EL DORADO -- After a nearly three-year hiatus, the Mrs. Carrie Kendrix Buggs and Rance Olison (Sr.) Holiday Meat Giveaway will make its return to El Dorado this year.
The event is set for 9 a.m. Dec. 3 at American Legion Post 10, 105 Christian Drive.
The late Olison and Buggs, his mother, launched the event in 2011 to help low-income families put meat on the table for the holiday season.
Olison explained at the time that the giveaway was an extension of the legacy of giving and community service that was passed down by his mother.
Olison, an El Dorado native and 1970 graduate of El Dorado High School, settled in San Antonio after stints as a professional football player.
He played cornerback for the San Francisco 49ers in 1976, the Kansas City Chiefs in 1979 and other professional football leagues in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Olison never forgot his hometown and for years, he remained engaged in local charitable activities to give back to a community that he said had given so much to him.
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.
After his mother's death, Olison vowed to honor her by continuing the meat giveaway in El Dorado and San Antonio.
His family and friends pledged the same after his death in March 2018 of heart complications. He was 65.
In 2019, his wife, Mary Olison, and sisters Josie Wyrick and Ann Ross, along with other organizers and volunteers, made sure the meat giveaway carried on as it had the previous eight years in El Dorado.
It was the last meat giveaway to be held before the covid-19 outbreak.
Because of the global health crisis, organizers decided to call off the giveaway, as well as several fundraisers, in 2020 and 2021.
Organizers are facing another challenge with the return of the meat giveaway this year, Mary Olison said.
She explained that the Rance Olison Foundation -- a 501C3, nonprofit organization, which hosts the giveaway -- is feeling the pinch of inflation, including rising food costs.
For the first time since the inception of the event, the amount and variety of meat and number of recipients will be limited, she said.
"Only the first 150 people will get in and if we have some left over, we'll give it away," Olison said.
Organizers typically distribute turkeys, hams, hens, leg quarters and game meat to large crowds during the giveaway.
"This year, we'll have 75 turkeys, 75 hams and maybe a few hens," Olison said.
"Inflation is hitting us this year and, hopefully, we'll able to adjust later and get the numbers back up," she continued. "We still want to be there and do something because we don't want it to stop."
She thanked the Union County Community Foundation for a grant awarded earlier this year to the Rance Olison Foundation.
In April, the Union County Community Foundation "presented grant awards totaling $331,565.85 to several designated fund grantees and to 28 Union County, nonprofit organizations."
Jean Hadley, the foundation's executive director, previously explained that the grants are intended "to help relieve some of the burden of fundraising for the agencies, so they can concentrate on providing services."
The grants are covered by the Union County Public Trust Fund and the maximum amount of each grant is $2,000.
"We definitely want to thank them for that. We are open to contributions. If anyone wants to be a sponsor, let us know," Olison said.