Monthly Archives: July 2016

Food4kids needs support

Posted on by Lynda Stringer
Food4Kids recipient_0147
Photo by LYNDA STRINGER

 

 

A Food4kids recipient helps her mom load groceries they received from Titus County Cares Food Pantry.

July 15, 2016 | By LYNDA STRINGER

Many times, the food Titus County students receive in their backpacks on Fridays is the only food they have to eat for the weekend.

The Food4kids program, launched by Titus County Cares four years ago, has grown from serving 800 kids to 1,300 kids every week during the school year. To fund the program, TCC relies on community fundraisers and matching foundation grants to meet its $120,000 annual budget.

In July, TCC launched a support letter campaign to raise at least $15,000 in hopes of receiving a $15,000 matching grant from the Carl C. Anderson, Sr. and Marie Jo Anderson Charitable Foundation in Austin. The organization’s Claybuster Shoot held in April raised more than $35,000, which qualified them to receive a $30,000 matching grant from the Burt and Nancy Marans Charitable Fund.

It’s the third year they have applied for the Anderson Foundation grant but the first year they’ve raised the initial funding through a letter campaign. Previously the grant funds were tied to a fundraiser offering vintage aircraft rides to veterans through Mid America Flight Museum.

“We decided to go in a different direction because wanted to be able to able to include more people, to reach those who can give $10 or $25 as well as those who can give $500,” said TCC Executive Director Judy Lee.

She said a gift of $10 provides a sack of food for kids in 1st through 4th grades every Friday for one month. How important is that?

“It’s the difference in not having anything to eat over the weekend,” Lee said. “They need that extra food because ends don’t meet and they don’t have enough food.”

She shared the story of a single mom who works the evening shift at Pilgrim’s. She worried about her young daughter coming home to an empty house and having to feed herself.

“She was so happy to know that she would have something to eat on Friday night and she wouldn’t have to worry about her trying to cook something,” Lee said.

Each child in the family is eligible to receive the sacks filled with high-protein, healthy foods like pop-top canned meals, peanut butter crackers, cereal, powdered milk, cereal bars, beef sticks and juice boxes. The sacks are discreetly placed in the child’s backpack on Fridays. If a younger child has older siblings, they can bring home the sacks for their brothers and sisters in junior high and high school.

“They desperately need it, too,” Lee said. “So, we do it in a way so that no child gets made fun of or points out specific kids.”

The parents and the kids are appreciative of the hand up that helps them get through tough situations. A high school student who volunteered on the Tuesday night assembly line to pack the food bags told Lee he was there because he’d been a Food4kids recipient in the past when his dad lost his job.

“He said, ‘My brothers and I started getting these bags of food on the weekend and that really helped me so much,’” Lee said.

He told her when he heard about the weekly volunteer opportunity, he wanted to help so he could help do the same for another child.

“They know someone in this community cares about them.”

Lee has faith that the community will step up again to provide the funds needed to receive the grant for the 2016-2017 school year.

“The bottom line is God has provided every year and God will provide again,” she said.

To learn more about the program and to make a donation, go to TitusCountyCares.org.

Lynda Stringer is a Mount Pleasant-based freelance writer and owner of Stringer Media. Contact her at Lynda.Stringer@outlook.com.

 

Community prays for officers

Posted on by Lynda Stringer
July 10, 2016 | By LYNDA STRINGER

IMG_0131A hastily organized prayer vigil to support local law enforcement drew hundreds to downtown Mount Pleasant Sunday night.

Members of the local minister’s union, chaplain’s association and the Mount Pleasant NAACP organized the gathering at the Bell Tower across from the Titus County Courthouse in the wake of the tragic police shootings in Dallas last week.

“Everyone has come together here today to express solidarity and support of our local law enforcement,” Rev. Lenn Deloney, president of the Mount Pleasant Minister’s Union, said following the event. “God is bigger than the problems we have.”

Deloney, pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church, said he and his fellow pastors are committed to renewing a dialogue that will fulfill a hope of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that a man or woman is not judged by the color of their skin, but the nature of their character.

“Right now there are turbulent times in our country and we are glad to see these several hundred people coming together. That says that people care,” Deloney said.

Rev. David Anderson, pastor of Calvary Chapel and a police chaplain, said the focus of his prayer was healing and bringing the community together. He said since the tragic ambush that killed five police officers in Dallas, the major concern officers have communicated to him is that everyone is being lumped together and lines are being drawn.

“We can’t have lines being drawn in a country where we are supposed to serve one another,” Anderson said. “The idea behind this vigil was to break down some of those barriers and show that we are in this together.”

The ministers and the public prayed over and showed support for Mount Pleasant Police officers, Titus County Sheriff’s deputies and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers, a gesture they were deeply grateful for.

“DPS Capt. Michael Scullin, who was at home Thursday night when he began getting word of the shootings, said tragedies like this one affect the whole law enforcement community.

“It’s very stressful because an attack on one is an attack on us all,” Scullin said. “It puts us all on a higher stress level with our families wondering if we’re coming home.”

He said the prayer vigil showed him and his fellow troopers, officers, deputies and agents that “evil will not win.”

“Good will triumph,” Scullin said.

Mount Pleasant Police Chief Wayne Isbell called the Dallas shootings disgusting, especially because they were protecting those protesting the recent police-involved

shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana. He said the shooter “ripped out the protest message, wadded it up and threw it away.”

 

He thanked the community for their show of support and praised the local chaplains who volunteer countless hours to minister to the officers entrusted as the peacekeepers and protectors of the community.

Mayor Pro Tem Robert Nance said the community must not respond to the national events by pointing fingers.

“We need to come together to solve the problem. It’s time to get back to our first love, to get back to God,” Nance said. “Taking guns off the street won’t make any difference until somebody has a change of heart. We need to start respecting our neighbors, our police, our schools and each other. We don’t love when we don’t respect.”

Titus County Judge Brian Lee said prayers spoken over Mount Pleasant at every level gives him comfort.

“Christ has provided a blanket over this community, especially over our law enforcement,” Lee said.

Sheriff Tim Ingram said his heart was broken over the senseless shootings and the vigil was the beginning of the healing process.

“What a powerful statement from Rev. Kirthell Roberts to say, ‘all lives matter,’” Ingram said. “It gives me a sense of peace and strength to know that we can conquer anything that happens here when you have that kind of support.”

Lynda Stringer is a Mount Pleasant-based freelance writer and owner of Stringer Media. Contact her at Lynda.Stringer@outlook.com.