East Texas communities benefit from Hams for Hunger program

Published 5:45 am Friday, December 20, 2024

With two toddlers cooing in a grocery cart outside Super 1 Foods on Centennial Parkway, Jacksonville resident Cassie Spears embraced the holiday spirit as two major brands joined forces to donate hams to families in need this holiday season.

“Providing food for people who need it is always a good thing,” Spears said.

Hormel Foods Corporation and Brookshire Grocery Co. (BGC) partnered to donate nearly 8,000 hams, valued at $100,000, to the East Texas Food Bank (ETFB) and other food banks in their market area, Dec. 19. The “Hams for Hunger” donations will be distributed across communities served by Brookshire’s, Super 1 Foods, Spring Market and FRESH by Brookshire’s stores.

East Texas has a uniquely rural service area, where hunger disproportionately affects residents. One in six East Texans faces food insecurity daily, and for children, the numbers are even more staggering — one in four kids, or 25%, may not know where their next meal will come from. The East Texas Food Bank plays a crucial role in distributing food across the region.

Nonprofits often face fluctuating levels of support, but the holiday season brings increased assistance at a time when community needs are highest, Spears said.

Tim Butler, ETFB chief development officer said high-quality protein donations, like Hormel hams, are not something they always receive in large quantities, making them especially meaningful this time of year.

“This time of year, when people are getting together with their families for Christmas and New Year’s, hopefully cooking those ham or turkey meals, and they’ll have something they can cook that’s a holiday appropriate and really tasty,” Butler said.

The hams distributed through ETFB support the region’s food pantry network. This network includes about 140 food pantry partners spread across our 26-county service area.

“The East Texas Food Bank has a fleet of vehicles. We actually distribute about 60% of our food through delivery. So a lot of our partners don’t have the means to come pick it up in Tyler, they may be really far away, like Texarkana, so we’ll just deliver it straight to them,” Butler said.

While some partners are well-known organizations like the Salvation Army, many are small, rural churches working hard to assist their communities, Butler said. These hams will go directly into those local communities, helping feed people in need.

“We’re incredibly excited to be one of the recipients of this generous donation from Hormel Foods and the Brookshire Grocery Company. It’s just wonderful to have people on our side fighting hunger and feeding hope in East Texas,” Butler said.

The program has been running for over 20 years and continues to be a priority, said Brad Brookshire, BGC chairman and CEO. He added that it is a great blessing to have a strong partnership with Hormel.

The partnership was initially set to end but will now continue locally due to its importance, said Jeremy Geiser, Hormel’s director of sales for West Coast customers.

“This is a program we do with multiple retailers. In most of those retailers, it probably won’t continue, but because it’s so important here, we want to continue to make that investment,” Geiser said.

Jerry LeClaire, BGC executive vice president and chief merchandising officer, said the continuation of the program at Brookshire’s highlights the strong, long-standing partnership with Hormel and their commitment to giving back to the communities they serve.

“They call us every year, and want to donate the hams, and we’re all in,” Brookshire said.