Metro Ministries opens holiday tent

6.32 right now and happening today, tis the season of giving. It's opening day for a special symbol of the season, the Metropolitan Ministries holiday tents. And FOX 13's Heather Healy is live there for us right now with a preview. Heather, good morning. Hey, good morning to both of you guys right here off of Living Avenue and Metropolitan Ministries does so much for the community, right? And they definitely are going to do so much during this holiday season. Take a look around here. We've already got some canned goods already mixed vegetables around. Peas are here. Cranberry sauce. I've got green beans. That means we are ready for Thanksgiving. But get this for thousands of Bay Area families putting a traditional holiday dinner on the table this year. Well, really nearly feels out of reach, right? Metro A sharp spike in the cost of living means over 30,000 households across Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties are going to rely on them just to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas. So the effort nearly hit a wall here after a recent theft stripped essential tent supplies. But local sponsors, led by Florida Blue, stepped in to assure 150,000 meals get to those who need it most. Take a listen. Our community in Tampa Bay has been so generous and for 54 years Metropolitan Ministries has been able to serve the community. So we're just asking that the community come out and support us a little bit more right now as we try to really make sure that we're able to get these tents opened up on time. They can go to MetroMin.org donate which would be really wonderful but we also need canned goods as well toys and volunteers. I mean it takes a lot to make sure that these four tent locations are up and running for the holidays. So making this happen across four regional tents and nine pop-out sites takes massive effort. One million pounds of food, 60,000 toys, and 15,000 volunteers. The urgent call right now, it's for frozen hams and turkeys, canned holiday sides, like I just previewed just a second ago, and gifts geared toward older kids and teens. And for families looking to register to help or if they need that assistance, You can go to Metro Min, that's M-E-T-R-O, Min. We'll be right back. Really what needs to fill the gap. So that's something that people need this holiday season. So people can have a great holiday season to celebrate. All right, Heather Haley live for us this morning. Heather, thank you.