PHARR — Kiolbassa Smoked Meats, a San Antonio based smoked meats company, donated nearly one ton of premium sausage to the Food Bank of Rio Grande Valley Wednesday morning as part of their Links of Love community enrichment initiative.
Kiolbassa is dedicated to feeding families in need and donates 10,000 pounds of sausage each month in order to address food insecurity and disaster relief.
“We did Laredo yesterday, Pharr today and Corpus Christi later this afternoon,” Outreach and Brand Manager for Kiolbassa Beth Parsons said. “The location here has significance to us because this is where we kicked off the program a couple years ago when we initiated the Links of Love program.”
Parsons also said that the company chose the RGV due to its hospitality, and though they help communities throughout the United States, they’ve been focusing on Texas to support their fellow Texans.
She added that the sausage it donated to the RGV Food Bank could feed about 12,500 families.
“[Links of Love] gave us a donation of over 3,500 pounds of sausage that we’re going to be able to give to our people,” RGV Food Bank CEO Libby Vaughn said. “Here in the Valley, we’re struggling, we have one in two children in the rural areas going without food, we have one in four kids with food insecurity.
“Summer is our biggest time, we need the most help and it’s the time we get the least amount.”
Vaughn says the reason they need the most help during summer is because kids are out of school and even though the National School Lunch Program exists, a lot of kids are still unable to go to their school in order to pick up food.
Vaughn also noted that there are working parents who struggle to feed their children due to inflation and gas prices.
“It’s the worst time right now,” she said. “Summer is hard as it is and now with the way the economy is going, it’s even harder.”
Luckily, the RGV Food Bank is always looking to help those who need food assistance. One can reach out by calling (956) 682-8101 and dial two to find a location nearby.
