Burger Barn co-owners I’frica and Tiffany Norman donated 25 gift bags to the juveniles at the Ector County Youth Center.
The gift bags included the book “Concrete Rose” by Angie Thomas and it also had chips, cookies and candies.
Tiffany Norman said she wanted to make the juveniles at the Ector County Youth Center feel not forgotten during the holidays.
“We want to make sure that these kids aren’t forgot about and that someone still cares,” she said. “Just because they might have gotten themselves into some trouble or be in a bad situation that we wanted to give them some hope. We choose to give them a book that could really speak to them.”
Ector County Youth Center facility administrator Albert Aguirre said this was the first time in the 12 years there that someone donated gift bags during the holidays. He said he had to get approval for the items that would be in the gift bags.
Aguirre said he knows the juveniles will be appreciative of the gifts.
“I’ve been here going on 12 years and we’ve had people donate food, but as far as gift bags we haven’t had that before,” he said. “… We do have a lot of kids that like to read back there. A lot of kids do ask for new books, so they are going to be very grateful for that.”
Norman said the spark behind wanting to donate gift bags came after she saw a Facebook post from one of the juvenile officer Freddy Espinoza.
The Burger Barn, which is located at 5984 N. Seward Avenue, donated 50 plates for Thanksgiving. Norman said she wants to make this holiday gift giving a continued tradition.
“We like to continue to do this every year,” she said. “It’s the same thing with our Thanksgiving Give Back.”
