George & Barbara Bush Day of Service brings volunteers to Brazos Valley Food Bank

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - Volunteers were at the Brazos Valley Food Bank Wednesday for the inaugural Bush Day of Service, honoring President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush.

The event is a collaboration between the George Bush Presidential Library & Museum, the Bush School of Government & Public Service, and the George & Barbara Bush Foundation.

Warren Finch, Director of the George Bush Presidential Library & Museum, says the date was picked to coincide with the President and First Lady’s birthdays.

”Normally when the library is open, we have a celebration of their birthdays,” said Finch. “This year we thought for their lives of service, we’d do a service project here at the food bank.”

Organizers hope to make the Day of Service an annual event.

“Our goal is to make this an annual thing and hopefully spread it across the country so that people can gain public service in their lives in the simplest of ways and the legacies of George and Barbara Bush will be forevermore,” said Maddie Hillin with the George & Barbara Bush Foundation.

Theresa Mangapora with the Brazos Valley Food Bank says volunteer events like these help them get through the summer.

“It’s imperative, honestly, that we have these kinds of volunteers,” said Mangapora. “This is the time of year when our volunteer supply does diminish a bit because we do use a lot of A&M students and student groups and they’re just not here right now. So this is huge for us.”

If you’d like to volunteer at the Brazos Valley Food Bank as an individual or group, visit bvfb.org/volunteering.

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