(Seguin) — Hundreds of Seguin families recently filed into the city of Seguin Softball 4-Plex on Nelda Street for some much-needed support. The large-scale effort was part of a nationwide “Resource Rally” coordinated by Niagara Cares, the charitable arm of Niagara Bottling. The event was held in partnership with the non-profit group Feed the Children, the city of Seguin, and the Seguin ISD.
The Resource Rally brought together dozens of Niagara Bottling employees and city volunteers, who spent a portion of last week handing out supplies to 400 local families. Each kit was designed to support a family of four. The kits included boxes of food, name-brand cosmetics, personal hygiene products, toys, and bottled water.
Chet Jones, Feed the Children’s director for corporate partners, says these food distributions are made possible through ongoing collaborations with businesses that want to make a difference in their local communities.
“Companies like to engage their employees and there’s nothing better than first hand watching the families. So what Niagara did, we targeted certain plant locations across the nation because Niagara has fifty-five plants. So we did this last year, we did fifteen events at fifteen plants and word got around and everybody wanted to do it. So this year we are doing twenty in different locations across the country from New York to California wherever Niagara has a plant,” said Jones.
Jones says the program focuses on partnering with cities and organizations that are “closely connected to residents in need.”
“We come out here and invite four hundred families – sometimes eight hundred families – and we have the Niagara employees join us, along with the city and the mayors come out and it’s just a beautiful event. We give away around one-hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth of food and resources to identified families, and it’s usually around four hundred families that we identify,” said Jones.
Before the event, Jeff Houghtling, systems and warehouse manager at Niagara Bottling in Seguin, said that the event was a meaningful way for Niagara to give back to the community where its team members live, work and play.
“Not only do we take pride in helping out the community as well, but I thank the group of people we have working for us as well. Either half of them come from that live in Seguin, or especially come from San Antonio, right? I’ve been with Niagara ten years and every day it’s an adventure. We love to help out the community. Not only do we help out with Feed the Children, of course, but Kerrville. The city, every time you guys come calling you guys help us out as well. But let’s take the opportunity to get these cars rolling here, and it’s a great opportunity for the family,” said Houghtling.
Seguin ISD Superintendent Dr. Jack Lee also expressed gratitude to Niagara Cares and Feed the Children, noting that many of the district’s students come from households that will benefit from the donated goods.
“I get to represent, today, about 7,300 students (and) over a thousand staff members that work hard every single day to make sure our students have exactly what they need in the classroom. But what they need often, and that we see every day as educators are the things that really make a difference – food, shelter, clothing – the things we don’t always get to provide as a school district every single day. So today as volunteers I want to say thank you. Thank you to Niagara Cares, to Feed the Children, to the city of Seguin, but it means the world to the people that are going to be coming through this line. And that’s very powerful, incredibly powerful for them and incredibly powerful for our community. So on behalf of Seguin ISD students I just want to say thank you. As Mayor (Donna) Dodgen pointed out, Seguin’s poverty rate for the city is about fifteen percent. For Seguin ISD, we’re closer to about eighty percent of our students are economically disadvantaged and struggle in some way. So, this is very meaningful for them and for the families you are going to see today. So, thank you very very much for all that you do,” said Lee.
Seguin is among a handful of Texas cities along with Dallas and Houston who will have hosted a food distribtuion. Jones says Feed the Children has worked especially hard to assist communities across the state affected by natural disasters over the past year.
Tuesday’s event marked the 15th stop in this year’s Niagara-Feed the Children partnership tour. So far, the nationwide effort has helped approximately 22,000 children and their families.