TAG+ offers relief from the heat with care bags, support for Tyler’s homeless population

Published 5:30 am Saturday, July 12, 2025

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Members and volunteers of TAG+ organize and pack winter care bags with items tailored for cold weather relief. (TAG+ Facebook Page/Contributed Photo)

As summer temperatures continue to climb, the need for relief becomes critical — especially for those without shelter. That’s why Tyler Area Gays (TAG+) is hitting the streets with its summer edition of TAG Bags: care packages filled with essentials to help those experiencing homelessness beat the heat.

“We like to not only reach out to our LGBTQ community, but just our community in general and the homeless community, it does seem to grow,” said Colten Curry, vice president of TAG+. “We just want to be sure that they are getting their basic essentials.”

Founded in 2008 as a small nonprofit based in the Tyler area, TAG+ serves as a space for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and straight allies in East Texas. 

“Our main focus is to the East Texas community for the LGBTQ, community,” Curry said. “But we don’t just stop there, we want to serve our community as a whole. We essentially want to provide those safe spaces.”

The organization has been distributing care bags for the past four years and hopes to expand its reach through new initiatives aimed at making a broader impact across the region.

TAG+ provides items such as sunscreen, insect repellent, sanitizing wipes, deodorant, flip-flops, socks, and fans to help with the heat, as well as hygiene items like soap, feminine products, and other toiletries. The bags also include nonperishable snacks. Volunteers will assemble the bags Saturday evening and distribute them on Sunday.



“It’s just a reward in itself, just seeing them happy and seeing them getting the basic necessities they need,” Curry said. “Some of these items, we take for granted.”

Twice a year, TAG+ distributes care bags tailored for extreme weather — once in the summer and once in the winter — to support the comfort and well-being of individuals experiencing homelessness.

“It’s very important to us to distribute these bags because essentially they’re in need of assistance and there’s often times where we feel that there’s not enough for them throughout the year,” Curry said. “There are times, such as Christmas, where there’s plenty of programs — which are great — but we really want to try to fulfill those needs in various times of the year.”

TAG+ also collaborates with Church Under a Bridge, a faith-based organization that holds weekly services under a Tyler overpass for members of the homeless community. After the upcoming Sunday service, TAG+ will distribute care bags to attendees.

“We are very thankful that we are able to work with them,” Curry said. 

In addition to that partnership, TAG+ works with local businesses to obtain items such as hair care and personal hygiene products. According to Curry, they have a few hundred bags ready for distribution.

“We generally like to have too much rather than too little,” he said. “We just want to be able to give out to whoever needs a bag.”

Over time, TAG+ has adapted its care bags based on the evolving needs of those experiencing homelessness in Tyler. Each year, the organization evaluates which items are most essential for the season and adjusts the contents accordingly.

As the program has grown, so has community involvement.

“The more we have these events, the more volunteers that want to be associated,” Curry said. “So we turned into having a smaller group of people handing these bags out and now we have a list of people that we’re contacting saying, ‘Hey, we’re having this event… can you come?’ So that way, we can just have more hands on deck on being able to provide these items to the community.”

TAG+ said it strives to offer a safe and inclusive environment for all in the community. 

“At the end of the day, we are a nonprofit organization for the East Texas community,” Curry said. “We love to see our community come together for those different events and give back programs, so that way we can just have that peace of mind of being able to know that we as a community can come together.”

For more information on TAG+ events or opportunities to volunteer, visit their website: tylerareagays.com. To view their Amazon Wish List, visit tinyurl.com/tag-amazon-wishlist.

About Jennifer Scott

Multimedia reporter and animal lover on the education beat. I am an Alabama native with a bachelor's in journalism from Troy University. I've been married to my college sweetheart since 2012, and we have enjoyed living in East Texas since moving up from the Houston area in 2021. We love all things Disney and dogs!

Please send me story ideas or questions to jennifer.scott@tylerpaper.com.

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