Southwest Florida veteran continues to ‘Feed Thy Neighbor’

Tony Mansolillo started ‘Feed Thy Neighbor’ back in May to make sure families had food on the table. Although Collier County is one of the richest counties in Florida, Mansolillo is feeding more people than ever.

People all throughout Collier County have been impacted financially by the coronavirus pandemic.

Tony Mansolillo, founder of ‘Feed Thy Neighbor’, said “A lot of these people, they were waitresses, waiters, bartenders. It takes 10 weeks to get your unemployment check. Who feeds the kids in the meantime?”

This disabled veteran was on a mission to make sure people in his community weren’t going hungry when he started this project earlier this year.

Mansolillo is branding over a hot stove for hours on end and then delivering those meals to the people who need them most.

As the pandemic continued, that included more and more people.

“We started doing about 20 meals a day. Now we’re doing 150-160 meals a day,” he said.

On Sunday, the organization ‘Hope for Families’ in Naples invited Mansolillo and a few volunteers to set up a station to deliver meals. The styrofoam boxes containing each meal disappeared rather quickly. Why?

“People are hungry,” Mansolillo said.

He says he can’t really turn anyone away. “I have a hard time refusing good people who need it.”

Mansolillo refuses to stop cooking until all those in Naples wondering where their next meal will come from wonder no longer. He also truly enjoys what he does.

Mansolillo said, “I love it are you kidding?”

‘Feed Thy Neighbor’ is now on track to become and official nonprofit, so that Tony and his volunteers can feed even more people in need.