Softball old timers help donate turkey dinners
Gallup Old Timers Softball Association members Chewy Vargas, left, and Bill Nechero help load a turkey and a care package outside the Gallup Fire Department Station No. 2 Saturday. The softball club packed and gave away about sixty packages to needy families. — © 2008 Gallup Independent / Cable Hoover

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff writer

GALLUP — Thanks to the efforts of the Gallup Old Timers Softball Association and a generous local community, 60 needy families will have a turkey dinner and all the trimmings this Christmas.

Members of the softball association, along with members of the Gallup High Bengals Girls Dance Team, gathered at the Northside Fire Station on Saturday morning to sort, bag, and box up donations of turkeys, baking staples, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and beverages.

Most of the recipients stopped by the station to pick up their box of Christmas groceries, while members of the softball association made some home deliveries on Saturday afternoon.

“It’s the big community project that we do at the end of the year,” Dr. Lawrence Andrade said of the project. Andrade, a local family practice physician, serves as president of the softball association and sponsors several teams. According to Andrade and board members Chewy Vargas and Dave Torrez, the softball organization has been sponsoring the Christmas food boxes program for about 20 years.
Last year, they explained, the group donated 50 boxes to needy families and gave another 10 boxes to the Missionaries of Charity sisters who run Casa San Martin.

“This year we had 60 names and 60 baskets,” Andrade said.

Torrez, a Gallup McKinley County Schools employee, said many of the names were gathered with the help of local school principals who know needy families through their contact with students in their schools. Others, Vargas said, are word of mouth referrals.

Most of the recipients are very appreciative of the assistance, Andrade said, and some become very emotional when presented with the donation of groceries. “Some of them even break out crying,” agreed Vargas, who added that many of the families are in real need of the extra gift of food.

Andrade said the Gallup Old Timers Softball Association sponsors two events each year to help fund the Christmas food boxes program. The association sponsors a golf tournament in the spring and softball tournaments for men and women over the Labor Day Weekend. Some local businesses also donate grocery items, he said, and other businesses, government offices, organizations, and private individuals make financial donations to cover the cost of other food purchases.

“We appreciate the community support,” Andrade said. The Bengals Girls Dance Team also helped with this year’s softball tournament, he added, and have committed to helping with next year’s gold tournament.

Albertsons, Lowes, Navajo Shopping Center, and the Community Pantry made food donations for this year’s Christmas boxes. Bubany Insurance, a Catholic scripture study group, C-NET, Gallup Community Center, Kachina Storage, the DWI Unit, McKinley County Clerk’s Office, Treasurer’s Office, and District Attorney’s Office made cash donations. Employees at the GMCS Central Office donated canned goods and cash, and a number of private individuals and families also made various donations and contributions.