SAN ANTONIO – With the holiday season underway, so is the spirit of giving.
Several events were held Tuesday that gave some people and groups the chance to get an early jump on expressing their gratitude for the things in their lives.
John Arispe, owner of Premiere Pros Plumbing & HAVC, hosted his fourth annual turkey giveaway.
He said he’s grateful for all the support San Antonio and the surrounding communities have given him and his business over the last nine years.
Arispe said seeing some of the hardships people have and are going through as the holiday season begins continues to motivate him to help.
“People are struggling with having funds or means to have a good meal and especially on Thanksgiving,” Arispe said. “We want to make sure no one goes unfed.”
Arispe said he gladly gave away 200 turkeys to offer support to his fellow San Antonians who may have trouble getting the main course of their thanksgiving meal.
Nourishing families was also the purpose of well-known attorney and philanthropist Thomas J. Henry’s major $250,000 donation to the San Antonio Food Bank as part of the Feast of Texas Initiative.
“It could be a mom, grandparents, someone on their own that need help at this time of the year,” Henry said. “I personally know what it’s like to be a little hungry, and I know that feeling, I know desperation, I know loneliness, so that’s why I do it.”
The Feast of Texas Initiative is a statewide effort launched by Thomas J. Henry to provide more than 3.5 million meals statewide in 92 Texas counties via the San Antonio Food Bank, the North Texas Food Bank, Central Texas Food Bank and the Food Bank of the Golden Crescent.
Eric Cooper, president and CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank, expressed appreciation to Henry and the Thomas J. Henry Law firm.
“We just want to thank Thomas J. Henry for their support. Because of this support, we’re able to meet our holiday demands,” Cooper said. “We had a goal of raising 16,000 turkeys and this goes a long way in ensuring that that was done.”
Also among the giveback events on Tuesday was the dedication and blessing of the new family and caregiver areas at Christus Children’s in downtown San Antonio.
Ricky Munoz and Rene Orlando Martinez, two of the founding members of the Tejano-Norteño group Intocable, attended the ceremony ahead of the group’s Wednesday night concert at the Freeman Coliseum.
The Grammy and Latin Grammy-award winning group donated $130,000 to Christus Children’s Foundation.
The money enabled the hospital to set up those areas to provide patients and the medical staff spaces that could help evoke an environment of calmness, peace and comfort in the three units of the hospital. It is located in the Rehabilitation Unit, the Progressive Care and Epilepsy Monitoring Unit, and the Surgical Care Unit.
The dedication of these areas comes almost a year after Intocable toured the previous family and caregiver areas.
Munoz said he takes comfort in hearing and knowing the donations are impacting patients and their families along with health care personnel in a positive way.
“It’s a blessing to be in a position to help and make a difference and to see, you know, the people that really need them being very, very appreciative,” Munoz said.
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