Service sorority serves Christmas meals

Fifty needy families in the Daingerfield area had a Christmas feast, thanks to the efforts of a group of women whose goal is to serve the community. Each year, Brookshire’s Grocery Company holds a companywide project known as “The Spirit of Giving Food Drive.” Shoppers can purchase pre-bagged meals, which are collected at Brookshire’s stores, and then donated to community organizations to help the needy. In Daingerfield, the store partners with Beta Sigma Phi, a national service sorority. “The sorority has been doing the food drive for approximately 25 years,” said member Laurie Laney. “We partnered with Brookshire’s about 10 years ago,” she said. All donations to Brookshire’s “Spirit of Giving” is donated to the sorority, but that is not the only source of donations for the group’s food drive. “South Elementary collected 1,700 canned goods and donated them to our drive,” said Laney. The group also uses monetary donations from members to help purchase needed items to complete the meals. On Tuesday, Dec. 21, the group met at Brookshire’s to collect the donations, purchase the finals necessities, and transport the items to where they would be boxed into meals, then delivered. According to Laney, all of the families were nominated for the meals. “We received nominations from schools, as well as other entities for the dinners,” Laney said. Food drives and holiday dinners are not the only activity of the sorority in the community. Each year, the sorority gives a scholarship to one graduating senior, as well. The sorority is not a new group, wither. In 1931, during the Great Depression, there was a need for an organization that could bring women together and expose them to a social, cultural and educational climate that was not available in those difficult times. To continue reading this article, purchase the December 31st edition of the Steel Country Bee, or go to our online e-edition at: http://www.etypeservices.com/Daingerfield%20BeeID312/default.aspx