A volunteer from Austin packages supplies into buckets for those in need. (Photo courtesy of Lance Kennedy )
SMU law student, Lance Kennedy, founded Angels in Cowboy Boots (AICB) in order to serve the people of Haiti after the devastating earthquake in January.
Only nine months later, the organization has become a Texas non-profit organization and a Federal 501 C3 that has sent more than 175,000 disaster relief meals to locations across the globe.
The non-profit was launched with the help of his cousins, Kent and Montie Twining.
In addition to Haiti, they have sent food to Mexico, Chile and the Gulf Coast. AICB’s newest mission is to aid the flood-stricken region of Pakistan.
“The packages are in 10 gallon USDA approved buckets,” Kennedy said. He noted that the buckets are just as much a tool for those receiving them as they are packaging for needed food supplies.
According to Kennedy, the buckets can be used to carry water and store goods. Each bucket costs about $35 and will keep a family of three alive for two weeks.
The type of food that AICB includes in the buckets depends on the region it will be sent to.
“When we sent food to the Gulf, we changed it out for things Americans might eat. So things like cereal and canned foods,” Kennedy said. “In the Gulf, they’ll have access to a microwave, whereas in Haiti or Pakistan, they might not have those available.”
For the buckets being sent to Pakistan, AICB is including things like rice, beans, tomato paste, cooking oil, various canned goods with a can opener and eating utensils.
Through a generous donation from a shipping company, AICB recently sent 72,000 meals, each containing 2,000 calories, to the most devastated areas of Pakistan, and they are hoping to send more.
“The devastation [in Pakistan] equals all earthquakes in the last five years, including the Haitian earthquake, and it’s larger than the tsunami as well,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy said that while the devastation is this severe and has affected more than a third of the country of Pakistan, people are not as aware of the crisis as they have been with other disasters.
“The size and scope people can’t really see because it’s spread out so far and wide,” he said.
SMU students who want to get involved can participate in bucket drives.
“We do encourage people to get involved, and people can sign up on our websites to do bucket campaigns and compete against their friends,” Kennedy said.
For those that are not able to get involved, direct donations can be made at www.aicb.org, or you can text “bucket” to 20222 to make an instant $10 donation.
