A Wheeler County baseball player, shotgun team member, and active 4-H’er has turned a simple idea into a remarkable act of community service.
Fourteen-year-old Jack Nelson launched a food drive this fall with the goal of providing complete, ready-to-cook meals for local families in need over Thanksgiving break. What started as a mission to assemble 50 “meal-in-a-bag” kits quickly grew far beyond Jack’s expectations. Donations poured in from across the country — from Mississippi to New York to Florida — allowing him to prepare 150 full meal bundles. Each bag includes the ingredients for either chicken-and-cornbread casserole or chicken-and-dumplings, along with a complete cake kit and juice.
On Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, 85 of the meals were delivered to Wheeler County Schools to be shared with students’ families who could use a little extra support during the weeklong break. The remaining meals were delivered Friday, Nov. 21, to the Wheeler County Sheriff’s Office for distribution to Wheeler County residents with the greatest need.
Jack says the idea came from worrying that some of his friends, teammates, or classmates might spend the holiday without a hot meal. He also wanted to avoid the pitfalls of traditional canned food drives. “I didn’t want to collect a bunch of food that couldn’t really be used without other ingredients,” he explained. “I wanted to give a complete meal.”
