Editor:

A huge outpouring of food, toys, gifts and volunteers made this the best Christmas Angels project that we can remember!

Food – thanks to Skidmore-Tynan Elementary School, 1,600 cans; Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, a pickup load; S-T High School, 7 large boxes; Food Bank of Corpus Christi, 900 lbs. of grapefruit and oranges, plus water and drinks; Sears, 2 pickup trucks full; Arturo Hernandez; Coastal Bend College Spanish Club; CBC anatomy and physiology classes, a truck load; H-E-B, 400 paper bags, plus bread and pastries; General Bee Lodge #284, food and toiletries.

Since food is a year-round need, we were thrilled to have enough to carry us through February! Just this week we received generous donations from the Ladies Mission Fellowship of Bible Baptist Church, St. Philip’s Church and School, First Christian and Faith Lutheran Churches.

Special thanks for Christmas food donations to State Rep. Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles, 50 turkeys; Elder’s Country Market; Gone Country 4-H; Lacks Furniture Store and all who participated in its Trim-A-Tree celebration – this yielded 3 pickup loads of food!

St. Philip’s Church and School, First Christian of Beeville, Bethlehem Baptist Church, First United Methodist Church and First Presbyterian Church are regular donors. Cub Scout Pack 451 donated 170 items as well as making wreaths and decorations.

Toys and gifts – Becky Galloway, Gone Country 4-H, A.C. Jones FCCLA, Moreno Junior High Cheer Squad, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Navy-Army Credit Union, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots, St. Joseph’s Altar Guild and countless individuals. We hope we did not miss anyone.

Joe Chambless built a wonderful two-tiered cart for us to carry food and gifts to the recipients’ cars.

The Vineyard would like to add thanks to Christus Spohn Maintenance crew for replacing lights and ballasts in the warehouse, to Rice Plumbing and Ruby Roofing for donations of service.

Thanks to the Beeville Bee-Picayune and Radio Kicker 106 for all the great publicity.

Donors of funds are listed in an ad elsewhere.

In addition to the 24-member Christmas Angels committee, there were 67 volunteers clocking more than 4,000 hours between Oct. 15 and Jan. 15. Many were from local churches, retired school personnel, Navy-Army Credit Union, Christus Spohn Beeville and H-E-B Food Store.

Thanks to all who helped make this a special holiday for 396 families!

Bettye Hale

Executive Director, Beeville Vineyard