Birthday Girl Donates to Senior Center Food Pantry

From dog food, to canned pudding and even Girl Scout cookies, 14-year-old Elizabeth Brown Worthington dropped off nearly 400 food and supplies items to the Gulfport Senior Center Food Pantry.

For the third year in a row Elizabeth Brown Worthington asked for food donations in lieu of gifts for her 14th birthday. "I don't need 200 gifts," Worthington said with a smile. The Gulfport teen started the tradition to give back to the community and help others. "It's fun," she said. This year she dropped off nearly 400 items including canned goods, cereal, dog food and more. "132 cans," Worthington said to be exact. "It was the first year we had laundry soap," Worthington said. The teen plans on keeping the "food drive" going for years to come. If you would like to donate to the Gulfport Senior Center Food Pantry call (727) 893-2237,

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Cherlene Willis

9:07 pm on Thursday, March 8, 2012

Elizabeth is one of the most giving teens in Gulfport! I often see her at City events, Council meetings, fundraisers and more! She's so involved :)   more ›

St. Johns Students Donate to Senior Center Food Pantry

Nearly two dozen sixth grade students from St. Johns Catholic School collected and donated boxes of pet food to the Gulfport Senior Center food pantry.

If qualifying seniors would have stopped by the Gulfport Senior Center's food pantry for pet food before 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, they would have left empty handed. The food pantry's bottom shelf, normally filled with pet food for dogs and cats, was completely empty. "We're low on everything," Senior Center Coordinator Cynthia Dean said. But, now, officials won't have to turn away those who can't afford pet food. That's because Elizabeth Boyce's sixth grade homeroom class collected and carried in boxes of pet food around 11:40 on Thursday. The group of 22 students helped give back as part of St. John's Catholic School's Week at St. John's Catholic School in St. Pete Beach. Boyce and her class learned of the need from Stephanie Ogden. Odgen …

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Senior Topics

Gulfport Senior Center Food Pantry Seeking Donations to Meet Growing Needs

Since its inception in 2009, the Gulfport Multipurpose Senior Center Food Pantry has provided food to meet the needs of numerous older low-income citizens. With the downturn in the economy, food donations are now needed more than ever.

It is an unfortunate social-economic trend taking place across the country, from Bridgeport, Conn. to Terre Haute, Indiana, to Denver, Colorado, and yes, right here in Gulfport. Community Food Pantries to help feed low-income families are hurting for non-perishable food donations, leaving the shelves in these pantries as bare as Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard.  This is how often you will find the Gulfport Multipurpose Senior Center Pantry looking, even though as Susan Frank, supervisor of the senior center, noted, “we have a very small space.”  And that it is. Due to space limitations at the center, the food pantry is no more than a tiny closet. Yet, it serves dozens of people on a monthly basis, and that’s despite the food pantry now being…

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