There are hungry children, disabled people, and neighbors down on their luck right here in Terlingua. To most of us, they’re invisible.
If you can’t attend the benefit, you can download a PDF of the pledge form, print it out, and send it in to the Family Crisis Center. That would be a good thing to do.
At a recent meeting of the Big Bend Citizens Alliance (BBCA), the local non-profit that is the umbrella organization for my TerlinguaCares non-profit, I had a fascinating conversation with Mike Drinkard, who runs the food bank here in Terlingua.
I learned that
1) by ordering food from the area food bank “menu,” Mike can get food for the local food bank very cheaply. He can keep the 600 or so people who need assistance from starving for just $400 a month.
2. Some months, he can only serve a few people because he can’t come up with $400/month.
3. The quality of food offered by the food bank is uniformly bad – powdered potatoes with trans fats, frosted flakes, chicken laced with antibiotics…
I had no idea. Did you?
I have friends who live in shipping containers. I have a couple of friends who live in tents. But, they do so because they want to. When I hang out on the porch or bop around town, I don’t see anybody who looks homeless or hungry- well, that’s not entirely true. Terlingua fashion does tend to be a little informal. But, I didn’t know anybody was missing meals- especially children!
Surprise! There are over 600 people in our neighborhood who need food assistance. Over half of them are children or disabled adults.
We can’t rely on the government to fix this. This is my problem. This is your problem.
This shall not stand. (Big Lebowski quote)
No way are we going to allow children to go hungry in Terlingua. We’re going to fund the food bank.
We’re looking for heroes to permanently fund the food bank by making regular, monthly donations. We’ve found our first two heroes: Ruffin Moore, the General Manager of Lajitas Golf Resort, has agreed to donate $250 a month. Mike Davidson, Alpine City Councilman and Pinche Gringo has agreed to donate $25/month.
(update) We have two new heroes! Glen at La Kiva has pledged $420 a month- and is challenging other local businesses other local businesses to pledge what they can to improve quality and quantity. Mike Perry of the Alpine Daily Planet has pledged $25/month.
To volunteer to be a hero, contact Mike Drinkard at 432-371-3147. Your contributions are tax-deductible and all proceeds will go to buy food for hungry people.
We’re also going to hold a benefit concert at the Starlight Theatre on March 2nd, Texas Independence day. We need musicians to play and items to donate. We also need you to be there! To volunteer to play or donate an item for the auction contact me (Pat O’Bryan) at koanwrangler@gmail.com.
Our goal is two-fold:
1) if the choice is between not eating and eating empty calories and transfats, let’s go for the empty calories. We need to make sure the food bank has at least $400 a month that Mike can count on.
2) we don’t want our neighbors eating that stuff – it makes you dumb and kills you. The ultimate goal is to provide healthy, nutritious food (beans and brown rice would be a big step up) for our neighbors who need help. We need to fund the food bank sufficiently so that Mike can order and distribute nutritious food.
