Wednesday's Internet Edition, August 27, 2008.
as rising prices hit homes
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| ALMOST GONE- Only a few rafters and post remained standing Monday at the old livestock barn in Fair Park. Members of the Livestock Association’s building committee were hoping to get an engineer’s stamp of approval this week for a weld-up building, rather than a bolt-up building. Keith Curry told the Hamilton City Council last Thursday that using a weld-up type construction would save money and time, as material cost continue to rise almost daily. Vol-unteers began removing the old barn only last week. A large part of the demolition has been completed by Don Jones, Carson Jones, Marvin Witte and Brad Whitehead and three of his employees, Chris Carrigan, Jason Gutierrez and Vernon Taylor. Staff Photo |
“We’re not seeing a tremendous increase,” said Jim Adams, president of United Care. “It varies, and this month we had about 200 families, which was up from about 180. We do encourage anyone who needs help to come and see us; most people in the county will qualify.”
United Care is open every second and fourth Tuesday from 9 a.m. until noon. Volunteers work in the building every Monday from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Adams explained that United Care uses USDA guidelines to determine eligibility for assistance. Those who wish to apply for assistance must live in the county and are asked to fill out a general form to determine their eligibility.
“We don’t want anybody going hungry,” he said, adding that United Care has clothes and furniture as well as food.
“I know a lot of people don’t come because of pride,” he said,” but we try to be easy and show no discrimination. We just want to help.”
United Care gets its food from community food drives held during the year as well as from the Tarrant Area Food Bank and local grocery stores. They purchase grocery items from the food bank at up to 16 cents per pound, and USDA commodities are free. A load received last week weighed about 4,000 pounds and was picked up at Meridian.
“The Church of Christ usually provides the van, and we use Harry Bullard’s trailer,” Adams said, “or different people will volunteer to go and pick it up. This week, John Galindo used his truck to go and get it. Of course with the gas prices, even going 30 miles gets expensive.”
Donations are always appreciated, he said, whether they be grocery items or much-needed funds. Donations can be mailed to United Care at PO Box 212, Hamilton, Texas 76531, or dropped by the United Care building on West Ross Street.