THE VOLUNTEER WAY-Feeding Hungry People

The Volunteer Way has started installing a Hydroponics system. Many of the hungry subsist on canned and pre-packaged food. This is a way to give them healthy fresh produce. Imagine how delicious a fresh salad or a bowl of farm fresh green beans will taste to them. YUMMY!
The first part of the Hydroponics farm is behind the facility on Congress Street in New Port Richey. The Volunteer Way has been given 6.8 acres to expand the hydroponics farm. This has been cleared and fenced and the equipment is being installed.
They already have enough equipment to grow thousands of plants. The pumps and other controls are able to handle a system ten times bigger than they currently have. This was the most expensive part of the system. Expanding will be much more affordable.
If you would like to help, just click on the links below.

On June 12, 2009, Lester Cypher, Founder and CEO of The Volunteer Way, Inc., was honored by The West Pasco Chamber of Commerce at their 65th Annual Chamber Banquet and Special Awards Presentations . Lester was presented with the Outstanding Humanitarian Award for his service and devotion to the less fortunate citizens of Pasco county.

The Volunteer Way Inc. (TVW) is a volunteer non-profit, 501c3, organization that has been serving people caught in poverty for more than fourteen years, we are committed to the less fortunate of our communities. TVW never charges a fee for the food or personal items we distribute to low-income people or the soup kitchens and food pantries we serve.

HELPING PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE ALL ABOUT MAKING MONEY BUT ABOUT HELPING THEM TO GET BACK ON THEIR FEET AND BECOMING PRODUCTIVE CITIZENS OF THEIR COMMUNITIES.
The Volunteer Way is made up of an average of 70 volunteers from all walks of life and two paid employees. They also participate in a training program that pays five developmentally disabled adult employees.

Our mission is to unite faith-based and community hunger relief charities to help vulnerable people in their communities. As responsible and caring people, we will aid in their struggle to overcome poverty and become productive citizens of their community.

The Volunteer Way Inc. (TVW) is a volunteer non-profit organization that has been serving people caught in poverty for more than fourteen years, we are commited to the less fortunate of our communities. TVW never charges a fee for the food our personal items they distribute to low-income people or the soup kitchens and food pantries we serve.

HELPING PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE ALL ABOUT MAKING MONEY BUT ABOUT HELPING THEM TO GET BACK ON THEIR FEET AND BECOMING PRODUCTIVE CITIZENS OF THEIR COMMUNITIES.

The Volunteer Way's administration cost are less then 1%, which means, when you donate to The Volunteer Way, 99% of your donation goes to helping less fortunate people.
The Volunteer Way is the only food bank in the Tampa bay Area that gives all their food and personal items free of any fees and has so many different programs that serves the less fortunate of our society.

Points of Light Award
LESTER CYPHER
New Port Richey, FL
Daily Point of Light No. 3206
May 19, 2006

As a volunteer, Lester Cypher started Shepherd's Cupboard in 1992 and only one person came for food, within six months Shepherd's Cupboard was feeding over 200 hot meals and giving out 5,000 pounds of food to the nutritionally challenged of Pasco County.

As Shepherd's Cupboard started to reach out to more of Pasco County's most needy, Shepherd's Cupboard needed more food. Lester started Reaping the Harvest, a recycling program that recycles food from supermarkets and other food handling businesses. This helped with meeting the need for food for about one year then Shepherd's Cupboard found themselves with more requests for food than they had.

In 1997, Lester started The Volunteer Way, Inc. Food Bank and started to receive U.S.D.A. Commodities and found Shepherd's Cupboard had too much foods he shared the food with other food pantries and soup kitchens. Lester resigned from leading Shepherd's Cupboard in 1999 because The Volunteer Way was growing rapidly.

In 1999, Lester rented a store to house The Volunteer Way Food Bank and started to share the food with 60 food pantries throughout central Florida. In 2002, The Volunteer Way Food Bank distributed 3,000,000 pounds of food to their partnering non-profit agencies. They were cramped for space, so Lester wrote a successful grant for $150,000 to purchase a 5,000 square foot warehouse located on Congress Street in New Port Richey, Florida.

In 1999, Lester started a program to assist low-income homebound elderly to assure the elderly they did not need to go without food in order to purchase medication and that there were people in Pasco County that cared what happened to them. The Brown Bag Program started to partner with government agencies that could not handle the number of elderly in need, such as Cares of Pasco County. The Brown Bag Program brings 40 to 60 pounds of food to the low-income homebound elderly each month. To those elderly that cannot clean their homes. Another very important part of what we do is to visit with the homebound elderly because this may be the first live people they see all month.

In 2002, Lester started a new program called the Little Angel Program. This program helps the mentally challenged to be the most they can be. We have their providers bring them to our Little Angel program while we help them learn life skills such as counting money, computer skills, cleaning our offices and much more.

The positive effect that Lester Cypher has had on the communities is that there are thousands of low income and hurting that people that are no longer food insecure, lonely and have a better outlook on life. People's self-esteem has changed from low to promising. Lester has been an advocate for volunteerism throughout Florida. In 2005, people volunteer over 195,000 hours and distributed 5,000,000 pounds of food.