HARLINGEN — H-E-B’s annual Feast of Sharing visited Harlingen on Wednesday, filling the banquet room at the Harlingen Convention Center with music and hundreds if not thousands of attendees over the course of the day.
The event has been held for more than three decades, serving more than 340,000 meals annually in 34 cities in Texas and Mexico.
Arnold Galvan, a deli manager for the H-E-B in Port Isabel, also serves as emcee for the Feast of Sharing.
“It’s more just a sharing with the community. It’s giving back to the community that we serve every day, just to thank them for coming to our stores and for counting on us and to let them know how much we appreciate them,” Galvan said.
This year marks the 29th annual Feast of Sharing event here in Harlingen.
Over the more than three decades H-E-B has held the celebrations, more than 375,000 volunteers have helped serve more than four million meals.
This initiative is an important part of H-E-B’s Hunger Relief Program, which works year-round to prevent hunger in the more than 300 communities H-E-B serves.
Danny Flores oversees the Hunger Relief Program for the company.
“We’ve been doing our dinners for over 30 years. We’ve been in the Valley, I think this is our 29th year here in Harlingen, and we’ve been in McAllen, Weslaco, Brownsville. We’re going to go to RGC, and we’re going to Port Isabel tonight.”
“There’s always going to be a need, but as long as we are able to have people come to our table and share with us, to us that’s the holiday spirit,” he added. “That’s what we really want to take part in. Yes, we work with food banks every day; we see the need. We’ve seen it really pre-COVID and post-COVID. But there are some folks out there who just need a hand up and time to unwind.”
Harlingen City Commissioner Frank Morales was one of the volunteers for the event Wednesday, and he had high praise for the event’s impact.
“It’s been going on since before 7 o’clock, people waiting that long despite the cold,” Morales said. “This is fantastic. God willing, we’ll be able to hold this again. We can’t thank H-E-B enough for what they’ve done. It’s a great partnership.”
