Man behind mission to deliver Christmas meals to North Texas first responders moves on

For the better part of a decade, Feed-a-Hero volunteers have gathered around food, all thanks to a humble idea Jim Searles had on a Christmas long ago.

“In 2013, me and my kids fed six firefighters in Denton, Texas, and my kids said, ‘Well, that was kind of cool. Let's do more.’ And the next year, we did more, and the next year did more, and just more and more people got involved,” said Searles.

Searles went on to found Feed-a-Hero, a nonprofit that organized an annual effort to box up Christmas dinners for first responders working on the holiday. It’s grown to include 500 volunteers who deliver meals to firehouses and police stations stretching across 19 Texas counties.

Then, last year, Searles’s health sidelined him.

“I have struggled with whether or not to make this announcement,” he told the community in an online video.

With the annual event canceled, Searles called on volunteers to drop off a meal.

“It was really one of those things where we showed that the Feed-a-Hero nation is the heart of this thing,” said Searles.

That’s why now, as Searles makes another difficult decision, he has faith the community he built years ago will continue to serve first responders.

This month, Searles will move to Tennessee as he retires and closes this chapter of Feed-a-Hero.

 “We're going to continue to do things,” said Ben Kohnle.

Kohnle and his wife are longtime volunteers.

While he said it’s difficult to imagine a Christmas without their regular act of service, he said they’ll continue to serve, though it may look different.

“We just did a police station in Flower Mound last weekend, helping clean the weight room and the break room and all that, so there are other ways to deploy that effort,” he said.

At the end of the day, Searles said that’s what his movement was all about: creating awareness so that citizens can better appreciate the first responders who serve and protect them year-round.

“You just see what one kind, you know, act turns into. It's like a fever. I mean, it's insane, and just so many people were blessed through this. And that's what I always look back on, is that it not only affected the people of Dallas and Fort Worth, but it affected the first responders of Dallas and Fort Worth and all their families because they saw the community loving on their heroes,” he said.

Searles said he hopes to start Feed-a-Hero in his new community in East Tennessee.