Feeding the hungry is a collaborative effort

WISD makes sure low-income students have daily food during school. But a new wrinkle happened this year affecting how the school kids would eat when schools closed for the year. WISD kept making and giving food to those who needed it, even when school was not held in person, but funding was only planned throughout the school year. The district received a grant to continue feeding kids through part of the summer, but that grant ran out on June 30.

This created a new need, and the community came together to make sure hungry stomachs would be filled this summer. Under the leadership of Assistant Pastor Scott Tidwell of Wimberley’s First Baptist Church, the move was made to find a solution.

“It was the first part of May, and I thought ‘Hey there’s going to be a problem,’” Tidwell said. “...First I called Chef Jay (Bachman of the Wimberley Cafe). ‘How many people can I feed per day?’ Two thousand a day, in a week that’s ten thousand. I knew the kitchen equipment (we had at the church) would work and Ben E. Keith (the food distributor) was being very helpful,” Tidwell said. The plan would work. Especially with Mercy Chef’s know how. Bachman is a Managing Chef for Mercy Chef, which is a charity designed to bring chefs to disaster to provide quality food in mass quantities in times of need.

Scott was a master chef himself, with cooking skills learned while running and owning a few businesses. “I built and ran a steakhouse for three years. I’m self taught,” he said.

The transition would happen smoothly with FBC’s commitment and Mercy Chef’s disaster experience. Soon others joined on for the project to feed hungry kids in the valley. The Barnabas Connection, the Ministerial Alliance, the town’s churches joined up, as did Traci Maxwell of the WISD School Board and Camp Good Sam Wimberley, the Fig Tree and the Crisis Bread Basket. Local volunteers picked up the slack to deliver the warm meals to different areas of the valley.

“It is the most ready kitchen to handle meals. It made sense to work out of that,” Bachman said of Mercy Chef’s food trailer joining the kitchen at the First Baptist Church. “Mercy Chef’s brought in the equipment and plugged into the Baptist kitchen.” With the additional serving equipment of the combined kitchens, the daily output was increased tenfold.

July 1 was the first day, and the food was prepared for individual meals. The cooks had help with the food using commercial tools and the new equipment donated by Mercy Chefs.

“For sure, it’s a community event,” Tidwell said. Soon all the pasta and marinara was mixed and stirred with love. Broccoli came next, with warm rolls in the oven. The cooked food smells coming from the FBC’s kitchen were heavenly.

It was time to assemble the meals for transport to their destinations. The Fig Tree had already delivered the weekend meals packed in brown paper bags, enough to feed someone through the weekend.

A prayer and a pep talk was given by Chef Jay, and then it was time for volunteers to assemble food into Styrofoam individual servings. Volunteer drivers were on their way after just a few minutes. Then tools and equipment were cleaned and ready to use for the next day.

A problem was discovered, but with the help and cooperation of the Wimberley Independent School District, local churches, non-profits, and other volunteers they made sure the solution would be in gear until school starts in August.