Keeping Wimberley full and fed

The Crisis Bread Basket is truly a community-wide effort.

Local folks walk into the food bank with bags of groceries to donate. Supermarkets give day-old bread, pies and gift cards. Area restaurants drop off complete meals during the holidays. Churches collect canned goods and monetary donations. Businesses help with fundraising. And, dozens of volunteers stock the shelves and distribute food and toiletries.

For 34 years the Crisis Bread Basket has collected food and passed it out to those who need help in Wimberley. The food bank — located in the parking lot of Brookshire Brothers market — now serves 900-1,000 people a month.

The 10,000-square-foot distribution center is like a mini-supermarket. The walls are lined with shelves neatly displayed with cans of soup and chili, canned fruits and vegetables and boxes of cereal. Large freezers hold meat and poultry. The “clients” grab a cart and shop. Each shelf has a sign that lets them know how much they can take. For example, a family of one to three people can pull four cans of soup or vegetables once a week.

All volunteers

Administrative costs to keep the Crisis Bread Basket running are minimal, basically just utilities and other business expenses. There are 47 volunteers and no paid positions. A number of the volunteers were past recipients of aid from the food bank. Typically, it takes 4-6 volunteers to stock the shelves each day and 6-7 to run the distribution. Many of the volunteers have been there a decade or more.

The food bank that started out of the back of a car in 1986, continues to grow. The building it now occupies doubled in size about five years ago. On the porch, where people gather to get food, there’s information about employment, a small book exchange and nutritional material.

In fact, the big push these days is nutrition. “To me the most important thing is nutrition,” says Melissa Maceo, the food bank’s vice chair for purchasing and distribution. “We actually did a survey (of clients) and produce was at the top of the list of most wanted things.”

A lot of non-perishables are collected from donation bins scattered around town. The monetary donations are used to purchase meat and produce. The volunteers order ahead from local grocery stores and then pick up bins of celery, carrots and lettuce to hand out.

The support network for the Bread Basket is nothing short of amazing.

Brookshire Brothers and H-E-B markets donate dayold breads and pastries. The bread not used goes to a local chicken farmer. The markets also give gift cards. At Thanksgiving, Brookshire Brothers donated precooked turkey dinners.

Local restaurants also chip in. Creekside Cookers sends over bags of sandwiches and sides. The Sugar Shack donates baked goods.

The Wimberley Community Civic Club provided the funds for the food bank to buy large freezers and refrigerators. The Lions Club and Knights of Columbus donate money.

During their annual fund-raising drive, employees from Ozona Bank join volunteers from the food bank and collect money from drivers along Ranch Road 12.

Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, as well as students at local schools, stage food drives.

Local artist Pat Rawlings designed the mural that adorns the side of the food bank.

“All the churches give us a lot of money,” says Melissa. “ALL the churches around here help us out.” The Carpenter’s Helpers, a group of builders from the First Baptist Church, constructed the ramp that leads to the distribution center and the donation box outside.

Hunters and farmers

Local hunters often show up with ground venison.

“My favorite are the gardeners and farmers who bring in things,” says Melissa.

“Now we are spending less money on food because of all the donations that come in,” says John Meyer, the vice president of the Bread Basket.

The most popular item distributed, not surprisingly, is peanut butter. Juices also fly off the shelves.

Recently, the Bread Basket has added toiletries. Small shampoos and the like from hotels are collected and packaged up in bags.

Distribution on Tuesdays and Thursdays goes something like this: clients gather on the patio and check in. Two or three enter at a time, grab a shopping cart and spend 10 minutes or so collecting the things they need. There are small toys and a piece of candy for the kids.

The clientele consists mostly of families and the elderly.

“For some reason our numbers have gone down a little lately,” says Melissa. “We hope that’s because people are finding jobs.

“But no one has a clue how many people don’t have a home (around Wimberley) or don’t have running water or electricity or are living out of their cars.”

All the literature at the Crisis Bread Basket is printed in English and Spanish.

If a client has a job interview they often get a gift card that will help pay for gas and other expenses. Folks who need further health or human services are referred to the Barnabas Connection.

“Our goal is to make sure we don’t miss anybody,” says Melissa.

The Bread Basket’s mission statement was recently shortened. It simply says: “Neighbors helping neighbors by providing food and encouragement.”

If you need food or want to donate items, volunteer your time or organize a food drive, call 512-847-5323 or visit www.crisisbreadbasket.com.