Since its inception in 2006, The GVTC Foundation, GVTC’s employee-driven philanthropic arm, has centered its mission around serving its local community—just like its parent company. And nothing speaks more to being local than supporting your surrounding areas when it counts most.
For the past six years, The GVTC Foundation has dedicated its biggest philanthropic project to ensuring as many Hill Country homes as possible enjoy a joyful Thanksgiving by providing needed meals for the holiday. This year, The GVTC Foundation partnered with 8 food pantries and 15 community organizations to make this possible.
The food pantries include: Blanco Good Samaritan, Hill Country Family Services, CRRC, Habitat for Safe Seniors, Gonzales Christian Assistance Ministries, Hope Center, Provisions, and Helping Hands.
The community organizations include: Boerne Champion High School Choir, Boerne YMCA, Boerne Community Theatre, Lowe’s Market, Gonzales High School Career Prep & FCCLA, Smithson Valley High FACS, Canyon Lake High Student Council, O’Connor High School Students, Daises, Tejas Teens, Bulverde 4H, Steps and Faith Alive, Sonora Bank, and Brookshire Brothers.
Donations from organizations like Brookshire Brothers Inc., a new addition to the project who donated 50 full meals to the project, helped The GVTC Foundation exceed its original goal and feed 277 families in total for 2018! Over the course of six years, The GVTC Foundation has fed 899 families through the Thanksgiving Giveback Project.
Debra Suarez, a first-time GVTC employee volunteer for the Thanksgiving Giveback Project, expressed her immense joy on Saturday when saying, "You not only become very grateful for what you have, but you also become hopeful for what is possible when your community comes together. I'm looking forward to next year!"
Community involvement is as important to this project as the meals themselves, and the participation this year also exceeded expectations. Aaron Luna, a GVTC employee who brought his sons Saturday to deliver meals said, “It’s so important to teach your kids generosity and gratefulness, and what better way to learn that than to experience it yourself?”
Here’s to a Thanksgiving tradition built to last.