Posted by: Eric Matos, January 2, 2012
On a very cold 22 degree frigid weather morning on December 28th in the downtown streets of Tampa, Brother Eric Matos from the Dr. Gilbert Ortiz Council 13525 of Saint Timothy Catholic Church in Lutz led a large group of his brother knights to the Santa Maria Catholic Mission located at 14004 North 15th Street in Tampa. The mission is an outreach mission from Saint Mary's Catholic Church in North Tampa. The council members wanted to help the church by assisting and feeding the homeless and poor of the local neighborhood. In this section of Tampa, there many people of many backgrounds who come to the church seeking help. The members started their operation at 7 a.m. and finished around 2 p.m. Each month, the church tries to assist about 200 to about 300 people from the area.
The meal consisted of hot, fresh spaghetti, clam chowder, salad, bread, cake and other various items including coffee. The knights worked inside the open aired church that only supports a fairly new roof according to Father Ramon Hernandez, Ret., Pastor of the mission, who says the roof just turned 5 years old. Father Hernandez said that about 350 people attend mass each Sunday at the church that is in the middle of a corner plot in a residential neighborhood. He also related that ever since the church first held its first mass on the grounds, that the local Knights of Columbus has always been there to assist in whatever needed to be done. Dr. Gilbert Ortiz Council 13525, Christ the King Council 12165, St. Mary of the Grove Council 11135, Tampa Council 667, Sacred Heart Council 12110, St Lawrence Council 11830 and Incarnation Council 8612 have all helped with projects.
Today, the Knights cooked and served to about 300 people of all ages as they huddled together to keep warm. They were organized by a couple of the church leaders, one, Odeenna, a lady who assists Father Hernandez, had just lost her husband about a month ago to Cancer, was busy with several people with several individual needs. Several men of the mission was inquiring about the knights and District Deputy Jose Raimundi was at hand explaining all that the Knight of Columbus was all about. Another member of the church, a very tall and outspoken community leader directed the people according to their needs and wants. The hot food was a well favored hit of the cold neighborhood who received it with open hands and warm friendly smiles.
