Gala

Awards

​2020 Mosaic Business of the Year Award
Albritton Insurance Services, LLC

In 1990 he and his family returned to Hardee County under the direction of the Lord and established Faith Temple Church of God where he serves to this day. Being born and raised here in Wauchula, it’s his love for the people that is a driving force behind his “Passion to Reach the Lost” of this community. Every area of ministry at Faith Temple Ministries has had this same focus. A vision to reach the lost in all cultures, races, and all walks of life - and he established the Cutting Edge Ministries Inc in 2000. After a sabbatical from 2000 to 2003 – he returned to the local church pastorate. After the devastation in 2004 of the major hurricanes that hit Hardee County the vision exploded. Pastor Smith jumped into action to help the community. He began to gather supplies and contact his many networks of ministries and suppliers of food to families in need. FEMA, Operation Compassion, Operation Blessing International, Feed the Children, Feeding America, Convoy of Hope, Feeding Tampa Bay and many more – to bring CEM to where it is today.
In 2005, they purchased their original property with no money in their budget, but because of God’s grace and through several miracles, they were able to obtain the property. Then in 2014, they found themselves in need of a refrigerated box truck to help them transport fresh food for hungry families from all over Central Florida. This need was met through a generous grant from Mosaic and their new truck is still transporting food to this day. Their vision is to one day have a facility with coolers and docks to help them house large supplies of produce to help feed hungry families as they are currently using a local dock to unload the truck and then transport the supplies to their own facility.
Then in 2017, they broke ground on their current property, Joseph’s Storehouse, which is their secured, air-conditioned climate controlled facility for storage of food products until time to deliver it to those in need. This building was obtained through grants from Mosaic, Publix, and many private donors as well.
CEM is a ministry center where about 300+ families come every week to receive meat, dairy, and fresh produce from around Central Florida. These are people from every walk of life, whether they are senior citizens, single moms, low income families, minorities, or upper class. Everyone goes through difficult times and is in need of assistance. That’s why CEM exists to Feed the Hungry and help those in difficult times because even though they might get a box of groceries this week, it will not last them forever. That’s why the ministry continues to exist, because there are still people in their community who are struggling and in need of assistance.
Their current focus is to address the needs of the families that have been impacted by COVID-19. In 2020 they shifted their food bank to a drive through setting, and even went door-to-door in their communities to deliver and distribute 21 lb. boxes of nutritious foods such as milk, meat, dairy, breads, and produce to every home thanks to the Farmers to Families USDA program, provided through Convoy of Hope, Feeding Tampa Bay, and Florida Baptist Children’s Home. They were able to deliver 1352 food boxes to families in Bowling Green, 1152 boxes in Zolfo Springs, and 1368 boxes in Wauchula. During COVID, they were also able to visit Elementary schools and pass out 7960 5lb. boxes to the families of that school. As of October, in 2020 they’ve been able to serve 17,000 families, provide 69,400 meals, and give out 1.487 million pounds of food.
In 2020, over 1.2 million pounds of food equaling 1 million meals was given out through the drive thru distribution and door to door home distribution. Presently in 2021, over 348,000 pounds of food equaling 290,000 meals have been given out serving 13,000 individuals and children.
Pastor Smith’s goals is to continue serving Hardee County and surrounding areas with the love of Jesus Christ by providing food and supplies to families, children & seniors in need.
As CEM grows, we want to provide a place volunteers can come and enjoy helping people as well as provide jobs to those who want to work in a non profit to help individuals. I know the goal in Hardee County is to bring in jobs so people don’t have to come to a food bank, but we must fulfill the Gospel of Jesus Christ by providing a place for them to come until that happens – when you give to the poor you are lending to God and He will pay back.
Proverbs 19:17 NLT If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord – and He will repay you.