Fellsmere’s Operation Hope Robbed Over Thanksgiving
Clothes, toys and items for Christmas giveaway event were taken. The mission asks the community for help.
President of Operation Hope, Jesse Zermeno, received a text from Fellsmere police at 6:52 AM on Thanksgiving, November 27. Enclosed was a picture of a broken door that led into the thrift store. Thieves were able to bend back the metal door and crawl through the opening. From there they unlatched the bar and stop hinges and loaded their vehicle. Zermeno commented, “In 23 years of feeding the poor, no one has ever broken into this place.”
Operation Hope sits on 18 acres of land on Route 512, about 2 miles west of Interstate 95. It has 5 warehouses for food, events, offices, and even a television studio. One warehouse is the Operation Hope Thrift Store, which is open during the week. Zermeno believes that the burglars broke into the store looking for money and did not find anything, so they proceeded to help themselves to the store’s inventory. He believes, “This was planned by somebody who visited here.”
Fellsmere police have few leads. Operation Hope did not have direct surveillance on the thrift shop. They are asking the community on social media for help. Thrift store clothing areas were completely ransacked. Many toys that would be given away later this month at Operation Hope’s annual Christmas event were stolen. Donated power tools were taken. Zermeno is still assessing what was lost. He said, “We have donations every day. They are to raise money for our operations and Thanksgiving and Christmas events. We serve children and their families. We usually give much of it away at during this time.”
Operation Hope had just held their annual Thanksgiving giveaway on November 22. It was very successful. They received donations of 300 turkeys, 300 whole chickens, and 800 hams for giveaway. They didn’t have the freezer capacity for such an outpouring of donations. Local business Buddy’s Home Furnishings, which rents items for the home, donated 4 freezers to accommodate all the perishable food items.
Over 60 volunteers participated in the event. They were able to do complete meals for whoever came in need. The Fellsmere fruit packing company, Sun Ag, donated fresh organic fruit, including grapefruits, oranges, and lemons. Local officials came out to help. There were family activities for kids. Hundreds of families were served that day.
After such a wonderful celebration of Thanksgiving, Operation Hope cleaned up and shut down the rest of the week for the holiday. The volunteers returned to do the work of the day-to-day operations and get prepared for the Christmas celebration. Their annual event is scheduled to take place December 20 from 12PM to 4PM. Instead of organizing gifts for the children, they are scrambling to find the clothes, toys, and other items to make Christmas special. Zermeno said, “We need bicycles for ages 5 to 12. We have a donor who gave us 100 bicycle helmets, but we don’t have the bicycles.”
Zermeno and his staff set a goal of serving 500 children and their families at their annual Christmas event. This year’s event will include full Christmas dinners, as Operation Hope will be receiving food items from local food banks in Brevard and Indian River. Operation Hope also works with local area Publix stores. The food distribution has grown so much that Zermeno needs even more refrigeration equipment to meet demand. Older equipment needs to be replaced. He said, “We had three box freezers die on us storing all of that ham, turkey, and chicken. I am looking for a second 10 x 10 walk-in cooler because the food keeps coming to us.”
Still, the burglary of Operation Hope is a setback for their Christmas celebration. Zermeno said they will have face painting for the kids. There will be 3 giant piñatas donated for the kids to break. There will be live music and food. Santa Claus is coming down from the North Pole. Sheriff Flowers, local Fellsmere Police Chief Scott Nelson, and local officials will be on hand to help too. Yet, the big part of the day is the Christmas gift-giving program, which begins at 2:00 PM. Even with this setback, Zermeno has hope. “We have to let it go,” he said, adding, “God knows who did it. Let’s move on. My hope is that Operation Hope will bless the children on the 20th.”
For over 25 years, Zermeno and his wife, Jann, have been serving the poor. Before doing Operation Hope full-time, he owned a carpet installation company in Melbourne, where he lives. He was living comfortably when a friend brought him to Fellsmere to meet some people. The people he met were the migrant workers living in the camps out in the woods. His heart was gripped by God, and he began collecting food and clothing, spending his weekends distributing food. He would store the food in his home and then truck it down to Fellsmere from Melbourne.
Every week, the poor kept coming. Jesse, Jann and their 3 kids kept serving the poor every Saturday traveling the 70 mile roundtrip to do so. The newspaper wrote a story, and after publication, a man called and temporarily gave him a vacant house to store more food and clothing. He soon filled that space. Then one day, while feeding the poor, the mayor of Fellsmere called and offered him the vacant firehouse to store the supply of food, clothing, and sundries for the migrants. The mission became a full-time vocation, and the 18-acre facility was another gift purchased for Operation Hope by a philanthropist.
Today, Operation Hope serves about 4000 families per month. Everyone is invited to attend their Christmas celebration on the 20th. Please bring toys and gifts for the children.