Wesley Chapel/New Tampa News

The workers in this place are downright cheerful. They poke fun at one another, with gentle affection.

They get along so famously that one might think they’d work there for free — and, indeed all of them do, except for Sister Jean Abbott, who oversees Daystar Hope Center of Pasco County Inc.

The center provides food and clothing for those in need. It got its start more than 20 years ago as an outreach of St. Rita’s Catholic Church, Abbott said. At the time, Sister Helen Wilxman was teaching religion classes to the young children, and realized the youngsters were too hungry to pay attention to the lessons, Abbott said.

So, Wilxman received permission from the pastor to set up a food pantry. As time went on, the pantry needed more room, so it moved to a new locale, and its volunteers moved along with it.

Just last week, the center celebrated its 20th year of operation as a Florida nonprofit corporation. Over the years, Daystar had a couple of temporary homes before moving to its current location, a humble building at 15512 U.S. 301 in Dade City.

“We’re here five days a week,” Abbott said, adding the store opens at 8 p.m., but they’re there until 1 p.m.

In the back of the building, there’s an office where people needing help register for assistance and receive slips of paper that entitle them to food, clothing and household items, Abbott said.

“If they’re hungry, we don’t care if they’re documented or not,” Abbott said, adding the center will provide food.

In the past, the center occasionally has helped people who needed assistance with rent or utility bills, to pay for prescriptions, or get a car repair, but it can’t do that now, Abbott said.

“Right now, we’re only doing food and items from the thrift shop,” Abbott said. The center is buying so much food, it has to stick with its primary mission.

Those meeting income requirements receive food and clothing vouchers, said Abbott, who is affiliated with the Benedictine Sisters of Florida. Those needing clothing can shop at the thrift store, choosing four complete outfits for each family member.

“They can get shoes and they can get jackets,” she said. “They can come back every three months for clothing. It works out well for people with children.”

Some people need household items, too.

“Some are coming out of a shelter and they need dishes and silverware and sheets and all that stuff,” Abbott said.

The thrift store receives donations, and it sells items to the public to help raise money for Daystar’s operations. The charity also receives food from Feeding America Tampa Bay-Suncoast Branch, from the government, and from other sources, which it distributes to those who qualify for assistance.

Before it became Daystar, the building was a furniture store, Abbott said. That’s why it has so much floor space and large delivery doors. After the organization scraped together enough money for a down payment, a couple made a donation to cover the rest of the purchase, Abbott said. Then, volunteers swarmed in, to renovate the building.

That was in 1996.

Donors have been generous in other ways, as well.

“All day long, people are dropping stuff off,” Abbott said. “People have food drives and clothing drives for us, too. We have mobile home parks that do drives for us. Most of the schools do drives for us. Businesses do drives for us, from time to time, depending on how the economy is.”

But the types of people who donate can be surprising sometimes.

“It’s interesting, though, is the most help we get is from the people who have the least because they know what’s it’s like not to have,” Abbott said. “We get a huge amount of food from Pasco Elementary. They do contests in classrooms.”

Some people lug donations in, then do a bit of shopping on the way out.

The volunteers keep things running. Some have been at it for up to 19 years. Helpers like Pat Gessert live in Florida just during the winter. Others have lived in the area for decades.

John Shoppa, who helps out in the food pantry, said he enjoys volunteering.

“This is kind of payback for all of the good things,” he said said.

Lorraine Tedder, who is about to turn 80, has volunteered for 19 years.

“I love it,” Tedder said. “My husband passed away, and I decided there’s no use sitting around home.”

She also recalls being on the receiving end of help when she was young.

“I came from a large family,” she said. “I had 10 sisters and three brothers. We were poor. We used to go to Catholic school and sister would keep us after school and used to give me clothing.”

Volunteer Deborah Smithberger is there every day.

“My husband and I had donated to Daystar, and I was a frequent shopper,” she said. One day, she decided to help out. She’s been doing that for a year.

“It makes you feel like you’re giving back to the community. I never knew what that meant until I started volunteering,” Smithberger said.

Isabel Wirth, who manages the shop, said helping out is rewarding. She recalled how she got involved.

“My husband had passed. I used to go to mass every day,” Wirth said. “Sister Helen would say, ‘Isabel, come one day.’ I came because she wouldn’t get off my back. I said, ‘I’m going to give you one day a week. That was 14 years ago.”

Now, she works five days a week.

It isn’t just people who need food and clothing who find help at Daystar.

Wirth knows this from personal experience. When she was reeling from the loss of her husband, getting involved at Daystar helped her get back on track.

“It was kind of my savior at the time,” Wirth said.

Published Feb. 26, 2014.