By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
This is the new Isuzu truck with a custom extended box that the SOS Outreach Mission of the Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea will use to pick up fresh fruits and vegetables from FarmShare in Homestead three times a week.
KEY WEST | The Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea is revving up its mission to get fresh produce to the hungry throughout the Keys.
Its Star of the Sea Outreach Mission just acquired a fifth truck which it will use to make three weekly trips to FarmShare in Homestead. The non-profit collects fresh fruits and vegetables from area farmers, wholesalers and other groups and then donates the produce to programs that feed the hungry.
“A papaya may have a blemish on it and consumers don’t buy it even though it’s perfectly good food,” said SOS driver Robert “Woody” Wood in an interview with the Key West Citizen.
According to an article in the newspaper, the new truck is an Isuzu NPR-HD which “cost $68,000 and is equipped with a V8 gas engine, GMC motor and a custom extended box to allow for more food to be carried.”
This is the second large truck acquired by the SOS mission to make the trips to FarmShare. The ministry also has three smaller vans that handle distribution and local pickups.
According to the article, "the extended box can haul up to eight pallets of food and 10,000 pounds, which is a huge asset to the mission."
“This is what the mission really needed,” Wood told the Citizen. “It gives us the opportunity to get the highest weight we can where we can still travel back down safely.”
“Great is our mission's response to the needs of our neighbors throughout the Keys. Sad that there is such a need,” said Father John Baker, rector of the Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea, in an email to the archdiocese.
He noted that in Monroe County, 36 percent of residents live below affordability level and 12 percent below the poverty level, which equals “48 percent in need.”
Thomas Callahan, the SOS Mission’s executive director, told the Citizen that the mission distributes 2,000 children’s meals each week, as well as an average of 100,000 pounds of food per month at Keys pantries.
“All of this food is distributed directly at our food pantries on Stock Island and in Key Largo, and indirectly through 31 other feeding sites that we support from Key Largo to Key West,” Callahan told the newspaper. “These include agencies such as Samuels and MARC House, preschools, senior centers and other food pantries.”
According to Father Baker, those other pantries include the one at St. Peter Church in Big Pine Key, the one at San Pedro in Tavernier, the one at St. Justin Martyr in Key Largo and Care in Marathon, which is supported by San Pablo Church.
“May we give thanks to God for all who serve in, and support, the Star of the Sea Outreach Mission,” Father Baker added in his email.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
The Star of the Sea Outreach Mission on Stock Island just acquired a new Isuzu truck to add to the four in the picture that were already in its fleet.
