Circus to help Lawton Food Bank keep its show on the road

Hunger isn’t a matter to clown around about.

That is, unless your name is Skeeter the Clown.

She may jest, but she understands the importance of feeding those in need. It flows back to the sense of community she’s found in four decades as a circus clown.

A clown in one way or another since the age of 9, Skeeter (Tina Bausch) said it’s something she takes seriously. Now in her 20th year with the Culpepper & Merriweather Big Top Circus, she said next week’s Lawton appearance is part of a long-standing circus tradition that will see her troupe perform in 222 cities in towns across the country this year.

“This is our love, our passion, our lifestyle,” she said of the close-knit circus family. “We have more of a motivation than most companies.”

The circus will offer big top action Oct. 6 and 7 that will benefit the local food bank. Skeeter said it’s important to give back to the communities that invite this nomadic troupe in.

“We try to leave some of the proceeds in the area (where visited),” she said.

Ellen “Mac” Lechel, executive director of the Lawton Food Bank, said that kind of help couldn’t come at a better time. She said that since extra Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding ended in March, the non-profit has seen the number of families in need double. Serving Lawton, Comanche County and the surrounding area, it has been difficult with donation levels remaining static while those in need have grown.

Benefits for a household of four people with a monthly net income of $2,000 dropped to $339 per month compared to $939 a month with SNAP pandemic policies.

To be eligible for food bank assistance, you have to qualify for The Emergency Food Assistance Program. An individual or family must meet the 200 percent Federal Poverty Guidelines, Lechel said. Income eligibility means an individual earning $27,180 may qualify, a family of four earning a combined $55,500 may qualify. For senior citizens, the threshold is 130 percent.

Lechel hopes that proposed increases in SNAP funding slated for Oct. 1 come through. But with the shadow of a potential government shutdown due to funding arguments in Washington, D.C., dwindling supplies aren’t being restored through donations. Inflation is hitting everyone, she said.

Skeeter said she understands the concept of strength through helping each other well. It’s the code of the circus. With only eight American-owned traveling circuses moving around the country, each circus is beholden unto themselves in the industry’s 230th year alive in the nation.

Skeeter said she’s come a long way since first beginning with the Ringling Brothers Circus when she was called a “First of May.” After making it through the first season, she rose in rank. Four decades later, she’s a proud clown.

“Finally, after 40 years,” she said, “I’m a trooper.”

Each time the circus leaves town, according to Skeeter, they leave a part of themselves behind.

“It’s just, truly, a community; we all get along with each other,” she said. “We’re a community invited into a community.”