By ASHLEY MOORE
For Hays Post
Sensing a need in the community, Eagle Communications is teaming with Cerv’s for a food drive TODAY to benefit the Ellis County Community Assistance Center.
Every year the Community Assistance Center has two major foods drives a year — Trick-or-Treat so Others Can Eat in October and the Mail Carrier Food Drive in May — but these drives are no longer keeping pantry shelves full throughout the year.
According to Theresa Hill and Laurie Mortinger, co-directors, summer presents the most pressing need for food and cash. Families have a harder time making ends meet, partly because the children are no longer in school receiving free or reduced lunches. The items that the Community Assistance Center, 208 E. 12th, is in need most of cereals, boxed mixes, pastas, and peanut butter and jelly.
Eagle Communications is teaming up with Cerv’s to have a food and cash drive from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, June 16. Drop-off locations will be at all Cerv’s locations on Hall, 27th and Vine, Main and at the Interstate 70 and Vine exchange. Please bring food items like cereals, pastas, box mixes, and peanut butter and jelly. Cash helps the Community Assistance Center provide perishable items such as eggs, meat, fresh fruit and vegetables.
The Community Assistance Center has been serving Ellis County for over 30 years, with Hill’s mother serving as the first director. Every year, the center helps over 5,000 people a year from Ellis County. On average, 70 to 100 food boxes are distributed for families in need. Around Christmas, the center teams up with the Angel Tree to give out 75 to 100 food boxes. Not only does the Community Assistance Center give out food, but they also provide furniture and clothing.
Economy plays a major role in how many people they are able to serve. Hill and Mortinger said an increasing number of families come in for help every month — and every month the need changes. And with the recent downturn in the oil economy, the Community Assistance Center is having trouble keeping up with demand. Ranchers occasionally donate an entire cow to the center in order to provide fresh meat. Due to factors that included poor weather, the last food drive only produced about half the normal haul.
Hill and Mortinger praised the center’s has 48 volunteers and continually spread the word of what they are doing through a newsletter and Facebook page.
“Thankful people come to the Community Assistance Center and they don’t have to pay for school clothes and food,” Hill said. “It’s very rewarding to be able to help people less fortunate.”
Alberta Turman has been a volunteer since 2000 and she said she loves the opportunity to be able to help the people in her community.The work has become a family affair, as she’s often joined by her 8-year-old granddaughter.
“It’s a privilege for being able to volunteer and give time to help out,” she said. “Some of the people I volunteer with are like family. I have been blessed and it’s a blessing to serve the community.”
Another volunteer, Paulette Reichert, has been helping out at the Community Assistance Center since 1997. She said she loves being able to give back to the community, noting her favorite part about the center is the many people that she is able to help. She does a majority of the paperwork, such as checking people in and out. She also works on determining the need of people who come in, following government-mandated guidelines.
“The Community Assistance Center best reward is giving back to the community, to help people in need during a rough time,” Reichert said. “I wish we could do more. Everything is donated, and the Hays community is very blessed to have this here for them.”
“Being able to help people, it’s like Christmas, to be able to help people, plus the fact that every day is different,” Mortinger said. “Volunteers are wonderful and without them we wouldn’t be able to keep doors open.”