{"id":49223,"date":"2019-10-09T11:10:29","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T16:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=49223"},"modified":"2019-10-09T11:10:34","modified_gmt":"2019-10-09T16:10:34","slug":"community-pulls-together-for-trick-or-treat-so-others-can-eat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=49223","title":{"rendered":"Community pulls together for Trick or Treat So Other\u2019s Can Eat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BY ISABELLE BRAUN<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A heavy wind blew as community organizations gathered to begin their collections for Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat (TOT) at 6 p.m. on Oct. 8. They split up along their routes to make the collection of non-perishable food items as efficient as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had 27 groups, ranging from boy scouts, girl scouts, college groups, community professional groups,\u201d Shaina Prough said. \u201cI organize all of the groups to go out and collect. They are supposed to canvas their areas and ring doorbells to pick up items from people\u2019s homes. Then they bring them to the Community Assistance Center where Hays High DECA members, and we had some other school volunteers, count and mark and put everything away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From last night, the total count of items is 12,654, but items will be collected through the end of the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve already had three or four bags come in this morning, so we kind of wait until the end of the month to count,\u201d co-director Lori Mortinger said. \u201cThis is one of our main food drives. We only have two, and this is the biggest one we ever have. Coming into winter, we really were in need. Our shelves were pretty bare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Last year the community assistance center helped approximately 5,000 families of just Ellis county.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important for us to remember there are people in our community who struggle to make ends meet,\u201d Prough said. \u201cIt\u2019s not that these people reckless in their spending, but a lot of times it\u2019s just things come up. There were two kids from Hays High last night that came in and said \u2018We remember coming here when we were little. We were so poor we couldn\u2019t afford to go get groceries at the store, so we shopped here for free.\u2019 They said \u2018It\u2019s so cool for us to be able to go out and collect and give back.\u2019 This is why we do this. It was really touching to see those kids say that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volunteers such as Hays High DECA, the Lyons club, Hays Christian Church and personal volunteers at the Community Assistance Center helped sort and count food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSummer kind of wipes us out since school is out, so hopefully this food drive will hold us over until May,\u201d co-director Theresa Hill said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additional donations can be made by dropping food off at the Community Assistance Center or by contacting Hays High for pick-up arrangements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the results are great,\u201d Mortinger said. \u201cLooking in our kitchen we know how bad the shelves were, and last year we didn\u2019t even use all of our flats, which are all of little boxes that we stack them on underneath, and we\u2019re going to use them all this time.\u201d
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