San Angelo Church Giving Away Free Chicken Dinners to Families at Fall Festival

SAN ANGELO, TX — Immanuel Baptist Church is giving away free chicken dinners to families in need tonight at its fall festival.

The church, located at 90 E. 14th St., hosts Reagan Elementary School’s fall festival each year.

However, after the church hosted a distribution event Thursday morning for the San Angelo Food Bank, pastor Ryan Buck realized the community needed more help with SNAP benefits ending Saturday.

“This morning was one of our distribution mornings, and we had more people show up than we’ve ever had show up,” Buck said. “We had vehicles wrapped around our entire facility and down the road, and we had to turn away dozens of families and vehicles coming to get food.

“So after that happened, I was just visiting with some of our members, and we just decided, ‘You know what?’ Knowing the anxiety that people are experiencing, and knowing that we’re having a fall festival here tonight, we decided let’s give out as much chicken, beans and rice and all the sundries that we can give out to families. So far, we have enough food to distribute to 500 families. We were trying for 1,000, but San Angelo ran out of chicken. We bought as much as they had.”

Buck said they’ll simply be going on the honor system and giving out chicken to any families who say they need it.

The event runs until 7 p.m. at Immanuel Baptist Church.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, supports more than 3.5 million Texans, including about 12,000 residents in Tom Green County, who rely on SNAP to buy groceries each month.

The government shutdown has halted the program, and local food pantries have been preparing for an increase in demand.

Here’s a list of food pantries in Tom Green County, provided by the Concho Valley Regional Food Bank:

Monday

• Project Dignidad, 313 W. Avenue N, 9 a.m.–1 p.m.
• Rust St. Ministries, 803 Rust St., 9 a.m.–1 p.m.
• Catholic Outreach, 410 N. Chadbourne St., 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. on first and third Mondays of the month
• First Presbyterian Church, 32 N. Irving St., 2–4 p.m.
• Bethel Methodist, 1605 S. Chadbourne St., 10:45 a.m.–1 p.m.
• St. Paul Presbyterian Church, 11 N. Park St., 1:30–3:30 p.m.

Tuesday

• Grace Christian Church, 29 N. Oakes St., 9 a.m.–1:30 p.m.
• Cross Pointe Fellowship Church, 4210 Coliseum Drive, 5:30–7 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of the month
• Project Dignidad, 313 W. Avenue N, 9 a.m.–1 p.m.
• Rust St. Ministries, 803 Rust St., 9 a.m.–1 p.m.
• First Presbyterian Church, 32 N. Irving St., 2–4 p.m.
• St. Paul Presbyterian Church, 11 N. Park St., 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.

Wednesday

• The Height, 4512 Sherwood Way, 1–3:30 p.m.
• Grape Creek UMC, 8045 US Highway 87 N., 2–5 p.m.
• Mustard Seed Pantry, 4825 Grape Creek Road, 12:30–2:30 p.m.
• Project Dignidad, 313 W. Avenue N, 9 a.m.–1 p.m.
• Rust St. Ministries, 803 Rust St., 9 a.m.–1 p.m.
• First Presbyterian Church, 32 N. Irving St., 2–4 p.m.
• St. Paul Presbyterian Church, 11 N. Park St., 1:30–3:30 p.m.

Thursday

• First Methodist Church, 37 E. Beauregard Ave., 1–4 p.m.
• Project Dignidad, 313 W. Avenue N, 9 a.m.–1 p.m.
• Rust St. Ministries, 803 Rust St., 9 a.m.–1 p.m.
• First Presbyterian Church, 32 N. Irving St., 2–4 p.m.
• St. Paul Presbyterian Church, 11 N. Park St., 1:30–3:30 p.m.
• Edmund Boulevard Baptist Church, 1405 Edmund Blvd, 3–4 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month

Friday

• Bethel United Methodist Church at Nueva Vista, 2401 Lillie St., 10:45 a.m.–1 p.m.
• Freedom Fellowship Church, 342 S. Chadbourne St., 1–6 p.m.
• Project Dignidad, 313 W. Avenue N, 9 a.m.–1 p.m.
• Rust St. Ministries, 803 Rust St., 9 a.m.–noon
• Faithful & Hearty Templo Jerusalem Assembly of God, 1819 Volney St., 9 a.m.–1 p.m.

Saturday

• Centro Cristiano Beraca, 2900 N Oakes St., 9 a.m.–noon
• Galilee, 721 W. 19th St., 11 a.m.–1 p.m. on second and fourth Saturdays of the month

Meal Sites

• Catholic Outreach, 410 N. Chadbourne St., 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Monday-Friday
• First Presbyterian Church, 32 N. Irving St., Noon to 12:30 p.m., Sundays out of gym
• Neighbors Cafe Lunch, 803 Rust St., 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Monday-Friday
• Wesley Trinity Daily Bread Lunch Program, 301 W. 18th St., 11 a.m. to 12:50 p.m., Monday-Saturday
• Celebrate Recovery, 2531 Smith Blvd., 6 p.m. to 6:45 p.m., Thursdays