Hill Country Strong: Printing labels to support the Texas Hill Country

Below is what our team printed, followed by a short checklist for any group that needs fundraising or community labels made quickly.

How the Hill Country Strong labels came together

Label Systems Inc. has printed labels in Addison, Texas, for 50+ years. In 2025, as communities in the Texas Hill Country worked to rebuild, our team wanted to thank the people doing that work.

The label reads Hill Country Strong. We printed thousands of them on our presses in Addison and distributed them to relief workers, local organizations, and residents as a thank you for their recovery donations and services.

Bryan Yates, VP of Operations, filmed the label production and created this video. The video is under a minute long and shows the presses running and part of our warehouse.

“Giving back and supporting our local communities is very important to our team. This project in particular was a labor of love and an honor to support all those affected.”

Amy Van Brunt, CEO, Label Systems Inc.

Label Systems Inc. and the Texas Food Processors Association

Outside of the Hill Country Strong labels, Label Systems Inc. gives back each year through a Texas trade association.

Label Systems Inc. is a member of the Texas Food Processors Association (TFPA), a nonprofit trade association that has served Southwest food manufacturers and their suppliers since 1943. TFPA holds an annual spring conference with a scholarship auction, and the money raised supports students studying food science at Texas A&M University and Tarleton State University. Label Systems Inc. donates to that auction each year.

Many TFPA members are the food and beverage manufacturers Label Systems Inc. prints for, so the auction keeps us close to the Texas food industry and the students who will work in it.

What a group needs to print fundraising labels quickly

Fundraising label jobs tend to stall on the same few questions. If your church, school, business, or nonprofit wants labels for a relief effort, have these answers ready before you call a printer.

1. Finished artwork. Send a vector file (AI, EPS, or a high-resolution PDF) with fonts outlined. A phone photo of a design or a low-resolution image will need to be rebuilt, which adds time.
2. What the label goes on. A water bottle, a mason jar, a coffee bag, and a t-shirt box all need different sizes and adhesives. Measure the container and note whether the surface is curved, textured, or glass.
3. Where the product will live. Anything that sits in a cooler or on ice needs a film face stock and an adhesive that holds up to condensation. Paper labels work well for dry goods and indoor sales.
4. How the labels will be applied. Volunteers applying labels by hand usually want them on rolls with enough space between labels to peel quickly. If a packer or bottler is applying them by machine, ask them for the roll specifications (core size, unwind direction, and outside diameter).
5. Quantity and deadline. Short runs of a few hundred or a few thousand labels are usually best printed digitally, because digital printing needs no plates. Larger runs often cost less per label on a flexographic press. Give the printer your date so they can tell you which method fits.
6. Where the money goes. Donors give more readily when they can see who benefits. If there is room, print the name of the fund or organization on the label, or add a QR code that links to it. Confirm the wording with the beneficiary before the art is final, since a reprint costs more time than a phone call.

A few design choices also make a fundraising label easier to print and easier to read on a shelf. Keep the message to a few words that can be read from arm’s length. Use two or three solid colors when you can, which keeps a short run simple and the color steady from label to label. Leave a small margin between the text and the edge of the label so nothing gets trimmed. If the label needs a date, an event name, or a price, put it in its own clear space rather than working it into the main graphic, so it can be changed for a second run without redrawing the whole design.

Methodology

This post is based on the recollections of the Label Systems Inc. team and the video Bryan Yates, VP of Operations, filmed during the 2025 press run.

Sources and further reading

• Texas A&M Department of Food Science and Technology: TFPA scholarship recipients
• Label Systems Inc.: Pressure-sensitive labels
• Label Systems Inc.: About us