CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — While many families across Corpus Christi are preparing holiday meals and spending time with loved ones, others in the community are facing a very different reality. This week, two local businesses stepped up to ensure no one goes hungry ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Bell’Aroma Café and the Corpus Christi Sharks Football Club partnered Tuesday morning to prep, package, and hand out hot holiday meals to neighbors near the downtown area. The effort was led by Bell’Aroma owner Monica Manigarulo, who said giving back to the community is a responsibility she takes seriously.
“When you’re blessed enough to have a community that shows up for you, it’s your responsibility,” Manigarulo said.
Manigarulo said the community has supported her café since day one, and she felt it was time to give that support right back. Her team was joined by staff and volunteers from the Corpus Christi Sharks Football Club, who helped assemble and prepare 250 holiday meals — a turkey dinner complete with traditional sides.
For the team, the effort was emotional.
“It’s kind of emotional, right, because we grow up with our families and here they are, they don’t have anybody,”said Marissa Trevino, Director of Operations for the Corpus Christi Football Club. “So I’m just kind of wondering what emotion or what memory are we going to spark for them?”
Trevino said the club wants residents to know they’re committed to more than sports.
“We are about the community and we want the community to know that we’re more than just a soccer team,” she said.
Once meals were packaged, volunteers delivered the plates to neighbors along Sam Rankin Street and Nueces Bay Boulevard. Within minutes, the meals were gone — a sign of the need in the area.
Many neighbors expressed deep gratitude for the unexpected holiday blessing.
“Aw man, this is lovely to see this,” neighbor Phillip Schalone said. “This is what the world needs, you know, everybody to give back. That’s what they’re waiting for.”
As volunteers handed out the last of the meals, Manigarulo said moments like these reaffirm why community outreach matters.
“I hope and I wish a lot of people in the community follows in doing,” she said.
Both Bell’Aroma Café and the Corpus Christi Sharks Football Club say they hope to continue partnering on future outreach efforts — not only during the holidays, but throughout the year.
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