Warmer weather has people congregating outside so it seems our lines are shorter but they are there and taking away a lot of food. We have had several large donations lately and managed to give out the majority of it already. Some is always held back to be sure we have adequate each week. Our outreach is increasing with the addition of a kids pantry at the Yeager apartments. Donations of food from the Amazon wish list https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/2GLG05IXQKZRL have been very generous with multiple shipments of cereal, fruit snacks, PB or cheese crackers, milk, and more. We are adding in our chips, cookies, and other snack items too so the shelves will not be bare.
The last 2 weeks we had large surprise donations of vegetable from other pantries that were unable to give out all that they had. What a blessing! One of our donors gifted us 43 boxes of mixed staples, mostly canned goods to carry us along for weeks. We are to pickup another donation of 50 pound bags of flour this week. Sprouts has been especially generous with eggs and deli meats/cheese that we portion and distribute. Have you seen the duffle bags full of garden fresh greens that Bassam brings each week? He explains to people how to use what he has brought too. This week we had ICE CREAM too and will have frozen cream Marie Calendar pies next week. Our specials table have been full with coffee, cake mixes, candy, and assorted items that come in small amounts. Our box for those who need food that needs no refrigeration is full of quick cook meals, canned meats, and peanut butter.
Most weeks I put out a call for a few more volunteers and the people always come through for us. I post on Carol’s Kindness facebook page and Austin Mutual aid FB page directing people to our volunteer page on this website. People that are in line for food race to the cars and trucks to help unload the boxes and coolers and carry them into the building for us to set up. I get offers of help every week from people that did not realize we use volunteers. We have a regular group who volunteers almost every week as a consistent base but make sure we have plenty of help so we can staff every area and help people select the food they want.
Who comes to the pantry for food? Every week we get a few new people. I am not sure how they find us. We have 130-170 people in line every week feeding their households of 350-550 people. We serve a lot of multi-generational families, those over 50 listing kids or people in their 20s listing those over 60. Many are family units of 1-2, many are unhoused from camps, picnics are common out front during the pantry. People bring wheeled carts, baskets and bags, a few bring suitcases. Numbers are 13% seniors 60+, 19% kids under 18, 28% are unhoused and the other 50% have lots of stories. They help each other, they help us, we help them.
