When Kirstin Bassinger, an eighth-grader at Turkey Creek Middle School, found out a local food pantry had run out of food, she was not about to let the people it served go hungry. So, she set up three food collection days, Nov. 1, 3 and 4, to help Operation Compassion feed people for the holidays.
“There are so many more hungry people than I thought, and my heart really goes out to the needy,” Bassinger said.
Operation Compassion exists physically in a trailer behind the main building of Plant City Church of God. But its director, Dolores Stropagel, and other volunteers, are the heart of the ministry.
Stropagel started Operation Compassion 15 years ago as a ministry of the church.
“We didn’t have a food ministry on-site, so I wanted to volunteer for one,” she said.
The project began with food service for Thanksgiving, but it soon became a weekly service. Now, food is distributed from 10 a.m. to noon every Saturday to people referred by Hillsborough County Public Schools or the Florida Department of Health.
But this fall, Operation Compassion has not received enough donations to operate on its usual schedule. There have been three recent weeks during which the ministry had to close.
Bassinger was familiar with Operation Compassion because Stropagel is a nurse at her pediatrician’s office. Students often volunteer with Operation Compassion because it is registered on the school system’s list of approved locations to earn volunteer hours.
“It’s good for them to see the need, because if you’ve never been hungry, you don’t know what it’s like to be hungry,” said Stropagel, who grew up in a poor New York family for which food was not always a guarantee.
When Bassinger told Stropagel she wanted to earn volunteer hours at Operation Compassion, Stropagel told her about the recent extreme need and how the pantry had had to close.
Bassinger came up with a plan beyond just her weekly volunteering, which started Oct. 25. She decided to organize the food drive events in November. At each of these events, the Bassingers will set up their truck and hope the community will fill it with food for Operation Compassion.
“I feel the community needs to help and be a part in ending hunger,” Bassinger said. “I also feel that if I start helping, other people will too.”
Her mother, Jean Bassinger, brought up Operation Compassion’s need at a TCMS PTA meeting.
Bassinger’s friend from school, Camilla Becerra, has also signed on to help.
“She’s practically my sister,” Bassinger said. “She helps me with everything.”
Stropagel said many of the people who come to Operation Compassion are elderly and find themselves choosing between medications and food. The pantry serves between 25 and 50 people each Saturday and relies on volunteers like Bassinger.
“She’s always had a soft spot for anything where she can help people,” Jean said about her daughter.
Contact Catherine Sinclair at csinclair@plantcityobserver.com.