In 1972, 13 downtown Tampa churches came together to address poverty and homelessness in their community. That effort became Metropolitan Ministries, which today cares for people experiencing homelessness and those at risk of losing their homes through services that alleviate suffering, promote dignity, and build self-sufficiency across Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties. Pinellas Community Foundation (PCF) first supported that work in 2014. Twelve years and five grants later, $349,572.97 in support has helped Metropolitan Ministries feed thousands of Pinellas County families through a pandemic, put a mobile outreach van on the road, and keep older adults in their homes.
Where It Started
The partnership began in 2014 with a $1,500 grant from a donor-advised fund at PCF, supporting Metropolitan Ministries’ work with families and individuals. It was a modest start, and a reminder that a lasting partnership can begin with one fundholder choosing to put their giving to work for their neighbors.
Answering a Pandemic in Pinellas County
When COVID-19 arrived, Metropolitan Ministries launched its Essential Services emergency response plan on March 17, 2020. Within the first month, it was distributing 7 times as many food boxes to meet the growing need. Requests for rent and utility help climbed just as quickly: across Tampa Bay, the organization’s direct financial assistance grew from $156,000 in 2019 to $1.955 million in the months after March 2020.
The need reached Pinellas County, too. Before March 2020, Metropolitan Ministries did not supply food boxes to partner sites or provide rent and utility assistance to Pinellas County residents. As food insecurity grew, the organization reached out to its existing Pinellas County partners and began doing both.
Boxes of Hope
In December 2020, PCF awarded Metropolitan Ministries $265,647.97 through the Pinellas CARES Nonprofit Partnership Fund, the largest grant in the partnership.
Of that award, $136,647.97 reimbursed Metropolitan Ministries for COVID-19 relief it had already provided using unbudgeted funds: food purchased to fill food boxes, and emergency rent and utility payments made directly to landlords on behalf of Pinellas County households hit financially by the pandemic. That work had served 6,930 people with food and 269 people with eviction mitigation.
The remaining $129,000 bought food for Boxes of Hope, emergency food boxes packed in Metropolitan Ministries’ warehouse and handed out by community partners across Pinellas County during the last two weeks of December. Partners included the Dream Center of Florida, Helping Hands, Positive Impact, Meals on Wheels for Kids, United Way North Greenwood, Oldsmar Cares, the Skinner Foundation, and United Way at Campbell Park. Working through neighborhood partners meant families didn’t have to travel as far for food. In December 2020 alone, Metropolitan Ministries served 4,491 Pinellas County households with food boxes.
Marie’s family was one of them. Earlier that year, her husband was badly hurt in a car accident, and after a long hospital stay, the bills piled up. Soon after, the family lost their home in the middle of the pandemic. Searching for hope, Marie reached out to Metropolitan Ministries, and her family received a holiday food box and gifts for their kids.
Putting Outreach on Wheels
The pandemic’s costs lingered. In Pinellas County alone, Metropolitan Ministries provided $598,871 in unbudgeted meals and food and $196,720 in unbudgeted rental support as an immediate response, and over time, requests for food, housing, rent, and utility assistance rose 500%. In 2020, the organization also canceled Bridge Builders, its largest annual fundraising event, losing approximately $500,000 in revenue.
With community donations directed toward crisis assistance, one practical need had to wait: a transit van for the Pinellas BrigAIDe mobile outreach team. Other pandemic relief grants the organization received came with restrictions that didn’t allow for a vehicle.
In 2023, federal recovery funds* awarded through PCF provided $52,425 for that van. Metro BrigAIDe is Metropolitan Ministries’ mobile outreach program, and its Pinellas team goes directly to the people it serves rather than waiting for them to find their way to an office.
The van travels throughout Pinellas County, not tied to any single zip code. Its mobility expanded the team’s reach into new areas and communities, connecting with neighbors who might otherwise have difficulty accessing services. Its ample space lets the team carry everything needed to set up at meal sites: food, fresh water, clothing, a pair of shoes, or essential items for daily living. It also gives clients privacy from passersby, and dignity, while they receive services.
The van supports one of the most hopeful parts of the team’s work, too: family reunification. When a client is ready to reunite with loved ones, the team can now provide a safe, comfortable ride to the bus station. As Metropolitan Ministries shared in its report to PCF, that removes a stressor and allows clients “to focus on their future rather than worrying about how they will get to the bus station.”
The results showed up quickly. From August to December 2023, the Pinellas BrigAIDe team served 358 individuals, followed by 177 more in early 2024.
Keeping Older Adults Housed
While BrigAIDe met neighbors on the street, Metropolitan Ministries’ NeighborHOPE program was seeing growing need among older adults. NeighborHOPE provides homeless prevention, community navigation, employment and adult education services, and case management to households in Pinellas County, working alongside partner locations in St. Petersburg and Clearwater such as the Sanderlin Center and the Homeless Empowerment Program.
In 2024, Metropolitan Ministries saw more than a 15% increase in requests for help from older adults, and Hurricanes Helene and Milton deepened that need. At the time, NeighborHOPE’s existing funding could cover up to $500 of a senior’s rent or mortgage, often not enough to close the gap given rental costs in Pinellas County. Many seniors were left searching for another source of help or giving up groceries or medication to make up the difference.
In 2025, a $20,000 grant through PCF’s Senior Citizens Services program made it possible to cover a full month of rent. The need was immediate. The NeighborHOPE team distributed the full award within four months, helping 15 senior-led households with an average of $1,300 each. Many of those seniors had been waitlisted for lack of funding, and news of the grant spread quickly by word of mouth. The team’s biggest challenge was turning away additional eligible seniors once the funds were gone.
Cherry was one of the seniors who received help. She had recently moved to Pinellas County and was barely making ends meet on her SSI income as costs kept rising. She reached out to NeighborHOPE for rental assistance and case management and was assisted through PCF’s grant in June 2025. Through Metropolitan Ministries’ employment case manager, she was hired full-time by Goodwill, supplementing her income. Cherry completed case management and has maintained her housing.
Growing With the Need
In 2026, PCF awarded Metropolitan Ministries another $10,000 through Senior Citizens Services to continue NeighborHOPE’s work with Pinellas County seniors. The program’s approach also makes room for older adults who own their homes. Rising insurance, property taxes, and everyday expenses strain fixed incomes, and for a small number of seniors aging in place, one-time mortgage assistance can prevent a short-term crisis from becoming a lost home.
Each household that receives help first completes a financial class and a personal budget, so assistance works as a one-time step toward stability rather than a stopgap.
Still Showing Up
When the pandemic brought Metropolitan Ministries’ food boxes and rent help to Pinellas County in 2020, they arrived through neighborhood partners who already knew their communities. That instinct has carried through the partnership since: food handed out at familiar neighborhood sites, an outreach team that drives to wherever people are, and help that keeps older adults in the homes they know.
Today, Metropolitan Ministries remains a current PCF grant partner, and its NeighborHOPE team continues helping older adults across Pinellas County stay housed. Twelve years in, the partnership is still moving in the direction it started: toward the neighbors who need it.
Inspired by what is possible in Pinellas County? Learn how to establish a fund at Pinellas Community Foundation and put your giving to work: pinellascf.org.
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* Federal recovery funds refers to the ARPA Nonprofit Capital Project Fund.
