Sahar Chmais
The holiday hands keep on giving. Hays County has hosted many food drives, but this time, Buda Area Chamber of Commerce (BACC) will be putting on a special drive.
Modeled off of the old Jerry Lewis telethon, yet with a twist of the future, BACC will put on a 12-hour Zoom-A-Thon food drive. The drive will be hosted through the Zoom video service and streamed on Facebook and YouTube. This event will benefit the Hays County Food Bank so the donation efforts will extend throughout the county.
“The chamber sees first-hand the adverse effects this pandemic is having on the community, businesses and people’s jobs,” said J.R. Gonzales, BACC’s executive director. “Due to COVID-19 and the fact that a lot of people may not be contributing to food drives, need is larger than ever.”
The Zoom-A-Thon will be hosted several days before Thanksgiving on Nov. 21 at the VFW Building at 100 Houston Street.
Non-perishable food items, canned-foods and monetary donations will be accepted at the drive. For those who cannot come out to donate food, they can donate some money from the comfort of their homes. Gonzales said that even $5 makes a difference to the families that need the aid.
To ensure the safety of those coming out to help, the Zoom-A-Thon asks for people to remain in their cars and place donated items in their car trunks or truck beds. Volunteers wearing gloves and masks will get the items and directly place them in the Hays County Food Bank’s vehicles.
But what is a 12-hour Zoom-A-Thon without the entertainment?
BACC is also asking for community entertainers to come out and show off their talents. It could be a band from local high schools, musicians, choirs, comedians; people who want to entertain viewers are welcome to reach out to the chamber.
“Our hope is to get larger businesses and corporations donating, but this is also coming from the people -- friends and neighbors,” Gonzales explained. “It’s the Buda thing to do. We’re a community that helps each other out in a time of need.”
