By Matt Wiley
The “Season of Giving” has been good to Bay Chapel, a New Tampa church group of about 150 members that meets on Sundays at the Turner-Bartels K-8 Center (located on Imperial Oak Blvd. in Live Oak Preserve).
It’s been so good, in fact, that the church’s new food pantry that is housed at Christian Brothers Automotive (located across Bruce B. Downs [BBD] Blvd. at Trout Creek Dr.) is packed with donated food that the church hopes to donate to literally anyone in need. No strings attached.
Bay Chapel’s food pantry offers canned goods to those who need them in the communities in New Tampa and beyond and is open 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturday of each month.
“This is real people coming together to make a difference in the community,” says Lee Schielka, a Meadow Pointe resident who says he inadvertently started the pantry when he gave a couponing seminar recently to some of his fellow Bay Chapel members.
Schielka says that church members were excited to find themselves with some extra cash at the grocery after using a bunch of coupons and decided to purchase canned goods to donate. So, about two months ago, Bay Chapel Pastor Wes Morris and the church leadership decided to start a food pantry.
“Through that excitement, this ministry was born,” Schielka says. The pantry grew so fast that there soon wasn’t anywhere to store the donated food items. Schielka says that, with the help of a Home Depot gift card that was donated by a Bay Chapel member, they were able to purchase a pre-built shed for storage. However, the question was where to put it.
“I had been in to Christian Brothers Automotive a few times with my car and spoken with Marty LaBarbera (the owner of the auto shop),” Shielka explains. “He graciously said that we could house the pantry shed on his property.”
In just a few months since opening the pantry, it’s now stacked to the roof with donated food items. Many of those items are regularly donated to Turner-Bartels for students in need, Shielka says, but the shelves just keep filling up.
“We want to reach out to the whole community,” Shielka says. “Anyone can use the pantry. There’s no catch… you don’t have to attend our services.”
Morris agrees. “We love this community and we want to make a positive difference any way we can,” Morris says. “That’s the heartbeat of Bay Chapel. We want to show God’s love in practical ways and bring hope to those who are hurting.”
For anyone who wishes to donate, if you bring at least two cans of food to Christian Brothers Automotive, you will receive $10 off your auto service.
Bay Chapel meets on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. at the Turner-Bartels K-8 Center (9020 Imperial Oak Blvd.). For more info, please visit BayChapel.com.
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