Depending on whether you count the number of events or the years, 2020 would have been a milestone anniversary for the Mrs. Carrie Kendrix Buggs and Rance Olison Holiday Meat Giveaway.
The giveaway, which helps local families put meat on the table for Christmas, has been canceled this year due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Mary Olison, wife of the late Rance Olison, announced.
The giveaway is typically held during the first or second week in December and had it gone on as planned this year, it would have marked the 10th giveaway since the event was launched in 2011.
With the support of his friends and family — including Buggs, his mother — Rance Olison spearheaded the giveaway to help low-income families in El Dorado and San Antonio, Texas, have plenty to eat during the holiday season.
He explained at the time that the giveaway was an extension of legacy of giving that was passed down by his mother.
Rance Olison was an El Dorado native who had settled in San Antonio after stints as a professional football player in the NFL — San Francisco 49ers in 1976 and the Kansas City Chiefs in 1979 — and other leagues in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
But he never forgot about his hometown and for years, he remained engaged in local activities to give back to a community that he said had given so much to him.
Rance Olison died in March 2018 due to heart complications. He was 65.
Buggs passed away at the age of 88 in March 2012, three months after the inaugural meat giveaway, during which 150 turkeys were distributed to local families.
Following his mother’s death, Rance Olison vowed to honor her by continuing the meat giveaway.
His family and friends pledged the same after his passing.
In 2019, Mary Olison, Rance Olison’s sisters Josie Wyrick and Ann Ross and other organizers and volunteers made sure the meat giveaway carried on as it had the previous eight years in El Dorado.
And the community responded, with hundreds gathering at the American Legion Post 10 in El Dorado to volunteer or to receive meat.
Mary Olison said more than 500 units of meat — including turkeys, hams, hens, ducks and wild game (racoons) — were distributed last year and organizers had hoped to feed more families in 2020.
Rance Olison was an active member of the NFLPA Former Players Association, San Antonio/Austin chapter, and he founded the Mrs. Carrie Kendrix Buggs Gala, a fundraiser that is held in San Antonio each year to fund meat and bicycle and toy giveaways in San Antonio and El Dorado.
Because of the public health crisis, Mary Olison said the flagship fundraiser was canceled this year.
“Without the gala, we couldn’t really do anything. Usually, I would be getting ready to do it now,” she said, adding that the annual cost of the giveaway is $7,500.
In San Antonio, the group works with the Susan G. Komen organization and area churches to donate meat to families there and Mary Olison said the giveaway there was scaled back this year and adapted to comply with COVID-19 health and safety guidelines.
“Here, I did about 100 turkeys and we did a drive-by. It was small,” she said.
After speaking with Wyrick, Ross, other Olison family members and friends in El Dorado, Mary Olison said the group made the disappointing decision to call off the local event.
The group reached a similar conclusion last July when they agreed to cancel a ceremony and plans to rename East Avenue in honor of Rance Olison.
The ceremony was to have taken place during El Dorado Days, a biennial homecoming celebration that was also canceled because of COVID-19.
“I really regret that we can’t do (the meat giveaway). I know they’re going to miss it. We’re looking forward to it next year,” she said. “Hopefully, with this COVID, everything will be fine, or, at least, more controlled.”
She encouraged families to visit local food pantries.
Mary Olison said people may also make donations, explaining that the Rance Olison Foundation is now a state and federally-certified nonprofit organization.
“We are eligible to receive donations now,” she said.
For more information about the meat giveaway or the Rance Olison Foundation, call Mary Olison at 210-601-7512.