" The support for hunger prevention in this community is great," said Karen Slevin.

     But Karen Slevin of Catholic Charities says the need is just as great.
     Her charity benefits from the work of Bread of the Mighty, which did something on Thursday that they've never done before.

"Today was our first fundraiser. We've always depended on grants and small donations from organizations," said John Raj of Bread of the Mighty.

     But those donations were no longer enough to feed the nearly 80 thousand people the Bread of the Mighty will serve this year.

"With the explosion of need, we had to supply last year with 4.2 million pounds of food," said Raj.

     So that's why the organization that feeds so many needy people, today fed supporters to help raise funds.
     In addition to selling tickets to the event there was a silent raffle for individually decorated bowls, as well as a live auction for bowls signed by Tim Tebow, Steve Spurrier and Danny Wuerffel.
     The evident success of the event was a surprise for organizers.

"There were times when people thought will anyone come, will people drive out that far, will we sell enough tickets," said Slevin.

     But even with the success of today's event, the problem of hunger in North Central Floirda isn't going away anytime soon.
     Event organizers said part of the problem with hunger is that those in need don't speak about it.

"People don't come and tell you I'm hungry at the office, the workplace, at school, nobody tells you, but its there," said Raj.

     Event organizers said they hope this becomes an annual event considering all of the apparent success they enjoyed today.

"To be at a place where all of the Bread of the Mighty staff had to stand because there weren't enough seats. It's just amazing," said Slevin.

"And as we saw today, we need a bigger venue in the future," said Raj.

     Which is a good problem to have.
     Mike Gismondi, TV20 News.