SAFETY HARBOR, Fla. — A ribbon cutting for the $1.6 million expansion of the Mattie Williams Neighborhood Family Center in Safety Harbor was held on Tuesday with staff, volunteers and community leaders.

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“Over the past year, we’ve been under construction,” said David Hale, MWNFC’s Executive Director. “Throughout it we were working and the food pantry team was putting food out in the back.”

Hale said every year the need grows for the center’s services, and the new expansion will help them meet that demand. In April 2024, the center fed, on average, 145 families weekly. This past April, the number jumped up to 200 families weekly, according to center data.

“So far this year, our numbers show that we're going to serve way more families this year than last,” said Hale. “Thanks to the new food pantry, we can now actually receive more donations each week.”

Pinellas County and the City of Safety Harbor donated the money for the center’s expansion, which includes a new multi-purpose community room, enhanced food pantry with walk-in refrigeration, a new kitchen to prepare hot meals for the first time and an updated clothing closet.

“With the opening of this food pantry, we are definitely going to shatter all records for the number of families we can serve,” Hale said. “We are proud of the fact that we're going to keep up with demand, although we wish there weren't so many people in need.”

At the expansion celebration, the center’s former executive director, Janet Hooper, was surprised to learn the new multi-purpose community room will be named in her honor.

“I’m speechless. I really am,” she said. “This is for the community. It was never about Janet.”

Also at the ribbon cutting ceremony was Eric Williams, a center board member and the son of the longest serving volunteer Mattie Williams, who the center was named after.

“If my mom was here and looking at this she would say, ‘I receive,’” he said. “That’s all that needs to be said, ‘I receive.’” 

Hale said phase 2 included remodeling the rest of the old building, which is expected to cost $750,000 and take six months to complete.