metropolitan ministries

Subscribe to The Zest podcast! This week, we’re living the sweet life. We visit with the Junior League of Tampa to test out a peach cobbler recipe from The Gasparilla Cookbook. We chat with the authors of The New Pie about ideas for updating the classic dessert. And edible cookie dough arrives in Tampa!

Dough Nation is a cafe in downtown Tampa that specializes in edible cookie dough. It's owned and operated by Metropolitan Ministries, a nonprofit organization that helps poor and homeless families in Tampa Bay, and the proceeds from cookie dough sales help fund its mission. Dough Nation is also a culinary job training program for some of the people that are served by Metropolitan Ministries. For WUSF's The Zest podcast, producer Dalia Colón spoke with Dough Nation Chef Cliff Barsi about the popularity of social enterprise restaurants, and the safe consumption of cookie dough.

On a recent afternoon, 71-year-old Milton Malphus walked into the community room of his senior apartment building to get some lunch. Sporting a flat-rimmed hat, basketball sneakers and a T-shirt covered in pineapples, Malphus said he dresses as young as he feels: 17.

Victor "Joseph" Doxa was a successful businessman with a six-figure salary and 7,000-square-foot home.

Then came the Great Recession.

It appears that Hillsborough County is moving to make changes in the way it deals with the homeless. 

County Administrator Michael Merrill recently observed how St. Louis has made progress in effectively dealing with the homeless. Merrill says working toward ending the problem needs to be a group effort.

Metropolitan Ministries is renovating and expanding its MiraclePlace campus just north of downtown Tampa. It's home to homeless children and families until they can get back on their feet.

Families previously stayed in a 200-square-foot room with a couple of bunk beds against the walls and a small bathroom to the side. Mandy Cloninger of Metropolitan Ministries said the single light overhead was an example of how this small room wasn't enough.