‘Food for Our Neighbors’ delivers essentials to community members unable to leave their homes.
By Ramon Lopez
Original Air Date: October 3, 2025
Host: Distress is spreading amid the immigrant crackdown. Many are unable to go to work, stuck at home, or sick. A group of Sarasota churches is stepping in with help, delivering food at the doorstep. Ramon Lopez reports.
L to r: Rev. Collis Laton, Pastor of Connections, Church of the Trinity MCC; Ermelinda Velásquez, El Pueblo Unido Tampa Bay; Benita Cantero; Ruth Beltrán; and J.T. Priar, Young Adult Minister at MCC. Photo: Lopez
Speaker: Say it loud, say it clear!
Crowd: Immigrants are welcome here!
Speaker: Say it loud, say it clear!
Crowd: Immigrants are welcome here!
RL: Immigrant rights community organizers and church members gathered at the Church of the Trinity MCC to call for the release of Eddy Macario.
He’s being held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Pompano Beach for being undocumented. He is the husband of Benita Cantero and father of two. He was arrested, then turned over to ICE agents.
To make matters worse, Bradenton’s Benita Cantero, who is also undocumented, desperately needs a liver transplant. She had to stop cleaning houses two years ago as the auto-immune cirrhosis worsened.
Money is tight for the immigrant family as a result, but some area churches have stepped in to help. Church of the Trinity found out about Benita’s plight through their Food for Our Neighbors food drive, which is ongoing. Unitarian Universalists of Sarasota is also collecting food/supplies for immigrant brothers and sisters, as are two immigrant activist groups: Tampa Bay Immigrant Solidarity Network and El Pueblo Unido Tampa Bay.
Reverend Collis Laton, a pastor at the Church of the Trinity, attended the press conference at her church. She decried Eddy Macario’s treatment and said her church was happy to help the family in their time of trouble.
Reverend Collis Laton. Photo by Ramon Lopez
Collis Laton: We met Benita through an initiative we have here that we started called Food for Our Neighbors. This initiative has allowed us to gather non-perishable foods, receive financial donations and purchase perishable foods to deliver to families who are not able to leave home for many reasons—they’re suffering from chronic illness or they have a huge problem with getting work right now. I believe that one of the biggest challenges faced is that no one will hire you if you have brown skin and a certain accent. We are looking to you, our community, all throughout to help us support this initiative. You can also go to our website, trinityembassy.org, and provide financial support as well so that folks can do the shopping for that. We appreciate any of those donations.
RL: Reverend Laton said the family needed to again see goodness in and justice in the world.
Volunteers distributing food at Jesús Obrero Parish in Fort Myers after Hurricane Ian. Photo by Tom Tracy via Catholic News Service
CL: I hope today, as our initiative calls it—Food for Our Neighbors—that we can all decide today to be a neighbor. Doctors, will you be a neighbor today? Nurses, will you be a neighbor today? Caretakers, will you be a neighbor today? Insurance companies, hospitals, resource providers and people of faith and those who have no faith, will you be a neighbor today? We are here because the systems of power, not systems of compassion, led us here. Systems of greed, not systems of generosity. Systems of injustice, not systems of justice. Let us all stand for justice today so that this family can experience the goodness in our faith and our humanity. Help Benita and Eddy and their children find this justice today.
RL: The Food for Our Neighbors food drive needs non-perishable food like rice and beans and canned veggies, household goods, hygiene supplies and baby needs. The food can be dropped off at the two churches, and monetary donations are also welcome. Food for Our Neighbors distributes food to people at their homes. Donate and make sure no neighbor goes to bed hungry.
RL: This is Ramon Lopez for WSLR News.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.
