Within the Hutto Lutheran Church is a door that provides hope to families in need. That door was once a small closet filled with a few non-perishable food items that helped about four to six families a week.
The need soon outgrew the closet where the Hutto Community Food Pantry was born, and eventually the pantry was forced to move into the parish hall.
Despite the larger space, the 125-year old building came with other challenges, especially during the scorching Texas summers.
Without proper insulation to keep food cool and fresh, the Food Bank’s Partner Agency was limited to providing mostly canned items and very few fresh produce. Soon enough that would change.
The Hutto Community Food Pantry’s efforts to submit their donation poundage reports to the Food Bank in a timely manner every week paid off when they received a grant for a new cooler.
The cooler has replaced almost 17 home refrigerators that were used to store perishable food like pasta and eggs.
“We don’t have to think about trying to either not hand things out or how in the world can we get enough fans to keep things cool so that we can make sure it’s being handed out,” Hutto Community Food Pantry Executive Director, Marcus Bigott, said.
Now serving 60 to 70 individuals a week, and sometimes up to 100, the cooler is a game changer for the pantry. Families in Hutto can now receive a variety of healthy fresh-produce, like potatoes and cabbages, something that had never been possible before.
“We’re creating a much better environment, a healthier environment, for not only the family but for the kids who are involved and preparing them for school,” Marcus said.
In addition to the 35 to 50 pounds of food clients can receive once a week, they can now take an extra 10 pounds of fresh produce home.
The cooler space also means that the pantry can pick up more food from the Food Bank and from local donors.
“Now we can think more than just a week ahead of time, now we can think weeks, months ahead of time,” Marcus said. “Now we have the space to do that.”
The Partner Agency picks up anywhere from 1,700 to 3,000 pounds of food from the Food Bank twice a month, which helps provide a variety of healthy items for families in Hutto.
Though the grant was an incentive to encourage Partner Agencies to submit their reports on time, the impact it has made on the community has been incredible.
“We can always get a can of green beans or a can of corn, but give them five pounds of potatoes or ten pounds of potatoes, and it’s a different smile on [the client’s] face,” Hutto Community Food Pantry staff, Lynda Herrin, said. “You cannot have too much produce to pass out.”
