(Guadalupe County) — Families across Seguin ISD, Navarro ISD, Marion ISD, and Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD are receiving a meaningful boost this holiday season thanks to a generous donation of 1,000 boxes of food made possible through a growing partnership between Communities In Schools (CIS) and Hope Presbyterian Church in New Braunfels.
The donation was received through the church’s partnership with the Boxes of Blessing organization based in San Antonio.
Lisa Driffill, chief program officer for Communities In Schools, says last year, the church donated 250 boxes of food to CIS to help families facing food insecurity during the holiday season.
She says schools in Guadalupe County this year accounted for at least half of those boxes.
“The amount of boxes that they were packing this year – the donation was so great that they allowed us to share with all of the communities that we serve. Volunteers from that church got together and packed all of the boxes on Saturday and then on Monday, our team, so our site coordinators, our board of directors, some wonderful volunteers, our admin staff came together to kind of deliver all these boxes across the communities that Communities In Schools of South Central Texas serve,” said Driffill.
Driffill says the site coordinators at the various campuses remain busy this weekend making sure those families who need the boxes get one.
“A big push right now is students are about to go on Christmas break and many of them are used to getting that solid breakfast and lunch at school and that is not going to be happening. These boxes are designed to feed a family of four for a week. They have basic items in them – some bread products – tortillas, macaroni and cheese, pasta, spaghetti sauce – lots of canned vegetables, fruits, snacks – even some moon pies. I saw some of them in there for fun so lots of things that can be used for basic meals and also snacks — throughout the week,” said Driffill.
Driffill also emphasized that the timing of the donation could not have been better.
“We were very excited. We took it on and I think our biggest challenge was how we were going to get it out into all of our communities. But it’s huge because we know our families are needing this food. There’s a lot of food insecurities going on out there even just pending from the government shutdown, the lapse that there was for food stamps and just the overall climate that we are living in so, it warms our heart to be able to partner with these agencies and just make sure that kids have what they need and families have what they need especially during these breaks from school where we can’t be with them and checking on them,” said Driffill.
Communities In Schools works year-round to remove barriers to student success, including addressing basic needs such as food access. CIS leaders say during the holidays, those needs often intensify as families balance rising costs and limited resources.
They also say partnerships like the one with Hope Presbyterian Church demonstrate how community collaboration can directly support students and their families, offering not just meals, but reassurance during a critical time of year.