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Lucio celebrates his 25th anniversary giving away turkeys for Thanksgiving
Episode 797
Thursday, 27 November, 2025
BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Former state Sen. Eddie Lucioo, Jr., has not been able to give away as many turkeys to the less fortunate this year, in part because federal funding to the food banks has been cut.Normally, Lucio would purchase the turkeys at a competitive price from local food banks and distribute them to those in need in Cameron, Willacy, and Hidalgo counties. This year, however, the 25th year he has been doing it, he has had to pay for them from the large distributors at the normal price.And so, he has had to shrink the program to just giving away 400 turkeys and all within Cameron County alone. In an interview with Ron Whitlock Reports, Lucio explained how his Thanksgiving Turkey Day first started.“This is the 25th annual giveaway. We started off with with 10 or 20 turkeys and they mostly to the ladies that kind of hung around my campaign. Those that were really interested in community development. They were activists. And I told Brenda, my dear assistant who has actually worked for me for 36 years, to go out and buy some turkeys to give them.“And it started like that. But we continued to make it bigger and bigger until it got to hundreds of families that we were able to help.”Back then Lucio had campaign contributions to draw on to purchase the turkeys. But when he retired in 2023, the campaign contributions, naturally, dried up.“Back in the day I had money that was contributed to me, and I was glad to share it with the less fortunate that needed our help and support. But after January of 2023 I was no longer in public public service. But, fortunately, I still had some anonymous donors that that wanted to help, one in particular that I care not to mention. I said I would not divulge his name because he wanted to keep it private.”Lucio said he gave away one thousand turkeys last year. This year, he has had to shrink it to 400.“These big, multi-billion dollar corporations, they don’t give you any discounts. They're there to make money. That’s the name of the game for them. I don't want to be too critical but when it comes to helping the less fortunate and those that that need help, I think all of us should dig in a little bit and share a little bit of the wealth and share a little bit of our resources so that they, too, can have a sit down dinner with with their families, and enjoy the day and thank God for all the blessings.”Lucio said he is particularly disappointed he could give out turkeys in Willacy and Hidalgo counties, as in previous years.“I used to do the three counties because I had enough turkeys. Hidalgo, Willacy and Cameron. But this year, there are very few turkeys, 600 less. It means I couldn't cross the county line to Hidalgo and Willacy, and it hurts me. It pains my heart not to be able to help because of lack of funds and the lack of resources that we need.”Lucio says he has a plan to arrest the slide, to give away more turkeys next year.“I have a plan. I want to make sure we have the funds necessary. So I'm going to do a big (golf) tournament and call it a Turkey Tournament. Sometime in May or June of next year. And then build on that from personal contributions from anybody that wants to give to a worthy cause like ours.”Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.
