Food Truck Convoy Provides Food To St. Pete Families In Need

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Food trucks in St. Pete have teamed up with a local church and restaurants to deliver free meals to hungry bellies financially affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Pastor Blake Clark of Radius Church and local entrepreneur Dru Rabin came up with the idea for Food Truck Convoy in March. Several owners of food trucks in the area heard about the newly formed group and liked its purpose of giving back to those in need during the pandemic. Employees and volunteers of the trucks hand out meals at various locations Monday through Friday.

"At first, we were going back with some extra food but now we're getting rid of the food (at the end of the day)," said Smoothie Operator owner Lev Pasikhov. "I feel like people are starting to feel some of the effects financially from this whole thing."

Four-hundred meals a day are given to families in need. But the giving doesn't stop at families. Pasikhov shared his most memorable day since doing this. "When the program started, it was meant for kids who were staying home from school and were maybe used to getting all their food provided by the school district. We were also getting a lot of homeless--or unhoused as I like to say. There was one day where almost no kids came and there was this one guy who stopped by and asked what we were doing. He left and then came back and brought back an army of probably 20 people who were unhoused and hanging out in the parks. The amount of gratitude that was expressed to us that day was overwhelming."

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The Food Truck Convoy's daily schedule is located on their Facebook page. They make multiple stops throughout the day around the St. Pete area.

Funding that helps them give back is offered through the St. Petersburg Foundation and Feeding Tampa Bay. Some of the locally owned restaurants that provide food to the trucks include Karma Cafe and The Hangar.

Volunteers do follow the CDC guidelines on social distancing, face covering and gloves while handing out meals.

Check out more Patch stories on how the St. Pete community is uniting to help those in need:

• Keeping St. Pete Kids Fed With Free Food Distribution
• St. Pete Heroes: Help Patch Recognize Those Making A Difference
• More Small Business Money Relief Available To St. Pete Firms