Media Advisory: Struggling families in Pasco County have more options for help and life change as Tampa Bay’s Metropolitan Ministries expands its mission with a new campus in Holiday
Holiday, Fla. (June 10, 2024)—This Wednesday, a dual ribbon cutting and groundbreaking ceremony will take place as Metropolitan Ministries celebrates the grand opening of the first phase of its MiraclePlace Pasco campus redevelopment and expansion in Holiday. Immediately following the ribbon cutting, the organization will break ground on a new state-of-the-art early childhood education center. The project will double their capacity to provide life-changing programs and family crisis resources in Pasco County.
The most poignant moment is expected to come from Wendy who will share her testimony of fleeing abuse and finding a haven at Metropolitan Ministries in Pasco for her and her six-year-old son. Over the past 11 months, Wendy took advantage of everything Metro had to offer including CREATE educational services and counseling for her son and adult education and vocational training for herself. Now a certified phlebotomist and medical assistant, she is working full time and getting ready to move into her own home.
“This is an example of how we’re taking action to address the crises many families are facing. We’re working together with Pasco County to help at-risk and homeless families, and children, who are the innocent victims of circumstances, said Metropolitan Ministries President and CEO, Tim Marks. “These new facilities are part of our strategy to help families throughout Tampa Bay to alleviate suffering for many families who have lost hope.”
The $20 million project is fully funded and represents the coming together of generous donors in the community, State of Florida Department of Children and Families, Pasco County Commissioners, Florida Community Loan Fund, Chase New Markets Corporation, The Reinvestment Fund, Chase Community Equity, and Evolution Contracting.
Honored guests include Scott Fink, CEO of Subaru of Wesley Chapel, and his wife and Kathy Fink, Richard Bekesh, President, Spring Engineering, Kathryn Starkey, Pasco Commissioner District 3, Nikki Ubaldini, Gary & Nikki Team at Keller Williams, Dewey Mitchell, Market President Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. The group championed the project and will articulate the collaborative value and long-term impact in the community.
The campus is a replicable model of Metropolitan Ministries in Tampa. The first phase of the campus upgrade includes a new family support center to meet the growing outreach and homeless prevention resource needs of the West Pasco community. Services include a food pantry, clothing, rent and utility assistance, mobile outreach, and navigation assistance for SNAP and other emergency benefits. An additional 24 residential housing units for single women and homeless families with children offers 24-hour staff support, three hot meals a day, trauma counseling, education, childcare, after school programming, health and wellness, spiritual care, employment training, housing assistance, and case management. The units are already full and there is a waitlist.
The early childhood education center will round out phase two. Metro Ministries’ educational programs are designed to help children who have experienced trauma with their educational needs from early childhood through teenage years. To impact the most vulnerable children, Metro has an innovative program, CREATE (Children’s Recreational, Education, Arts, and Therapeutic Experience), uniquely staffed with therapeutic specialists and registered behavioral technicians that give school-age children a nurturing environment to grow, process their challenges, and learn techniques to deal with their emotions. The center will be open to campus residents and families in need in the surrounding community.
Metropolitan Ministries has been providing services in Pasco County for nearly 20 years in partnership with Joining Hands Community Mission, which was acquired by Metropolitan Ministries in 2016.
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About Metropolitan Ministries
Founded 52 years ago as a local, independent nonprofit, we provide hunger relief, emergency shelter, residential programs, education and job training, family support services, affordable housing, mobile outreach, and an array of comprehensive services that alleviate suffering, promote dignity, and instill self-sufficiency for at-risk, struggling, and homeless individuals, families, and children in the Tampa Bay region. Locations in Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas Counties. Metro’s services touch and change the lives of more than 90,000 individuals and families, as well as 157,000 children each year. Learn more at www.metromin.org.