Grocery chain tallies up collection from food drive

The Spirit of Christmas Food Drive collected enough food to assist approximately 15,400 families in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi, including many families in the Tyler area.

"We appreciate the folks who gave so generously to help the less fortunate members of the Rose City Kiwanis Club and PATH area through the holidays," said Sam Anderson, director of public relations for Brookshire Grocery Co.

Non-perishable food items were donated at participating Brookshire's and Super 1 Foods stores.

Service agencies or organizations such as the Rose City Kiwanis Club and PATH, collected, sorted, boxed, and distributed the food to recipients before Christmas.

Each family received at least one box of food, which contained items such as canned meats, peanut butter, canned vegetables, soups, pasta, dried beans, corn meal, flour, and sugar. Brookshire Grocery Co. donated at least one baking hen per family, totaling 16,500 hens this year.

The goal of the Spirit of Christmas Food Drive is to help the most needy people, particularly the elderly and single-parent households.

Families assisted through the drive are screened by private relief organizations or government agencies to verify their degree of need.