By Kim Hilsenbeck

In a large room in the annex at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Kyle, about a dozen or so people, most wearing jackets, sat in folding chairs lined up in orderly rows on a recent Tuesday. Outside, the wind whipped through the trees as a cold snap blew through Central Texas.

A food distribution for the Hays County Food Bank was gearing up to begin at noon. A steady stream of clients walked through the doors, swelling the total to about 80. Each was there to pick up a bag or two of food. For many, it was the only way they would have a few meals that week.

The first stop for existing clients was to check in at a table on a stage. Volunteers Susan Way and Linda Milligan welcomed everyone with a smile.

Children, a few teenagers, women, men, elderly, young adults, and people of all colors, nationalities and creeds waited patiently in chairs. A din of conversations filled the room.

New clients were directed to check in with volunteer Joanna Keder. Elisa Olmos sat in the chair across from Keder. As she waited for the new client check in process to begin, Olmos shared her story.

She and her husband bought a home and moved from Austin to Buda about five months ago.

“We were doing okay,” she said.

But her husband recently suffered a stroke and a hemorrhage in his brain.

“He’s out of the hospital but he won’t be going back to work until probably March,” she said. “With the budget we’re on, everything is to pay for our bills ahead of time, and it’s like, we don’t have any money for food.”

Olmos is also caring for her granddaughter whom she said was taken away from her mother by Child Protective Services. So, she has an additional mouth to feed.

“Right now it’s just kind of rough,” she said. “It’s great to have places like this [food bank distribution center].”

But Olmos had a few reservations about accepting the food.

“I feel a little out of place here,” she said.

Her 20-year-old daughter was waiting for her back in one of the rows of chairs.

How does she feel about accepting food?

“You can’t be ashamed to say you need help once in a while,” she said. “I think it’s really great they have this kind of thing for people who are struggling.”

Another woman who was there to accept food asked that her picture not be used.

“It would be embarrassing for me,” she said.

A team of volunteers began wheeling in box after box of food on dollies from the truck outside. One of the check in volunteers said the food was a little late arriving that day. The team, all men, set up the food on tables that lined the room nearly from end to end. Meats, breads, fresh fruit and vegetables and bottled juices along with pastries, pies, cakes and more, were displayed in an orderly fashion.

Clients waited to hear their group number called.

Golf balls with numbers on them are randomly drawn from a box. Once clients were checked in, Milligan was in charge of calling out each group number.

“Six, group six,” she yelled out.

A group of maybe 20 clients stood up and headed toward the food tables, each falling in line.

Milligan started coming to the food bank distribution after she lost a job as a waitress.

“I was making $500 to $600 a week and then it went down to $200-$275 a week,” she said. “I couldn’t pay my bills and I had nothing left for food.”

She now works at the Crackle Barrel in Buda.

“I still have a hard time,” she said.

What was it like the first time she came to a food bank distribution?

“At first it was really scary,” she said. “I’ve always worked and taken care of myself. I didn’t expect to be in that position.”

She continued, “Everybody was so nice and so wonderful. They didn’t make me feel bad that I was needing help. I kept coming back, then I got to know people. Then [the food bank] needed help and I said, ‘pick me, pick me,’” she said.

Maria Medina from Kyle came up to Milligan and said in very broken English that she missed Linda when she wasn’t here last week.

Over in the food line, volunteers placed each item in the bag or other container for clients. There is little discussion about what one receives, though clients may choose, for example, which type of bread and fruit they prefer.

Hays County Food Bank officials developed a formula for what clients receive, which includes a protein, some bread (either loaves or tortillas), produce and a sweet treat when available. On this day, there were apples, oranges, pineapple, avocados, mushrooms and more on the produce table.

For dessert, cakes and pastries filled one of the tables.

If there is enough food remaining after every client goes through the line, the random number calling begins again.

Laura Fisher’s story is not unlike others at the food distribution. A 54-year-old mother of five, three still at home, whose husband passed away eight years ago, she does what she can to put a roof over heads and food in mouths. They were married about 20 years when he died.

“I just recently became disabled so I’m on a very fixed income,” she said.

Fisher was a paraprofessional who worked with disabled children before going on disability.

Painful arthritis and diabetes put her on disability so she stretches money as far as she can – sometimes she makes soup or a pot of beans.

“And then there’s the depression that comes along with everything that’s been happening,” she said.

So far this year she’s had three surgeries on her knees.

“I come here to make ends meet and we rely on this every week,” she said.

She’s been coming to St. Anthony’s for about four months.

Sometimes, her 13-year-old daughter, Andrea, said her belly feels empty.

“But I’m used to it,” she said.

The teen went on to say how much she loves her mom and how everyone in the home relies on her.

“I count on her the most … I love her so much. Everyone in the house loves her. She’s just really fun to be around. She’s caring and she supports everyone,” Andrea said.

Fisher said her 16-year-old son is taking all AP classes at school and has ambitions to become a doctor.

“We’re all encouraging him because to us, he’s going to be the next one to take care of us,” she said.

Andrea said she wants to become a marine biologist. She’s also an A Capella singer.

Fisher said she is grateful for the Hays County Food Bank. That day, she had croissants, tortillas and a loaf of bread, along with green beans, apples, grapefruit, orange juice, pineapple and oranges. Her meat was stuffed pork chops. She also picked up a sheet cake with decorations on it, explaining she and her children would celebrate her husband’s birthday with it.

“If it weren’t for us coming here, we probably would go without some meals every month,” she said.