OMG!! I had to double-check the sheets, but we saw 262 clients yesterday (up over 100 from last fall and 90 from last week) with 545 household members fed!
This is definitely a record amount for us. We also helped feed 455 with the 4 outreach groups, putting the number fed over 1000 just this week. We did not have as much fresh food or pastries as usual, but we made up for it with more staples, canned goods, and meats. We also had quite a lot of milk and dairy items.
At the end of the day, all the bins were empty, and we had only 2 boxes of bread and a box of tortillas left. My bin for the unhoused had a few packets of mayo and ketchup. We have plenty of shelf-stable items at Carol’s, and we’ll order fill-in items this week.
I want to add a quick word of thanks about the managers of our group who help things run so much more smoothly than I ever could. Linda at bread, Joker at pastries and roaming, Michellhe at produce, Jennifer at meats, Cindy is also on roaming, currently chicken and outside area. They oversee the various areas and the volunteers in them. They help plan the pantry during the week, including amount of food. Derek takes care of registration with Linda and Katheryn (specials). We also have behind-the-scenes support of the website due to Sarah and Crandall, who pitch in with transport and setup.
To our many volunteers, Thank you so much for volunteering with us You are what makes this pantry work. Your hard work, smiles, and dedication are inspiring. Those of you on transport and set-up do real magic week in and week out. The speed at which you move food off pallets, into and out of cars/trucks, and around the room is truly amazing. We probably move 4-6000 pounds of food every Saturday and in very little time, while chatting with one another and apparently having a good time.
Our pantry serving group manages all those clients and the food with kindness and patience, no matter what comes up. I wander around making sure we have not missed anything. Carol sits at home and eats bon-bons (ha ha). The moment we are out the door, she is starting on next week, lining up food and cleaning, rearranging.
Pantry stats 1/17/26
Total registered 262
Total household 545
Total over 60 122
Total kids 125
Total Unhoused 105 + outreach 455!
Total volunteers 58
Food donated/salvaged this week 12,048 pounds –36,724 pound this year up 33%
If you have not seen our home page and the impact we make (in numbers), take a look: Home page
We are committed to allowing our clients to make their own selections instead of a pre-packed bag. It takes longer to distribute this way, but clients get food they want and will eat. Over the last couple of years we have gotten frequent donations of food that the clients were given at other pantries but would not eat. It is not culturally acceptable, or they just do not like that food, or do not know what to do with it. Several of our volunteers offer suggestions on fixing items too.
Thanks to our many donors: #sproutsfarmersmarket, #target,#specs, #costco, #pizzahut, #loveservefeed, #CentralTexasFoodBank, #LoneStarFamily, #McDonalds , #CanteenSnackandCoffee, #PeJCatering, #Pok-e-Joes https://pokejos.com/parmer-lane-restaurant/ and all the people in the community who support us with donations of food and $$.
We like to say that Carol’s Kindness is Oh So Kind. We hear this a lot.
Until next week we are putting the little truck to rest.