By Tammy Sue Struble
About three weeks ago, Donna Grimm-Widner was cleaning up around the cardboard recycling dumpsters outside her part-time job at Meals on Wheels in Zephyrhills.
The two dumpsters had been filled to capacity, so residents had been piling cardboard in-between the dumpsters. Finally, the dumpsters were empty and it was her chance to pick up. Something shiny under all of the cardboard caught her eye; she picked it up, tucked it into her pocket — and forgot about it.
Several days later as she prepared her laundry, Grimm-Widner pulled a beautiful ring out of her pocket. She imagined that it must be valuable and that someone was really missing it. She sat it up on a shelf until she could get it into work.
“We find lots of things out there,” she said of the recycling area at the Meals on Wheels at 38145 15th Ave. “We took it to Nabers Jewelers and they confirmed that it was a ‘very nice’ ring of some value,” she continued. Grimm-Widner thought it was probably a man’s or large woman’s ring that may have been custom made.
Besides their cardboard dumpsters, the Meals on Wheels facility also has a very long dumpster that takes all kind of paper — newspaper, phone books, shredded paper, and even spiral notebooks. They also collect aluminum cans.
“The money from the newspapers and cans helps keep the place going,” Grimm-Widner explained. “About 40 percent of our funds come from the paper and cans; the rest is from donations.” Grimm-Widner said that in the summer they deliver 70-90 meals a day; in the winter it jumps to 90-100 meals per day. They also provide meals for the shelter at Chancey Road Christian Church. The meals are prepared and delivered from their facility.
If you have lost a precious ring of some value and believe the one found might be yours, stop by Meals on Wheels or call (813) 782-7859.
