more and more people asking for help who haven’t needed assistance before because of rising costs.

"It is kind of shocking to see our shelves bare. It’s not a sight we’re used to seeing and it’s like a perfect storm, it’s not a good one. It’s rising costs. It’s more need. It’s a little bit less donations coming in understandably in times like this, and a supply and demand issue, where some of our purchases are later in coming in. All of these things are happening at once," said Justine Burke, a spokesperson for Metropolitan Ministries.

READ: Volunteer stories: The backbone of Metropolitan Ministries

For some people, donating food was personal. 

Metropolitan Ministries teamed up with Volkswagen of Wesley Chapel for the second time to collect food donations at the dealership.

Jessica Camacho is a receptionist at the dealership and was on the receiving end of these donations at one point.

"A few years ago I was struggling myself," Camacho said. "I’m a single mom of three boys and I needed backpacks but I didn’t know how to actually go and say, ‘I needed help’, because it felt weird to me asking for help. But I knew that my kids needed stuff, so I went and got backpacks and they gave us food. They gave us clothes. They did everything they could for us."

The food drive brought in approximately 5,500 pounds of food.

LINK: For more information on how to help, visit https://www.metromin.org/.