Gentiva Hospice food drive filling shelves at Burnet’s LACare

BURNET — Staff members of Gentiva Hospice are hitting the streets in August in an effort to collect food for LACare, a Burnet area food pantry.

“As active members of the community, we know that food banks, pantries and other charitable organizations continue to face increasing demands for assistance,” said Gentiva Hospice executive director Jackie Williams. “We look forward to working with many area health organizations, and we encourage local health care providers to contact us for more information on how they and their employees can participate in this community effort.”

The Gentiva crew will be heading out into the community during August to distribute collection bags as well as gather donations for the 11th annual food drive.

LACare, located at 507 W. Buchanan Drive (Texas 29) on the grounds of Our Mother of Sorrows Catholic Church, provides food for families residing in the Burnet Consolidated Independent School District. In 2014, LACare provided services to more than 4,500 families representing more than 15,000 individuals.

While food pantries such as LACare get a great deal of attention during the holiday season, the summer can be more challenging. But whether around the holidays or in the summer, the need remains.

August is typically one of the lowest donation times of the year for food pantries.

The Gentiva Hospice employees are placing collection bags at various health care facilities across the area. They will “harvest” the donations through August. The Gentiva staff have set a goal of helping beat last year’s national mark of 838,000 pounds of food.

And it all starts with one can or one box of non-perishable food at a time.

Call (512) 868-0505 for a collection box or more information. Go to lacareburnet.org for more information on LACare.

editor@thepicayune.com