December 2020 Food Giveaway

The Christmas Food Giveaway is easily one of my favorite days of the year. It's incredible to witness teens giving of their time, especially the last day of the semester and after a week of finals. Over and over they'll tell you all they want to do is help.

This year looked a little differnt. Due to the pandemic, we couldn't hold the Giveaway in the Hall. So we

moved to the side parking lot of the High School. Thankfully the weather held out. It was a little cold, but it didn't rain.

A week before the event a group of the teens gathered to make Hot Cocoa packs for the families - two

packs hot cocoa, Marshmellow filled and candy cane Hersey Kisses plus decorations to be an extra little gift for the families.

A month ahead of time we ordered non-perishables from the SA Food Bank. Homestead Apartments in Schertz and First United Bank in Garden Ridge held Food Drives for us. We set up stations for the teens at least 8' apart and in groups of two they added food to the packages. Each family recieved 6 canned items, peanut butter, jelly, fruit and nut packs, mac and cheese, dried potatoes, a toothbrush, toilet paper, cucumber, mandarin oranges, the hot cocoa packs and more.

The day of the event, the teens arrived from their last final, organized the canned items by type, took a

short break for lunch (donated by Scholtzsky's) and jumped into assembling the packages. The worked hard and fast. Santa arrived and waved to families as they got in the drive-thru line to get their packages Once finished assembling, for two hours the teens greeted families and loaded packages into cars. Anytime there was a lull, they were breaking down empty boxes, taking trash to the dumpster, loading recycling into cars. At 5 o'clock, the last car pulled up. A grateful mom, with three grinning and thankful kids.

2020 has looked different, but the hearts of these teens hasn't changed. Some volunteered until they had to leave for famiy plans, others asked to be assigned the late shift at work (getitng off at midnight) so they could volunteer first, others requested to miss a team scrimmage so they could be at the event. One of our alumni came back to volunteer, throughout the day she helped dicuss class schedules, preparing for college, and just being there for the high school group. It's amazing to witness their hearts, caring and compassion.