The Texas cities of Houston and Austin are a short three hour drive apart. This distance makes for great weekend trips and so the cities exchange residents every Friday and return them every Sunday.
Giddings, Texas (population ~5,000) sits on Highway 290 in the middle of the two cities and watches the commotion every weekend. Giddings gas stations and fast food chains are the only spots in the town catching the interest of the folks passing through.
The town’s largest employer is the state school – a youth correction center. It’s a poor town with an aging population but one with a sense of community where everyone pitches in when needed.
And there is need in the community. With around 80% of the students on free or reduced lunch and a large population of 55+ individuals in retirement without adequate funding, the need in the town and the surrounding Lee County shows no age discrimination.
Giddings Food Pantry was established in 2004 by three couples to alleviate some of that need. The First Baptist Church proved to be an immense help getting the pantry going, including use of two of their facilities for intake and food distribution.
After 4 or 5 years the food pantry was able to move into their own building located in the middle of town.
They call their building Giddings Area Care Center and not Giddings Food Pantry because they have a long term vision of how they’d like to grow and help the community. A lot of people need help and they don’t want to limit themselves to just being the food pantry. Eventually they’d like to meet all the needs someone might have, including helping people with bills and budgeting, teaching people to cook, and maybe housing someone for a night or two if they show up and have no where to stay.
