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Mission will celebrate milestone

Staff photo by John Ceballos

The Good Samaritan Mission will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a celebration and open house on Oct. 24.

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By JOHN CEBALLOS

jceballos@tampatrib.com

Published: October 21, 2009

WIMAUMA - One of southeast Hillsborough's most well-known nonprofit organizations has a birthday coming up.

The Good Samaritan Mission will commemorate 25 years of helping migrant farmworkers and others with a celebration Saturday.

"In the last 25 years, I like to think that we've provided hope to people in the community," said Bill Cruz, the mission's executive director.

The day will feature food, fun and a tour recreating a typical day at the mission.

"We give out food every Tuesday, and we distribute clothes to people who need them," said Andrea Ruiz, executive assistant. "There are also new services a lot of people may not know about."

Those services include health and social counseling, as well as providing computer, GED and driving classes to help migrant workers.

"In the last 10 months, we've really started to take things to the next level," Cruz said.

"We've really focused on people who have been detached from the community for one reason or another and tried to teach them to be grateful for the things they do have."

Over the course of a typical week, hundreds of families visit the mission to receive food and clothing, mostly donated by area businesses.

Cruz said his mission going forward is to go beyond meeting the community's physical and financial need.

"We want to take the next step, which is going from giving handouts to giving a hand-up," he said. "Instead of someone coming in, taking their food and leaving like before, we now do assessments and try to really figure out what's going on in their homes."

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Good Samaritan Mission's 25th anniversary open house

WHERE: 14920 Balm-Wimauma Road, Wimauma

WHEN: noon-4 p.m. Saturday

COST: free

INFORMATION: (813) 634-7136

Reporter John Ceballos can be reached at (813) 627-4762.

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