Empty Stocking loses corporate contributions
By LYNDA STRINGER - Tribune City Editor
Saturday, December 6, 2008 12:42 PM CST
| |
| Brenda Walters of Mount Pleasant visits with El Chico Manager Shelton West as server Nick Amos takes her order at El Chico night Thursday, a fundraiser for Empty Stocking. The restaurant donated 15 percent of its profits for the project's toy and food drive. TRIBUNE photo by Lynda Stringer |
The organizers of Empty Stocking expected Pilgrim's Pride to have to bow out of giving its usual donation of hens this year due to its dire financial situation. However, they were not expecting a lack of support from Campbell's Soup Company in Paris, which recently announced plans to expand its juice operations there and add 65 fulltime jobs.
"Campbell's has always been a great supporter of ours. For ten years, they and Pilgrim's have been the key elements in the Boy Scout food drive," said longtime Empty Stocking volunteer Chuck Hinton, one of the founders of Titus County Cares and its past president. "They [Campbell's] have been swamped this year with more requests for donations than they have ever had and it has just slowed everything up," Hinton said on Thursday evening, still hoping that the company would be able to come through for them.
However, after many emails and voice mail messages, they received the bad news early Friday morning.
"We did confirm that we are not getting our donation of cans from Campbell's," Titus County Cares Executive Director Judy Lee said Friday morning.
For 10 years, the organization has relied on Campbell's generous donation of six pallets of canned soups, juice, Spaghetti O's and Ravioli.
"That's five to six tons of food," said TCC secretary Michelle Woodruff.
Barbara Ann Ballard, who is Hinton's contact at Campbell's, broke the news that she received from Mary Mead, who is in charge of the food donations from Campbell's.
"I am very disappointed and sad to say that CSC is not going to be able to support the Empty Stocking for the first time this year," Ballard wrote in the email.
She said Mead explained to her that the company did not have the same amount of donations available for charities this year.
"They were allowing only four pallets of food per large organization and that ran out," Ballard's email said. "I just pray that God has another venue for you to get a donation from in time."
Mead did return calls for comment from the Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune.
Without the food from Campbell's, Empty Stocking organizers are appealing to the community to fill a huge void.
"We desperately need these items," Woodruff said.
Lee said they are now seeking several different avenues to make up for the lost canned food.
"That is a lot of food to replace. But, we know that God will provide," she said.
Along with replacing the canned soups, Spaghetti O's, Ravioli and canned juices, Woodruff said they are in need of other non-perishable food items such as canned vegetables, boxed stuffing, boxed mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese.
Rebecca Bristow, the Communities in Schools Coordinator at Winfield ISD, said the lack of support from Campbell's is very unusual and it has put the food drive in a desperate situation.
"It is a lot of food and we really count on them. This is going to make it very hard. We have to fill about 900 boxes of food," Bristow said.
Last year, Empty Stocking provided food boxes to 682 families and toys to more than 1,700 children and the group expects to serve at least 100 more families this year.
"We currently have 1,150 children enrolled for the Empty Stocking. Last year we served 1,701 children, so this year we may exceed 2, 000," Woodruff said.
Pilgrim's Pride, which filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, for many years has provided the majority of the funds for Empty Stocking to buy hens for the food boxes.
This year, they had to turn to funds that CIS collects from fundraisers year-round to make up the difference. They were able to purchase hens from Pilgrim's Pride with those funds. Brookshire's Food Stores is also donating 350 hens.
"We are so thankful to them for that," Bristow said.
Woodruff said they initially contacted Pilgrim's Pride in an Empty Stocking appeal letter that was mailed to past donors in mid-October.
"At that time we got a letter back stating that they weren't able to donate at this time and we certainly understand that," Woodruff said. "We did not even ask them about the hens this year."
Pilgrim's Pride spokesman Ray Atkinson expressed his appreciation for the charitable organization's efforts and the Pittsburg company's regret for being unable to help.
"Pilgrim's Pride has been facing unprecedented financial challenges in our business and industry as a result of soaring costs for feed ingredients. As a result, we were unable to provide a donation to Empty Stocking this year," Atkinson said. "As our business improves, we will review requests for charitable funding in order to help our communities as they continue to grow and prosper."
Woodruff said Pilgrim's did offer the use of a refrigerated truck to store the hens.
"Pilgrim's has been so generous in the past and I am sure if not for these really tough economic times they are going through, they would do as much or more than they have," Hinton said. "We are very appreciative of what they done in the past and understand what they are going through. We want them to know that our thoughts and prayers are with them during their recovery."
Woodruff said the Titus County community has really stepped up to help. However, without the Campbell's donation, much more help is needed.
Donations of canned goods and other non-perishable food items can be dropped off at the new TCC building at 2102 Mulberry or in the food bins at Brookshire's on Ferguson and at Super 1 on Jefferson and Highway 49.
Organizers and volunteers will begin sorting and filling the 30-pound boxes of food on Monday. The group will distribute the food and toys at St. Andrew United Methodist Church Dec. 17.
Woodruff said while they have been focusing on collecting food, they would soon have to shift gears to the toys and gifts.
A sign of the economic times we are in, Woodruff said the No. 1 gift request from children is for clothes and the second is for shoes.
Hinton said he has no doubt the community will respond, even those who have little to give. He shared a story of how he used to carry around a Christmas stocking in his pocket and people would ask what it was.
"It's my empty stocking and I'm trying to fill it up," he would tell them.
In the line at Wal-Mart, a young boy about 11 years old asked the question. He turned all four pockets inside out and came up with 14 cents he wanted to give. Then the boy's little brother, who was around 6 years old, wanted to do the same thing, but his pockets were empty.
"His mother said, ‘He wants to bring you something tomorrow,' so we met the next day," Hinton recalled. "He had broken into his piggy bank and he handed me a double fist of coins."
Hinton said the boys' family ended up being a recipient of Empty Stocking.
"That sold me for life. Wherever I live, whatever I am doing, I will always be involved with something like this," he said.
