Lack of food is an issue faced by many in poverty. However, there are many organizations that help those in need in getting meals daily and help them to pick up their life and start again. Poverty affects those in places all over the world, but there are organizations that help those locally here in Austin.
Mobile Loaves and Fishes is a local charity that delivers meals, clothing, and toiletries to low-income areas. Mobile Loaves and Fishes welcomes people of all kinds every day for lunch as well as dinner. Another local organization concerned with food is Caritas. It is a community kitchen open to the homeless for hot lunch every day between the hours of 11 and 12:30. Caritas also accepts volunteers to prepare, serve, and clean up lunch. Both of these organizations are good places for those that need help to get food.
Other organizations are made specifically to aid a group of people that are unable to get food. Meals on Wheels delivers over 2500 meals a day to the disabled and elderly who do not have a way to get their own food. Another organization dedicated to helping a specific group of people is Angel House. Angel House provides hot meals to anyone, especially immigrants from many different countries, at 12:30 daily. Angel House also offers classes for English as a second language, child care, tutoring, and driver’s education, among many other things. This organization is non-profit, and relies on donations to supply these services. The purpose for Angel House is to provide a healthier environment to those in a foreign land as well is to help them start up their new lives in an unfamiliar place. El Buen Samaritano Episcopal Mission caters to those facing poverty, but especially Hispanics families in east Austin. It helps with health care, insurance, food, and other such vital things for those that cannot afford it. El Buen Samaritano organizes food drives and local events, as well as accepts volunteers to help run their organization. East Side Community Connection is an organization that centers around the east side community and assists with healthy food, that otherwise people would not be able to afford. Ronald McDonald House offers living options and food to families with kids who are in critical condition with usually terminal diseases in the Dell Children’s Hospital families can stay there in order to be close to their children. Food is donated to the Ronald McDonald House so the families do not have to leave to get meals.
There are also food pantries that are available to the public for groceries such as the Sustainable Food Center, Manos de Cristo, and Capital Area Food Bank. Sustainable Food Center provides healthy, local, and organic food to those in poverty instead of the unhealthy cheap food that often comes with poverty. Manos de Cristo offers many services, but concerning food, they have a pantry that is open to all in the greater Austin community. Capital Area Food Bank provides food and grocery products to over than 355 Partner Agencies to more than 21 Central Texas counties.
Other than these organizations, there are many local churches that donate food to those in need and help support the above organizations by volunteering and donating. By having so many organizations just locally, it shows that poverty can be overcome with the help of the community.