CFISD Police Officers Deliver Thanksgiving Meals to Families
The CFISD Police Department continued its annual tradition of serving families during the Thanksgiving holiday, partnering with H-E-B and Cy-Hope to deliver meals to 50 designated families throughout the district on Nov. 21.
The department joins other district departments and schools who hold food and clothing drives and help deliver food to families in need during the holiday season. For this initiative, Officer Adrian Thomas, who helps lead the police department’s Community Outreach Program, constructed a list of families who are struggling with homelessness. Some of these families participate in or are part of Cy-Hope's programs like Backpack Buddies.
“Personally, this makes me feel great that we can do this for the community and those who may need the help during these times,” said Officer Adrian Thomas. “With all of our efforts and teamwork, we were able to get this together and make it possible.”
Last year, a Cy-Fair ISD Sargent approached Cy-Hope a month before Thanksgiving, explaining his vision for what has now become an annual outreach initiative for CFISD families in need. He wanted to give approximately 50 families in the community a Thanksgiving basket, but had no idea where they were going to get the food from, since a previous sponsor had pulled out at the last minute. Cy-Hope jumped right in to make his vision a reality.
To put this year's initiative in motion, the CFISD Police Department reached out to H-E-B to see if they could donate turkeys or hams to the cause. Lauren Rud and Patty James, community coordinators for H-E-B, provided vouchers to the Police Department to help with the Thanksgiving baskets.
Officers and representatives from the community partners met at Cy-Hope in the morning to load up the department service vehicles and a CFISD school bus with the meals.
Fifty meals were assembled with nonperishable food including stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy, yams, vegetables and cake mix. A turkey, ham or both were also included depending on the size of each individual family.
Food was donated from various campuses and district departments, with H-E-B and Cy-Hope also donating to help put together complete meals. A menu was created by Essence Castro, Cy-Hope backpack program director, based off items that were donated to Cy-Hope from schools and churches in the Cy-Fair area. Cy-Hope volunteers with the Backpack Barn crew helped pack the boxes. CFISD Police Department officers bought hams and turkey out of their pockets to help ensure that the designated families had all of the items needed for their basket.
“It makes me feel really good that we are able to help the families within our community because this is such a special time,” said Castro. “I know people struggle so it makes me feel good that we are able to help them out.”
In her capacity at Cy-Hope, Castro also oversees feeding food insecure families within the district. Cy-Hope partners with the Houston Food Bank to pack meals for children in CFISD and Waller ISD every week.
"This is a very special initiative for Cy-Hope as this coincides with our mission. Making lives better for Children. Everything we do is to help children and it just warms our heart to know that we were able to make a difference for them and their families this holiday season," said Castro.
Once the meals were loaded into the services vehicles and bus, officers paired into teams to make the deliveries.
“It’s great for the community but it’s also great for the officers to give back,” Thomas said. “This is just a rewarding and heartwarming effort for a lot of us and that’s why we’re here.”
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Tiffany Krenek has been on the My Neighborhood News team since August 2021. She is passionate about curating and sharing content that enriches the lives of our readers in a personal, meaningful way. A loving mother and wife, Tiffany and her family live in the West Houston/Cypress region.
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