Tis the season of giving back! With Christmas right around the corner, everyone is out and about buying gifts for their family, friends, co-workers, dogs, neighbors, teachers, angel tree kids and the list goes on. You’ll notice an influx of “paying it forward” and extra cash in the offering plate at church. As humans, our hearts seem to get a little softer once the Christmas lights go up each year. According to the official National Giving Month site, a whopping 31% of annual donations are made in December alone. I guess the Christmas spirit that stirred the Grinch’s heart is not too far off from what happens to us during the holidays! While the days of giving are in the air, I felt it was appropriate to take this opportunity and highlight some of the community service events that folks at AgTexas have graciously been apart of recently:
The Lubbock office hosted a community service week where employees volunteered their time to organize clothes for Lubbock Impact’s clothes closet, cooked dinner and dessert for the local Ronald McDonald House, and cleaned stalls, organized tack, helped with maintenance work and much more for the Refuge Services of Lubbock.
Our Seminole branch set up tables and chairs at the office and catered a barbecue lunch for the local first responders.
Our Hillsboro location partnered with the organization “Hill Country Kids” and helped unload their monthly delivery, organized their food pantry, and sorted different meals and snacks to be packed for the weekly bags given to kids at local schools.
The Stephenville and Burleson locations hosted a drive for the local animal shelter to provide much needed food and pet supplies.
Our Dumas branch proved gift cards to all 86 submissions on the “Elder Tree” to help senior citizens in their community during the holidays.
Beyond the association organized events mentioned above, members of the AgTexas team have participated in charitable giving by personally investing their time and money in meaningful causes. Many of which also benefited from the donation program AgTexas offers to employees. This program includes matching contributions up to $250 and/or awarding $250 upon completion of 25 hours of volunteer service.
We are blessed to work for an association that not only provides us funding to give back, but encourages us to serve our community in any capacity. Robert Ingersoll, an American writer in the 1800s, once said, “We rise by lifting others.” The value of this ideology is evident throughout our association. AgTexas has instilled the importance of providing world-class support to our member-owners in good times and bad. While our stockholders feed and clothe the world, we’re honored to emulate this example by providing food, fiber, and service to our local communities this holiday season. On behalf of AgTexas FCS, we hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!
Ag Always,
Hadley Chote
Sources
We’re about to exceed 10,000 champions! National Giving Month. (2022, December 11). https://nationalgivingmonth.org/
