As a Community of Care, St. Petersburg College is always proud to see alumni doing good work in the area. On Christmas morning, SPC alum Melissa Gardner showed her Titan spirit when she used her food truck to cook 500 meals for people in need on Christmas morning.
Gardner, affectionally known as Chef Melly, is a software engineer by trade, but a chef by choice. Just over a year ago, she took a leap of faith to start a food truck business, Three Generations Food Truck, with the encouragement – and recipes – of her mom and grandmother, hence the name.
Along with her grandmother, Thelma, and mom, Michelle, Gardner cooked all 500 Christmas Day meals, with Florida Blue covering the cost of all the food and ingredients. Each meal was individually wrapped to be delivered to Feeding Tampa Bay’s Trinity Café, a free, full-service restaurant that offers a three-course, chef prepared meal that’s served with dignity and respect to anyone in need, 365 days of the year.
On the menu was Cajun turkey, honey ham, collard greens with smoked turkey, gouda and cheddar mac-n-cheese, roasted garlic mashed potatoes and green beans. For dessert, there was banana pudding and Christmas cookies.
Chef Lisa of Florida Chefs Workshop in St. Petersburg also gave a helping hand. Feeding Tampa Bay picked up and delivered all 500 meals to both locations of its Trinity Café in Hillsborough County – before 11:30 a.m. on Christmas morning.
Lissette Campos, Regional Communications Lead for Florida Blue, said Gardner is an extraordinary woman to help in these extraordinary times.
“Chef Melly is positively, a Tampa Bay Treasure,” Campos said. “With so many people racing put 2020 behind them, she stopped to help. Our teams at Florida Blue, the Lightning and Feeding Tampa Bay are grateful to her for joining our efforts.”
Gardner said a passion for cooking and community service fueled her desire to be a part of this project with Florida Blue, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Feeding Tampa Bay.
“The most fulfilling moment in this food life is giving back to people in the community,” Gardner said.
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