Tis the season for Good Samaritan Ministries, as the liveliest portion of the year arrived along with October’s appearance on the calendar.
“Fall is a busy time at Good Samaritan,” said GSM Executive Director Leesa Stephens. “From the time Oct. 1 hits through Dec. 23 we’re busy. There are many opportunities for the community to partner with us through the Tackle Hunger food drive, packing Christmas boxes, being part of the Deer Project, or you can do it all. We have opportunities for everyone who wants to participate and volunteer.”
The Tackle Hunger food drive kicked off Oct. 1, and items gathered over the next month will be distributed in Christmas boxes that will be delivered during the month of December.
Also, the Deer Project – which provides ground venison to GSM that can be shared through its Food Pantry – kicked off with the start of bow season earlier this month. Donations kick into high gear in November once rifle season begins.
TACKLE HUNGER FOOD DRIVE / CHRISTMAS BOXES
October is Tackle Hunger Month, as Brown County comes together to provide food for the less fortunate during the holiday season. Food is collected at a variety of locations across the county this month which will be distributed during the month of December.
“Tackle Hunger, it plays off the interest everyone in this area has in football in October. We want to use that and encourage you to get in the game with Good Samaritan,” Stephens said. “We’re collecting items for 800 boxes this year and many of the items we’re going to collect we’re going to need two of. We’d like to have all the items in by the first week of November so we can start packing our Christmas boxes.”
The Christmas boxes consist of a traditional Christmas dinner as GSM contributes the sugar, flour, eggs and turkey, thanks to money raised during the Abundant Living Simple Giving drive in July. The community is then asked to help with the rest through a variety of donations.
“The Tackle Hunger food drive is one of the most unique approaches I’ve ever seen because it’s extremely efficient,” Stephens said. “You have different groups collecting different things, so you don’t get random items, you get exactly what you need.”
Items requested for donation to the Christmas boxes, and their drop-off locations, are as follows:
- Green Beans – Brownwood Elementary Schools
- Cornbread Mix – Coggin Intermediate and Area Middle Schools
- Black-eye Peas – Early, Bangs, May, Zephyr Elementary Schools
- Cake Mixes/Frosting – Church Community
- Canned Pumpkin – Church Community
- Cranberry Sauce – Colleges and Universities
- Stuffing Mix – Business Community
- Cream of Mushroom Soup – Area High Schools
- Chicken Broth – Area High Schools
Stephens is hopeful the compassion displayed last year during the first holiday season of the COVID era continues.
“Last year with COVID, it was such an unusual year, but everybody wrapped their brain around the idea that my neighbor may need help, so we had lots of everything last year,” Stephens said. “As it seems the pandemic is losing its grip a little here in Brown County, we hope that doesn’t lead to people not recognizing that there’s still a need.”
Stephens added, “There are still concerns about social distancing and having a food drive, so we can come pick up those items for you. Also, if someone wants to donate and not necessarily go to the store and pick up those items, they can donate through the website, goodsambwd.org.”
Once all the goods are collected, the process of packing the boxes begins in early November and takes the majority of the month. Volunteers are always welcome, according to Stephens.
“One of the things that’s a fun team building activity is we have a lot of groups that like to come and pack Christmas boxes,” Stephens said. “We’re going to start that in November and those slots fills up really fast. If your group would like to pack boxes, call Heather at 325-643-2273. We pack Monday and Wednesday evening from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., and then Saturday, Nov. 20 we can work a few more groups in. I would encourage business groups, family groups, and school groups.”
The distribution of Christmas boxes begins Dec. 1 and runs through the Dec. 23 and, again, any volunteers who would like to assist would be welcome.
“If we miss you on packing, we’ll start handing out Christmas boxes on Wednesday, Dec. 1 and we will pass those boxes out through Thursday, Dec. 23,” Stephens said. “We need lots of volunteers to help with that. When a family comes in to our Food Pantry in December they not only get their regular basket of groceries, they also get this Christmas box. We want the people who come to our pantry to know they are our guests and we’ll carry all the food out to your car. So if you want to come push carts, call Stacy at 325-643-2273.”
THE DEER PROJECT
The Deer Project is a program that pairs hunters and processors with Good Samaritan Ministries in the fight against food insecurity. All a hunter has to do during bow season or rifle season is take their legally tagged, legally harvested deer to one of six processors and donate the meat to Good Samaritan Ministries. There is no charge for the hunter.
Processors returning for the Deer Project this year are Lone Star Taxidermy & Wild Game Processing in Owens, Santa Anna Custom Processing in Santa Anna, Fulldraw Legends Processing in Rising Star, and Potter’s Taxidermy & Wildgame Processing in Cross Plains.
New additions this year are Local Cuts in Zephyr, and Double R Processing on FM 2126.
“We’ve had some shuffling in our processors this year and we’re real excited about that,” Stephens said. “One of our processors, M&M in Zephyr, has closed but Heath and Cindy Mayes, who used to be the owners of M&M, have now gone to work for Local Cuts, and we’re very excited to welcome Local Cuts to Brown County. They’re in Zephyr right behind the football field at FM 1467 South. What’s exciting about Local Cuts coming in is they’re going to be a year-round, full-service processor and we haven’t had one of those in Brown County for a long time.
“We also had a change a couple of weeks ago as Perks Deer Processing on the access road sold and the new owner is Robbie Russell and that is now Double R Processing. They have the same phone number, same address. It’s nice to add these deer processors to our processing team that also includes Lone Star Taxidermy in Owens, Santa Anna Custom Processing in Santa Anna, Full Draw Processing in Rising Star and Potter’s Processing in Cross Plains.”
Last year the Deer Project collected 13,632 pounds on venison, which is the third-highest total ever.
“Any time you drop off a legally tagged deer at one of the six processing partners, you can sign up to win some great prizes including two $250 Visa gift cards again, as well as other prizes,” Stephens said. “We also just came into a great prize for the Deer Project, a Frigidaire upright freezer with a retail value of $949. The people who contributed to the Deer Project don’t do it for the prizes, but that’s just our way of saying thank you.”
ABUNDANT LIVING SIMPLE GIVING CHILI LUNCHEON
The Abundant Living Simple Giving luncheon will take place on Nov. 3 at the GSM Food Warehouse at 305 Clark Street, and carry out will be available. Chili, baked potatoes, Fritos and all the trimmings will be served. The purpose of Abundant Living-Simple Giving is requesting 100 friends donate $100 to cover the processing costs for the Deer Project.
“This is open to to anyone who would like to support the Deer Project and in exchange we’re going to feed you a fantastic lunch of chili and all the trimmings,” Stephens said. “We work with the processors and negotiate a price that they feel covers their cost and is a fair price and all the proceeds from that luncheon go to processing costs.”