Bunny ears and open hearts: Food bank serves Easter meals
Event at Brooks sponsored by Broadway Bank serves 755 families
One volunteer dressed in a purple hoodie. Two others sported bunny ears. Together, they put on some Easter cheer as they helped to distribute holiday hams and fresh food to hundreds of families on Good Friday at Brooks on San Antonio’s Southeast Side.
Food Bank CEO Eric Cooper said the special event comes at a time when people still acutely feel the effects of the coronavirus pandemic: the loss of loved ones, jobs, savings and opportunities to gather safely with relatives and friends.
“We wanted to do what we could to keep COVID from robbing families of their Easter dinner,” he said. “On this Friday before Easter, some of the meals that will be prepared this weekend are meals that have tradition. They have a lot more meaning than just the food that gives nourishment to the body.”
More than 700 families lined up at Brooks to get groceries, including the traditional hams, which were donated by Broadway Bank.
Bank officials also announced a $50,000 gift to the Food Bank to keep a refrigerated truck in its fleet of vehicles.
David Bohne, the bank’s president and CEO, said the company has supported the Food Bank’s Second Servings Program, which collects and distributes prepared food, for five years. It helps families in need, seniors and groups that serve the city’s vulnerable residents.
“This support for our fleet will deliver not only food but also hope to our community,” Cooper said. “We could not be more grateful.”
On Friday, 755 families, or 3,020 people, each received a ham and about 100 pounds of food, including milk, tomatoes
and more, said Michael Guerra, the Food Bank’s chief resource officer.
Even as the number of new coronavirus cases has been receding, the demand for food has stayed steady at Food Bank events.
Earlier this week, Cooper invited people to take part in All Faiths Fasting Fridays and make a fasting offering equal to the value of a meal missed during the period. The program will continue from now through April 30.
“No matter what tradition you follow, whether it’s Easter, Passover, Ramadan or Vaisakhi, all of us know that no one should go hungry,” Cooper said. “When we’re in the service of our fellow beings we’re only in the service of our God.”
Those seeking help arrived early Friday. The distribution was set to begin at 9 a.m. and the first people arrived about 6:30 a.m.
Throughout the morning, volunteers wearing protective masks restocked boxes at drive-thru stations spaced several feet apart by food type. Gallons of milk, vegetables and cookie dough were among the items in Deborah Miller’s car as she neared the last food station.
“It really helps a lot,” said Miller, 56. “I’m glad to see all of this help for everybody.”
First-time volunteer Jericho Smith, 41, who was wearing the purple hoodie, slid boxes of apple slices into beds of pickups and trunks of cars. Tanaya Fabela, 32, and Lulu Dunklin, 44, wore the cheery bunny ears as they worked.
After Smith loaded each box away, she bid each driver “goodbye” and “Happy Easter!”