Every year, the Amarillo Area Foundation hosts the Panhandle Gives event that begins on the Monday before Thanksgiving and ends on Giving Tuesday, the global day of giving. This year the dates are November 23 through December 1.
During this event, local non-profit organizations are eligible to participate and all donations made to the organizations through the Panhandle Gives campaign are amplified.
One of the organizations participating in the event this year is Somebody Cares High Plains, a non-profit dedicated to strengthening rural communities through collaboration with local businesses, churches, other non-profit organizations, volunteers and community leaders to connect resources to those who need them most.
Started in March of 2024 after the devastating wildfires that ravaged the Texas panhandle, Somebody Cares High Plains was created and organized by Lonny Robbins as a way to lend resources to existing non-profits to better help the needs of those affected by disaster, whether it be weather-related or just the difficulties in life in general.
“We are part of a global non-profit called Somebody Cares America International, but we are a stand-alone chapter here in Pampa,” Lonny said. “I worked for that organization for about 20 years, but our purpose and mission here in the panhandle is to help rural communities. How we do that is we first develop a relationship in these small communities with another non-profit, whether that be a church, or school, or whoever we can partner with. We want to help resource them to help their non-profit reach the needs of their community. I just felt like we needed to become visible in this region, and our funding and everything will stay within the High Plains of Texas.”
“We get products from large box stores like Amazon, Costco, or Sam’s, and we buy stuff by the truck load. It’s all brand new, and it’s overstock or return items. It can vary from food to some clothes and any type of household goods. It’s really an exciting process, like opening presents on Christmas every time we get a truck load. We’ve resourced our products out to about eleven non-profits just here in Pampa alone. When the wildfires happened, it really made us aware of the critical needs in smaller communities, and as a result of that, we just began to think about how we could participate, not do something someone else has already done, but come along by the side of, and help other non-profits with items they won’t have to buy to help them better meet the needs of their clients.”
Lonny admits that he wasn’t exactly sure how big the organization would become, nor the outreach it would make, but it didn’t take long before the name and the mission got out there, and just in the town of Lefors, the impact was felt by the entire community.
“I talked to the mayor and he gave us the community center down there to use, so we brought volunteers and we held what we called the HopeFest. We didn’t know if people would even show up, but we ended up taking care of 90 families that day. We were able to give them a myriad of items just to meet their tangible needs and then we prayed for them afterwards. Some of the volunteers from that event attend the Baptist Church there, and so we also partnered with them, and then the city gave the volunteers a place that they can call a distribution point. So now they’ve got this distribution house down there, and twice a month we supply them with items that we have. They’ve helped senior citizens, they’ve helped the fire department, and they’ve helped the school. It’s really something that has been a blessing.”
Soon after, McLean had gotten word of the good works the organization had done for its neighbor, and Lisa Holman who works with the local food pantry and Meals on Wheels, partnered up with Somebody Cares High Plains to further help the McLean community, providing resources and clothing to the local school and nursing home.
Earlier this year right before school started, Lonny and the volunteers at Somebody Cares High Plains, as well as generous donations from Intersect, provided backpacks full of school supplies for 380 students at Lefors and McLean ISD, not only easing the burden off of families, but ensuring that every student walked through those doors with brand new, great quality supplies to start off a brand new school year.
The word has even spread to Shamrock, so now Somebody Cares High Plains will be supplying resources to their local non-profits as well.
Somebody Cares High Plains has worked with nearly a dozen non-profits right here in Pampa, including the Harvest House and GrayCares, supplying those everyday items we often take for granted, and giving them to our town’s most vulnerable population.
The message of Somebody Cares High Plains is simple, yet the impact has been far larger than anyone could have expected, and it’s a trajectory that Lonny hopes to continue.
“If it’s going to get bigger, we’re going to need donors to work alongside us, because the thing about this is you’re not just helping one organization, you’re helping multiple organizations in little rural communities.”
“One of the things Scripture says is when Jesus was feeding 5,000 people, he only had five loaves of bread and two fish, but he told his disciples to give them what they had. And that’s what we’re doing. We simply give what we have and it’s just been amazing.”
For more information about Somebody Cares High Plains, call 806-403-3050 or visit their website at www.somebodycareshighplains.org.
For more information about how you can donate during the Panhandle Gives campaign starting November 23, visit their website, panhandlegives.org.
