OMG we had a lot of food and a lot of people at the pantry to cap off a week of major donations and sharing. Several pantries closed last week for the holidays so we got lots of extra donations due to them not picking up on their regular days. We served an amazing amount of food and shared a lot all week too. 2 of our freezers are still full of meat and one fridge is full of milk. We gave out every single item we took to the pantry except about 30 cans of veggies. We were blessed with extra donations of boxes of lettuce, bags of frozen meat, and 2 large bags of refrigerated mixed items.
There were boxes of cheeseburgers and sub sandwiches, trays of Antone’s sub sandwiches and breakfast tacos, coolers full of individual and family size meals, deli meat and cheese and crates and crates of milk. Our fruit selection was generous with apples, oranges, and lots of bananas, grapes and tiny boxes of berries. One of our volunteers brought armfuls of greens from his garden again. Boxes of breads and sweets were quickly distributed too. I brought dry staples enough for 120 people but the 180 we saw quickly wiped that out. We gave out all of the items in the bins we keep for the unhoused at the end of the day too. So many in need were there and we do what ever we can to be sure something goes with each one.
The volunteers stepped up multiple times this week to pickup, sort and distribute food. There is a photo of one of them on a ladder loading the last huge cooler with food-5 high! Anywhere we were the volunteers stepped up carrying boxes, coolers and milk crates from cars and trucks into the garage, into the pantry, back to Carol’s for storage. We started doing more drop offs to the local free fridges, sharing mostly perishable food we could not store until Saturday. We stocked them 9-10 times this week and sent more on Saturday to the south fridges. Thanks to Benjamin, Dianne, Debb, Shannon, Valerie, and Jeff for doing the driving and drops.
It is a good thing we collected so much this week because the requests for help for the freeze this week are coming in. Carol was able to gift some meats to a woman to cook and distribute. We already promised the 3 left-over turkeys to another woman who does a food mission at the bridge next Saturday. We shared sub sandwiches and donut sticks with another group serving on New Year’s Day. Other foods went to seniors in Georgetown and a pantry in Pflugerville. I keep saying Carol’s Kindness is OH SO KIND!
We are so grateful to Sprouts Farmer’s Market, Target, Costco and the Canteen for their generous donations of food and the other organizations and people in the community who give food to Carol’s Kindness to share with the community.
Stats 1/4/25
Total signed in 180
Household members served 500
Total Seniors served 79
Total kids served 109
Total Unhoused served 104
Total volunteers 60 (includes multiple times during week!)
Food Salvaged this week 10,100 Pounds
Trips to free fridges 8-9
Donations to other org 4-5