2023

In 2023, Hope Food Pantry Austin (Hope) provided groceries to 5283 households experiencing food insecurity. Over 6400 hours of volunteer time was devoted to delivering, sorting, stocking, preparing, and distributing approximately 237,735 pounds — an equivalent of 198,113 meals — of produce and non-perishable grocery items.  That is 25,538 more meals than last year.

Hope’s partnerships with the community are crucial to our success.  We are well into our second year as an official partner of the City of Austin Plus 1 Program.  This program allows Hope families to apply for immediate relief of their utility bills.  To extend our reach out in the community, we have partnered with St. John’s UMC and AISD LMHP, Brentwood Elementary, Local Social Workers supporting families, and Dell Medical School Pre-Health Diversity Scholars, to provide bags of food to families in crisis.  

Our faithful partnerships with the Central Texas Food Bank, local business food source partners with Natural Grocers, Whole Foods, and Pepperidge Farm, our Faith-based partners, and the Austin community at large continue to contribute a wide variety of food items to the pantry.  We’d like to thank our newest faith-based partner, St. Michael’s for all their fabulous fresh produce from their gardens.  Beyond the items provided by the Central Texas Food Bank, a total of 55,319 pounds of food items were collected and distributed throughout the year. 

Because of Hope’s generous community, volunteers were able to continue to serve each household twice a month; to purchase sought-after items such as meat, eggs, and produce every week; to provide 125 bags of food to AISD families experiencing a crisis; and pledge total of $37,855.77 to families struggling to pay both food and utility bills.  

Thank you for your support in helping to alleviate hunger in our community.  On behalf of the many Austin families who seek our services — THANK YOU!

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2022

In 2022, Hope Food Pantry Austin (Hope) provided groceries to 4602 households experiencing food insecurity. Over 6400 hours of volunteer time was devoted to delivering, sorting, stocking, preparing and distributing approximately 207,090 pounds — an equivalent of 172,575 meals — of produce and non-perishable grocery items.  

Hope’s partnerships with the community are crucial to our success.  We are very proud to inform you that this year Hope became an official partner of the City of Austin Plus 1 Program.  This program allows Hope families to apply for immediate relief of their utility bills.  We also received two grants this year, the first an in-kind donation from Bookspring, allowing us to reopen our children’s library and the second from Whole Foods Foundation for $2,450 to spend towards produce. Since reopening the children’s library, we have also received over 500 pounds of books from the Teacher Reuse nonprofit in Buda.

Our faithful partnerships with the Central Texas Food Bank, local business food source partners such as Natural Grocers, Whole Foods, and Pepperidge Farm, Church partners, and the Austin community at large continue to contribute a wide variety of food items to the pantry.  Beyond the items provided by the Central Texas Food Bank, a total of 73,764 pounds of food items were collected and distributed throughout the year. 

Because of Hope’s generous community, volunteers were able to continue to serve each household twice a month; to purchase sought-after items such as meat, eggs, and produce every week; provide 800-$25 gift cards to AISD families experiencing a crisis; and to pledge $6,351.47 to families struggling to pay both food and utility bills.  

Thank you for your support in helping to alleviate hunger in our community.  Your giving statement is attached. On behalf of the many Austin families who seek our services — THANK YOU!

2021

In 2021, Hope provided groceries to 4509 households experiencing food insecurity. Over 6400 hours of volunteer time was devoted to delivering, sorting, stocking, preparing, and distributing approximately 203,000 pounds — an equivalent of 169,166 meals — of produce and non-perishable grocery items.  

Thanks to generous community financial support, we were able to continue to serve each household twice a month; to purchase sought-after items such as meat and eggs as well as rice, beans, and other basic staples; to provide 60 – $25 ($1500) gift cards each month to AISD families experiencing a crisis; to partner with Drive A Senior to deliver food to their more vulnerable members; and to hire a part-time staff member.  

Hope’s partnerships with the community are crucial to our success.  The local food source partners, Church partners, and the Austin community at large allow Hope volunteers to offer a wide variety of produce and staple items to the families who are shopping for their households.  Our partners’ filled Hope’s shelves with approximately 71,700 pounds of food.  Our newest food source partner, Cook’s Nook, supplies us with individual chef-prepared meals.  Hope’s partnership with the Central Texas Food Bank helps to stretch the donation dollars for basic food items and gives Hope opportunities such as distributing 300 – $50 grocery store gift cards to assist families this past holiday season.

This past year prompted constant adjustments to Hope’s operations. During the first half of the year, we continued to respond to the ongoing pandemic by distributing prepared bags of food. Starting in July, we successfully switched to our preferred grocery store model, where shoppers choose their own items.  We continued to modify the process, as needed, to ensure the health and safety of everyone. Towards the end of the year on November 1st, the pantry moved to operate under a fiduciary manager – Imagine for All EIN 47-1612380 – and a new cloud-based database system for financial and volunteer management.

Thank you for your support in helping to alleviate hunger in our community.  On behalf of the many Austin families who seek our services — Thank you!

The report below spans from 2020 to August 2021

Amid this unprecedented pandemic starting in March, Hope suspended its regular operations to allow us to serve more people than we thought possible. By teaming up with other nonprofits, Hope amplified our reach and our impact at a time when more people need food assistance than we’ve ever seen.

We directed a historic influx of donations to households who need them most by:

• Shifting to a curbside distribution model to safely hand out groceries.
• Teaming up with AISD Family Support Specialists to distribute HEB gift cards.
• Partnering with Drive-A-Senior to deliver groceries to homebound seniors.
• Collaborating with Good Apple to deliver to low-income neighbors.

In March of 2020, Hope Food Pantry Austin pivoted their distribution efforts to meet the COVID-19 crisis head-on.  Hope’s long tenure and deep relationships put the pantry in a strong position to help during these unprecedented and difficult times.  In a moment when people were struggling and struggling to help, Hope expanded its services.  

Hope initiated TWO types of distribution models to serve as many families as possible.  The first was to immediately shift from our preferred choice method to pre-packed bags of staple and perishable food items.  Volunteers distributed these pre-packed bags curbside during our regular days of distribution. Our second type of distribution was in collaboration with Good Apple, LLC, and their Stay Home, Stay Healthy Initiative.   Qualified families received these same pre-packed bags of food.  The delivery food model focused on senior citizens (55+) and/or people at risk of severe COVID-19 infection.  This collaboration ran from mid-March to the end of June 2020.  At the end of 2020, Hope had served an unprecedented 1,296,926 pounds of food which is the equivalent to 1,080,771 meals to families in our community. 

The collaboration with Good Apple inspired the launching of Hope’s first food delivery program.  Hope is collaborating with Drive A Senior and Casa Marianella to deliver groceries to their respective members.  We are also partnering with the AISD LMHP staff to distribute HEB gift cards to AISD families in crisis.  These collaborations allow Hope to reach out to even more families challenged during these unabating times.  In June, we switched from a pre-assembled bag distribution model to our preferred choice model where families can personally choose from the food options provided.  Thus far in 2021, we have served 105,742 pounds of food which is the equivalent to 88,118 meals.  In addition, the AISD LMHP staff distributed a total of $12,000 HEB gift cards to AISD families in crisis, allowing them to connect and help 1,237 individuals!

The pantry is in the midst of a transition.   As of October 23, the pantry is operating under the umbrella of Imagine for All EIN 47-1612380.  Hope has been fortunate to add a Pantry Coordinator, Betsy Clubine, who joins our team with a wealth of experience from the University of Texas Dana Center.