DOVER, Fla. — Fundraising is always an issue for the Nativity Food Bank in eastern Hillsborough County.  

Last weekend, the Nativity Food Bank held an open house.

The annual event is held to educate the community on the need for food banks, as well as to raise money to cover operating costs.

A brief history of the food bank: In the 1980s, Sister Constance, a retired nun, joined the Nativity Parish in Brandon. While there, she created a makeshift food pantry, and working out of a little shack, she served 19 families in what was a small town at the time.

Now, more than 40 years later, the Nativity Food Bank provides more than 2 million meals to thousands of families with Program Director Julie Ebert leading the charge.

Ebert is a jokester and incredibly outgoing, which makes her perfect in the role. When she was asked to lead the food bank seven years ago, figuring it would require about eight hours of work per week. Little did she know it would become such a huge part of her life. But as a self-described "cradle Catholic," having grown up in a devout Catholic family, serving God where she is needed brought her here.

As director, a volunteer position, Ebert overseas every aspect of the food bank’s operations. The food bank serves 70 churches throughout the Tampa area.

“They don’t have to be Catholic. We do it because we’re Catholic and I love that,” she said proudly.

Aside from sourcing churches, the food bank also operates a food pantry every week at its namesake, Nativity Church.

“Eighty-five percent of the people getting food from our pantry at Nativity Church are over 65,” she said. “They have social security and that’s it."

The need is very real, she said.

“There’s so many people that are hungry that go to bed hungry. Kids go to bed hungry, and we don’t think about it. We think, ‘Oh, there’s not a lot of them.’ Oh yeah.”

Ebert emphasizes that there is never any judgment. The adage is true — you can’t judge a book by its cover.

“One couple we served owed back taxes, but they couldn’t pay them because they didn’t have any money coming in. If you looked at their house, you would say, 'I don’t feel sorry for you,' but they got so far in debt, and with economy the way it is and people getting laid off. What do you do? These people they don’t want to take food from the food pantry, but they have to because they gotta eat.”

To meet this need, Ebert said donations are essential. Aside from a $500,000 mortgage, there’s the cost of having three big delivery trucks, lights, refrigeration, and on a human level, there’s the donation of time. Without volunteers and community support, none of this can happen.