October 31, 2025 • 6 mins
Feeding Tampa Bay President & CEO Thomas Mantz explains how the ongoing government shutdown is affecting local families, from food insecurity to community resources stretched thin — and shares how you can help support their mission during this critical time.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We are now more than three weeks into the federal
government shut down, and for about half million people in
the ten county area served by Feeding Tampa Bay, it's
about to get very real. That's because SNAP benefits are
set to be suspended effective tomorrow, and a lot more
people will be taking advantage of the services of Feeding
Tampa Bay. CEO Thomas Mattz joins us this morning to
(00:22):
bring us up to date on how the agency is responding. Thomas,
thank you for joining us today. You've actually been planning
this for some time, so bring us up to date
on your preparations and what you expect to see.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah, and thank you. Thank you for having us on.
We appreciate it. It certainly has been a time. Unfortunately,
we tend to talk to you when there are challenges
in our community like shutdowns or hurricanes or other issues,
but we appreciate the chance to have a conversation about
what's going on with our neighbors. And I think that's
always the key phrase is our neighbors are people in
our community who are going to be impacted by this.
(00:58):
As you said, it's about a half million folks, and
so in order for us to ramp up for that.
We've been planning for the better part of three weeks
against this eventuality, hoping it wouldn't happen, but realizing that
it might, and so we're prepared starting next week. As
the users of snap don't have the resources they normally would,
our team is preparing to one make sure that the
(01:21):
four hundred agencies that we work with across our ten
counties have more resources, and then we will stage, and Dana,
you're familiar with with this, we will stage mass distributions
in different places where there are more populous areas and
they're easy to get to, so that folks that don't
normally use our services have a way to get food
as quickly as needed.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
We're talking to Thomas Mann's CEO of Feeding Tampa Bay,
and Thomas, you just mentioned mentioned people who aren't familiar
with your services. So of the people that are needing
help right now, how many are people who have never
been in this situation before. They've typically been able to
put food on the table and now they find themselves
needing help.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, a good portion of them. Data, while and an
exact number is not really available to us because we
don't always know what everybody does. But certainly, probably close
to eighty percent, if not more, of that don't come
to see us because they have this tool that they're
already using. And so in our world, if you think
about it this way, feeding Tampa Bay across our ten
counties provides about one point nine million meals a week.
(02:21):
This could increase the need by at least half that
and so that's another close to million meals a week
we'd have to try and figure out how to find
to get to the community. That gives you a sense
of the size of impact.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
And what do you want the public to know about
the people who need help. I mean, there's kind of
a stigma that maybe people don't work, and that is
absolutely not the case, right correct.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Most of the people we serve work, and many of
the users in the larger part of the users us
snap if they're not children, our seniors work as well,
and so we do have myths around that. But David,
the question I think is really answered best this way.
If you think about Tampa Bay, what are we known for.
We're known for wonderful tourist attractions, terrific restaurants, wonderful stadiums
(03:04):
and arenas where we take in games and concerts, the
leisure community where we go to hotels and relax. All
of those folks, all of those folks do not make
enough to live and they rely on vehicles like snap
in order to survive. And so they're not folks who
are shirking their responsibilities. There are people who just have
a job that doesn't pay them enough to take care
(03:25):
of their household builds, and so we always want to
remember that on the other side of this as a
human being who is struggling to make sure that they
take care of themselves and their family. So a lot of.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
These folks that you're going to be seeing Thomas are
coming into Feeding Tampa Bay for the first time. What
do they need to know about Feeding Tampa Bay and
how best to take advantage of your services.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
So, first, for everybody that listens to this, feeding Tampa
Bay dot org, and there is a page dedicated to
government shutdown. So one, remember, if you're a federal worker,
We've already been taken sure of you for a month.
We've been given out one hundred and seventy thousand meals
over the last two or three weeks to federal workers
who are unpaid. We've provided utility assistant, crisis counseling, all
(04:10):
different kinds of things to make sure that folks could
make those folks who are working without pay can make it. Now,
we have part of the page dedicated to folks who
would normally access snap and so. On that page you
can find out where there are distributions near you. You
can find food by putting in your zip code. You
can see where we are and what resources are available
to do so Feeding Tampa Bay dot org right at
(04:31):
the top of the page there is a banner a
click on. We would also tell you to follow our
social For those that normally do that, you can punch
in feeding Tampa Bay and find us on Instagram and
Facebook and all the other locations. So whatever you need,
we want to make sure that you get access to
it as quickly as possible. And then to your answer.
If you're unfamiliar with our services, you'll find what we
(04:52):
do there. But mostly our goal is to help people
make it to a difficult circumstances by taking care of
the most important thing, which is putting healthy food on
the table in the time of crisis.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
And how can our listeners help you know? Donations, volunteering,
What are the top things that you need right now
from the public.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
So three things. The first is we are a volunteer
based organization. If you can volunteer with us, you can
go online and sign up to do so. We would
appreciate that. Second, we are completely funded by the community.
People often ask us if we are funded by the government.
We are not. We go as far as our community
takes us. So if you have the resources to help,
donate to us. Again, same website, you can donate. And
(05:32):
then finally, make sure that if you hear this story
today and you know someone who might be struggling, make
sure they know where to go because oftentimes people just
don't know where to turn. And the great thing about
the reach of your station and your programs we can
get to folks you might otherwise not know what to do.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
All right. Thomas Mattz is the CEO of Feeding Tampa Bay. Thomas,
we know it's going to be a rough time for
a lot of people, and we're grateful for the effort
of Feeding Tampa Bay and agencies like you to help
people out during this time. Thomas, thank you so much
for joining.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Us The Ryan Gorman Show on NewsRadio WFLA.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Follow us on Facebook, and Instagram at Ryan Gorman Show
and find us online at ryangormanshow dot com.
We are now more than three weeks into the federal
government shut down, and for about half million people in
the ten county area served by Feeding Tampa Bay, it's
about to get very real. That's because SNAP benefits are
set to be suspended effective tomorrow, and a lot more
people will be taking advantage of the services of Feeding
Tampa Bay. CEO Thomas Mattz joins us this morning to
(00:22):
bring us up to date on how the agency is responding. Thomas,
thank you for joining us today. You've actually been planning
this for some time, so bring us up to date
on your preparations and what you expect to see.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah, and thank you. Thank you for having us on.
We appreciate it. It certainly has been a time. Unfortunately,
we tend to talk to you when there are challenges
in our community like shutdowns or hurricanes or other issues,
but we appreciate the chance to have a conversation about
what's going on with our neighbors. And I think that's
always the key phrase is our neighbors are people in
our community who are going to be impacted by this.
(00:58):
As you said, it's about a half million folks, and
so in order for us to ramp up for that.
We've been planning for the better part of three weeks
against this eventuality, hoping it wouldn't happen, but realizing that
it might, and so we're prepared starting next week. As
the users of snap don't have the resources they normally would,
our team is preparing to one make sure that the
(01:21):
four hundred agencies that we work with across our ten
counties have more resources, and then we will stage, and Dana,
you're familiar with with this, we will stage mass distributions
in different places where there are more populous areas and
they're easy to get to, so that folks that don't
normally use our services have a way to get food
as quickly as needed.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
We're talking to Thomas Mann's CEO of Feeding Tampa Bay,
and Thomas, you just mentioned mentioned people who aren't familiar
with your services. So of the people that are needing
help right now, how many are people who have never
been in this situation before. They've typically been able to
put food on the table and now they find themselves
needing help.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, a good portion of them. Data, while and an
exact number is not really available to us because we
don't always know what everybody does. But certainly, probably close
to eighty percent, if not more, of that don't come
to see us because they have this tool that they're
already using. And so in our world, if you think
about it this way, feeding Tampa Bay across our ten
counties provides about one point nine million meals a week.
(02:21):
This could increase the need by at least half that
and so that's another close to million meals a week
we'd have to try and figure out how to find
to get to the community. That gives you a sense
of the size of impact.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
And what do you want the public to know about
the people who need help. I mean, there's kind of
a stigma that maybe people don't work, and that is
absolutely not the case, right correct.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Most of the people we serve work, and many of
the users in the larger part of the users us
snap if they're not children, our seniors work as well,
and so we do have myths around that. But David,
the question I think is really answered best this way.
If you think about Tampa Bay, what are we known for.
We're known for wonderful tourist attractions, terrific restaurants, wonderful stadiums
(03:04):
and arenas where we take in games and concerts, the
leisure community where we go to hotels and relax. All
of those folks, all of those folks do not make
enough to live and they rely on vehicles like snap
in order to survive. And so they're not folks who
are shirking their responsibilities. There are people who just have
a job that doesn't pay them enough to take care
(03:25):
of their household builds, and so we always want to
remember that on the other side of this as a
human being who is struggling to make sure that they
take care of themselves and their family. So a lot of.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
These folks that you're going to be seeing Thomas are
coming into Feeding Tampa Bay for the first time. What
do they need to know about Feeding Tampa Bay and
how best to take advantage of your services.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
So, first, for everybody that listens to this, feeding Tampa
Bay dot org, and there is a page dedicated to
government shutdown. So one, remember, if you're a federal worker,
We've already been taken sure of you for a month.
We've been given out one hundred and seventy thousand meals
over the last two or three weeks to federal workers
who are unpaid. We've provided utility assistant, crisis counseling, all
(04:10):
different kinds of things to make sure that folks could
make those folks who are working without pay can make it. Now,
we have part of the page dedicated to folks who
would normally access snap and so. On that page you
can find out where there are distributions near you. You
can find food by putting in your zip code. You
can see where we are and what resources are available
to do so Feeding Tampa Bay dot org right at
(04:31):
the top of the page there is a banner a
click on. We would also tell you to follow our
social For those that normally do that, you can punch
in feeding Tampa Bay and find us on Instagram and
Facebook and all the other locations. So whatever you need,
we want to make sure that you get access to
it as quickly as possible. And then to your answer.
If you're unfamiliar with our services, you'll find what we
(04:52):
do there. But mostly our goal is to help people
make it to a difficult circumstances by taking care of
the most important thing, which is putting healthy food on
the table in the time of crisis.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
And how can our listeners help you know? Donations, volunteering,
What are the top things that you need right now
from the public.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
So three things. The first is we are a volunteer
based organization. If you can volunteer with us, you can
go online and sign up to do so. We would
appreciate that. Second, we are completely funded by the community.
People often ask us if we are funded by the government.
We are not. We go as far as our community
takes us. So if you have the resources to help,
donate to us. Again, same website, you can donate. And
(05:32):
then finally, make sure that if you hear this story
today and you know someone who might be struggling, make
sure they know where to go because oftentimes people just
don't know where to turn. And the great thing about
the reach of your station and your programs we can
get to folks you might otherwise not know what to do.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
All right. Thomas Mattz is the CEO of Feeding Tampa Bay. Thomas,
we know it's going to be a rough time for
a lot of people, and we're grateful for the effort
of Feeding Tampa Bay and agencies like you to help
people out during this time. Thomas, thank you so much
for joining.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Us The Ryan Gorman Show on NewsRadio WFLA.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Follow us on Facebook, and Instagram at Ryan Gorman Show
and find us online at ryangormanshow dot com.
Popular Podcasts
Spooky Podcasts from iHeartRadio
Whether you’re a scaredy-cat or a brave bat, this collection of episodes from iHeartPodcasts will put you in the Halloween spirit. Binge stories, frights, and more that may keep you up at night!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.