Hays County Food Bank Executive Director lays out vision for new food bank

Hays County Food Bank has outgrown its current facility, said HCFB Executive Director Eleanor Owen.

“It’s difficult to serve all of Hays County, and [running] a facility of this size takes a lot of manual labor and a lot of turnaround,” Owen told the Daily Record. “We’re not able to capitalize on maybe a larger donation or lower priced foods and things that we might be able to get from different vendors because we don’t have a loading dock. We’re just not set up to serve the size that our community is.”

Owen, along with Board President Jamie Lee Chase and board member Mae Parrish, represented HCFB’s interest in a $1.2 million sub-recipient grant agreement to fund a feasibility study and the construction of a new facility Tuesday’s Hays County Commissioners Court meeting.

The $1,188,000 Hays County has earmarked in ARPA funds will allow HFCB to hire a consultant, perform a feasibility study, and construct a 15,000 or 30,000 square foot facility to address increased food insecurity in Hays County, according to the Hays County ARPA SLFRF Project packet.

HCFB’s current 2,250 square foot facility is located at 220 Herndon Street in San Marcos and consists of office and warehouse space, including 160 square feet of cooler and freezer capacity.

“So that’s limiting eggs, milk, proteins, all of that that we are not able to provide to those in need that are accessing our resources right now,” Owes said.

She said the HCFB facility can hold “approximately a week’s worth of food,” and that realistically, 2,000 square feet of cooler and freezer space would be needed to meet community needs.

The capacity issue is compounded by the fact that more Hays County residents are utilizing food bank services.

HCFB is feeding approximately 4,000 households a month, “So that is an increase over even just in the beginning of this year, [when] we were just seeing around 3,000,” Owens said. “So it’s definitely increased, even just in this year, because of the cost of goods and services going up and everything. During the pandemic, we were serving 5,000-6,000 households at the highest point.”

Owen said HCFB has worked with Central Texas Food Bank on square footage and population growth in determining community needs for the next several years.

“We’re not looking at just who we’re going to be serving in the next three or four years,” Owen said. “This would be a facility that would serve the community for the next 20 to 30 years. We need to get ahead of it so that then we’re not backpedaling, or we’re not able to serve the community in the way that we should be able to.”

“Where we’re proposing to put the building is near The Village off of Reimer, off of Hunter Road, where our clients would not only have access to food but would have access to other social services,” Owens added. “Because typically, when someone is facing food insecurity, that’s not the only issue or that might not be the only service that they need help with.”

Following the ARPA funds presentations, the commissioners unanimously approved several agenda items this week, including Commissioner Debbie Ingalsbe’s (Pct. 1) appointment to the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) Transportation Policy Board (TPB).

Ingalsbe will replace Commissioner Mark Jones (Pct. 2), who formerly represented Hays County on the 22-member board that makes decisions on CAMPO policy and how CAMPO funding is allocated.

CAMPO is the regional transportation planning organization for Bastrop, Burnet, Caldwell, Hays, Travis, and Williamson Counties, with a commitment to “improving mobility within the six-county region and ensuring the benefits of the transportation system are distributed fairly across all demographics throughout rural, urban, and suburban areas,” according to the CAMPO website.

In other business, the commissioners unanimously approved an Advance Funding Agreement between Hays County and TxDOT relating to the county’s RM 3237 Phase 2 project between RM 12 and RM 150 and a contract for IFB 2023-B01 FM 110 South Grading Project.

The commissioners voted to ratify a $1.5 million contract with Capital Excavation Company for the South Grading Project, representing the last step needed to complete the segment of FM 110 S.

The commissioners also approved a Professional Services Agreement with HDR Architecture, Inc. to develop schematics for accessibility ramps and other improvements to the Hays County Government Center and a three-year Service Agreement between Hays County and Text My Gov, Inc., in the amount of $15,000 per year for text messaging services allowing the public to communicate with the county clerk’s office.

For the complete meeting and agenda, visit https://hayscountytx.com/commissioners-court/court-video.