Hunger relief efforts in Miami Lakes

Community By Linda Trischitta, Editor Wednesday, April 29, 2020

At Royal Oaks Park on a recent Friday morning, people waited inside 750 cars to receive vegetables and fruit gathered up by Feeding South Florida for a hunger relief effort organized by Miami Lakes Councilman Luis Collazo.
“They’re lining up at midnight,” Collazo said about those seeking help at the park on April 24. “That’s hunger.”
Collazo was joined by Mayor Manny Cid, Vice Mayor Nelson Rodriguez, Councilman Josh Dieguez and volunteers from town and South Florida organizations and companies that do good.
Michelle Diaz of Miami Lakes was idling in her car in the long lines that hot morning.
“I need food,” Diaz said. “I temporarily lost my job.”
She said of the distribution, the second one held at the park within two weeks, “I think it’s great. It’s really organized.”
Diaz joined the line of autos at 4:30 a.m., “and there were a lot of cars there before me,” she said.
Waiting traffic was backed up along Northwest 87 Avenue from the park entrance at Northwest 165 Street to Northwest 186 Street, and then west across Interstate 75 to a park-and-ride lot.

At the same time and across town at Miami Lakes United Methodist Church, volunteers placed bags of frozen chicken, tortillas and sandwiches in 400 cars.
Standing ready to help at the church -- known for its motto “Where Hope Begins” and its annual
fall pumpkin patch -- was Gloria Bodin, who runs the Children’s and Youth Ministry.
Her husband Stuart Bodin is pastor of the church, at 14800 NW 67 Ave.
“We get donations and give it out until it’s gone,” said Bodin about their good deeds that began in March, when the coronavirus outbreak caused businesses to close and left many people without income.
Food is distributed weekdays from 10 a.m. until noon.
Dressed in a yellow safety vest to manage the traffic, Bodin said some of the donations come from the town’s Groceries4Seniors program.
Waiting boxes held large bags of shelled eggs, “enough eggs for a year,” she said.
Back at Royal Oaks Park, Stuart Bodin was also directing traffic. The couple’s sons Kade Bodin, 18, and Dane Bodin, 16, were filling trunks with boxes of vegetables.
“I’m here because people need help,” Kade Bodin said. “I never thought I’d see something like this in Miami Lakes, to be honest with you.”
Dane Bodin said he felt it was important to make a contribution.
The brothers, who attend Miami Lakes
Educational Center, wore masks and gloves, as did all the volunteers.
Kade Bodin said he was “a little scared,” not about contracting the virus, but of the misfortune he was witnessing.
“You don’t know if it’s going to happen to you, if more people lose their jobs,” Kade Bodin said.
The state reported from March 15 – April 23, 66,842 people in
Miami-Dade County filed for unemployment; in all, 1.8 million Floridians had submitted applications during the pandemic.
Beneath a marquee that shaded boxes of cabbages were Mary Martin of Miami Lakes and her sister Leah Gaskin, visiting from New York.
Martin recently retired. When she got a call to help, she showed up.
“It’s the right thing to do,” Martin said. “People should not go hungry in this country.”

Hundreds of drivers waiting to receive food idled along Northwest 87 Avenue outside of Royal Oaks Park in Miami Lakes on April 24. Photos: Linda Trischitta.