SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Overland Meat & Seafood Company hosted a free beef giveaway on Monday for local residents.

Owner Brian Cohen said they gave away 1,400 pounds of beef to the community. Overland staff put together 700 taco bags that included 2 pounds of ground beef, an onion, taco seasoning and tortillas. 

They started giving out the taco kits at 10 a.m. but Cohen said this giveaway was different than the two they had during the COVID-19 closure in spring.

“There was a lot more anxiety then, a lot more uncertainty,” he said. 

Overland gave away just over 1,000 pounds of ground beef in about 1 hour and 40 minutes in April.

He said the morning and afternoon got busy but the rest of the day was steady and they never saw the lines like they did last spring. 

“We pretty much wiped out everything,” he said. 

At the end of the event, they only had a few seasoning packs and tortillas left. 

Raley’s donated the taco seasonings, Mission Tortillas donated tortillas, Safeway donated a portion of the onions and sold the rest below cost. Crystal Dairy also let Overland store the ground beef while they were preparing the kits over the last two weeks. 

Cohen said they were fortunate to be busy all summer as an essential business but waited until the end of summer to have another giveaway because they wanted to make sure to give back to the locals. 

“We saw the need that was there,” Cohen said. “And we still want to give back to the community.”