James Bartolo
Pueblo Chieftain
Nov. 25, 2024
One of Pueblo's most storied holiday traditions continued for a 29th year on Nov. 22 when local high school students throughout Pueblo School District 60 and Pueblo County School District 70 assembled and distributed over 400 Thanksgiving meal boxes for hungry families.
Centennial, Central, Dutch Clark Digital Online at Paragon, East, Pueblo County, Pueblo West and South High students packed boxes with turkeys, pies, rolls, potatoes, beans, rice and canned foods during the annual Tom and Louie's Cupboard food distribution at St. Joseph's Hall, 917 E. B St.
Jasmine Dougherty, Mara Johnson and Adrielle Smith of Pueblo West High School were among the many high school seniors participating in Tom and Louie's Cupboard for the fourth year in a row. All three of them emphasized the importance of sharing a Thanksgiving meal with family in a conversation with the Chieftain.
"I hang out with my family a lot and Thanksgiving is a big week for us," Dougherty said. "I think just being able to provide those things for families that may not be able to afford it — whatever their circumstances may be — is just so important to me."
Pueblo South's Catlin Bonicelli loads a box of food into a vehicle during the 29th annual Tom and Louie's Cupboard food drive on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024.
While high school student council members and their advisors spearhead the distribution, East High School senior Ysabelle Rosales told the Chieftain that collecting food for Tom and Louie's Cupboard is a community-wide effort. Canned goods were collected from drives at nearby elementary schools.
"We sorted all of the cans into all of the different boxes and now we are distributing all of them," Rosales said.
Food boxes were blessed by Father Joseph Vigil of St. Anne Catholic Church prior to distribution. Central students Jackson Jimenez, Brandon Martinez, Isaiah Martinez and Ryan Strubel were among the students tasked with making sure all foods distributed were fresh and expired items were repurposed or disposed of.
Pueblo high school students listen as Father Joseph Vigil blesses the food to be distributed during the 29th annual Tom and Louie's Cupboard food drive on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024.
Anastazya Montoya, Kambria Humphreys, Isabel Arriaga-Pacheco, and Chloe Ortiz of Dutch Clark Digital proved that small schools can make a difference. While not having nearby "feeder schools," Dutch Clark Digital students contributed by collecting donations for pies and other goods from their own school.
"I've had to use services like this before, so it's nice to give back and be on the other side helping people," Humphreys said.
TLC launched in 1996 to honor two slain priests
Tom and Louie's Cupboard is a tradition named in honor of reverends Thomas Scheets and Louis Stovik. The two Diocese of Pueblo priests were known for their generosity, grabbing food from their own cupboards to give to families in need.
Stovik was born near the Canadian border in Ferry County, Washington. He studied at St. John's Prep in Minnesota, worked in Seattle for Boeing Aircraft, spent a year in a North Dakota sanitarium and worked in Arizona for the Santa Fe Railroad before studying for his 1949 ordination at Denver's St. Thomas Seminary.
Pueblo East's Mark Casillas, left, along with Pueblo County's Ryland Haset, center, and Jace Lisac fill boxes of food during the 29th annual Tom and Louie's Cupboard food drive on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024.
Over the course of 47 years in the priesthood, Stovik served at Pueblo County's Christ the King Parish, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Shrine of St. Therese, St. Pius X Parish and St. Therese Parish Vineland.
Scheets received his ordination in 1956 and began his service to the Diocese of Pueblo in 1975. While serving a diocesan assignment in La Junta, he served on the city's housing authority and organized a voucher program providing food, gas and shelter.
While at St. Leander on the East Side of Pueblo, Scheets hosted local priests at weekly community dinners. Tragically, Stovik and Scheets were murdered in August 1996 while living in the rectory behind St. Leander Church.
Long-time Tom and Louie's Cupboard volunteer Chris Pena never knew Tom and Louie personally, but has been involved since the drive started in fall 1996. He ran into representatives with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Pueblo County looking to start a food drive and helped them raise funds to launch it.
By 2000, Tom and Louie's Cupboard was feeding over 300 families with help from the Boys and Girls Club, local high schools, the University of Southern Colorado and other community members, according to previous Chieftain reporting.
"Our big thing is the teachers," Pena told the Chieftain in 2024. "We have some good teachers that just jump in and they're the big leaders nowadays."
Pena named teachers Lindsey Moore of Pueblo West High School, Cherise Johnson of Central High School and Gina Smith of East High School among the current leading organizers of Tom and Louie's Cupboard.
"It's not just about getting people fed, it's actually the kids — the kids like this," Pena said. "This is their feeding ground... That's why we have so many kids involved — they love it."
Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached at
