Peanut Butter Bowl kicks off in Copperas Cove

By PAMELA GRANT

Cove Leader-Press

For last year’s Peanut Butter Bowl, Copperas Cove showed up in a huge way, crushing the previous record of about 5,500 jars, and donated a whopping 8,207 jars of peanut butter which were donated to local food pantries. Those involved hope to make this year’s Peanut Butter Bowl even bigger and better.

To kick off this year’s Peanut Butter Bowl, a massive line of athletes representing nearly every sport in the district passed a symbolic torch down the line evoking Olympic-style imagery, ultimately dipping it into a bucket with S.C. Lee athlete, Landen Adkins popping out as the flame triumphantly holding a jar of peanut butter. Following the performance, each of the athletic groups was invited to perform their own miniature skit, representing their individual sport before dropping in a jar of peanut butter for each sport.

“When we do things, we like to do it right and we like to do it the best,” said CCISD Athletic Director Cari Lowery. “We don’t want to just meet the standard; we want to be the standard...I’m super proud of our kids. I’m proud to be a part of this organization. It’s something really special. I feel honored to be a part of it. We’re fixing to blow the doors out of that 8,000 jars this year.”

This year, they expect 100 high schools to participate including Copperas Cove, and first-time participants Killeen’s Ellison High School and Killeen’s Chaparral High School. The two Killeen schools accepted Cove’s challenge with each aiming to collect the most peanut butter jars this year.  

“It’s so exciting. We’re back in Copperas Cove. They’re the record holders,” said Steve Teel, President of Very Bold Ministries and the Peanut Butter Bowl. “We’re excited because we’re growing…We’re kicking it off and we’re really excited.”

Teel said that he’s always excited to participate in Copperas Cove’s kickoff events because everyone is so “juiced” and excited to be there.

“Nobody does it like Copperas Cove does it,” said Teel. “It’s not about football. It’s about the community, so we want all students and all sports. It’s incredible to see them marching through and excited about giving back to the community and we love how Copperas Cove does it.”

Teel said that all the peanut butter raised in each city is donated to local food pantries. He said that their ministry doesn’t take one penny. Venmo and some of the payment platforms take a small percentage, but otherwise all of the money will go directly to helping out locally. In Cove, the collected peanut butter jars and funds will be divided evenly between Baptist Benevolence and My Brother’s House.

“It stays home base and that’s the best part of it. Everybody here in Copperas Cove kind of pitches in and it stays local here in Copperas Cove,” said Coach Donald Buckram Jr., marketing director, running back coach and head track coach for CCHS. “It helps our community, and it helps people that we see every day…This is an opportunity to help everybody be involved in one common goal: to fight hunger here in Copperas Cove.”

Coach Buckram said that it’s important to him to have fun and to get the community involved. Last year 20 businesses also got involved in peanut butter collection in Cove. He added that this year, all the elementary schools are on board as well.

To learn more about donating, reach out to the different schools or coaches to donate jars directly. Businesses can get involved as well as individuals. H-E-B Plus! is just one of the businesses collecting jars of peanut butter.

This year, Sherry Hoffpauir has started her own collection of peanut butter and had received 60 jars as of Wednesday. She collected 437 jars last year in honor of her late husband, “Big Joe” Lombardi.

For more information or to donate online, go to www.PeanutButterBowl.com and select Copperas Cove Bulldawgs when making your donation.