At a Del Valle district school, an on-site pantry offers new tool against food insecurity

Emiliano Tahui Gómez, Austin American-Statesman
Updated ·4 min read
1

Editor's note: This story was updated to show the correct name of the Feeding Futures program, an initiative of the Central Texas Food Bank to put free food pantries in schools.

CREEDMOOR — Yaquelin Cornejo is grateful she’ll get to make the trek from her Creedmoor house to the nearest H-E-B a bit less often. The 40-plus-minute round trip for groceries, partially on a toll road, will now be occasionally replaced by a 10-minute trip to her children’s school.

Creedmoor Elementary School opened a food pantry last week. The collaboration between the Del Valle Independent School District and the Central Texas Food Bank is the first example of the food bank’s Feeding Futures program, an initiative to put free-to-use food pantries in schools. The food bank chose Creedmoor in part because its January needs assessment of Del Valle highlighted the area’s distance from large grocers and its relatively young population.

This meant schools are valuable places to reach residents such as Cornejo, a mother of three.

“Now maybe I can only go biweekly or maybe even once a month” to H-E-B, she said. “I can come here and I don’t have to make the drive all the way out there.”

Social worker Kierten Hazelwood, right, helps Yaquelin Cornejo select food from the Creedmoor Elementary School pantry Friday. Because of the pantry, Cornejo won't always have to make a round trip of more than 40 minutes, partly on a toll road, to get groceries.
Social worker Kierten Hazelwood, right, helps Yaquelin Cornejo select food from the Creedmoor Elementary School pantry Friday. Because of the pantry, Cornejo won't always have to make a round trip of more than 40 minutes, partly on a toll road, to get groceries.

In the two days it’s been open, 37 families have perused storelike rows of fresh produce, easy-to-make meals, canned goods, grains, dairy products and meats. About 93% of Creedmoor’s approximately 480 students live in low-income households, school Principal TJ Moreno said. About 95% of the students are Latino.

At the pantry last week, Cornejo chose tomatoes and onions, fresh produce items she often runs out of between her trips to grocery stores; chicken; and food items she often skips on her usual grocery trips because price and novelty make her hesitant to try them: Asian-style salad kits, Greek yogurt and garbanzo pasta.

“We get to try new things, without hurting our pocketbook,” she said.

Elidia Benitez, the mother of a Creedmoor kindergartner, said there aren’t options for residents to get last-second items locally. A few area gas station stores and a Dollar General sell some produce, but they hold high prices and frequently run out of stock, she said.

Moreno said the pantry service is part of a post-pandemic push to have more health-related services at the school. This year, the school has also partnered with nonprofit Brighter Bites to have produce drop-offs.

He hopes the pantry can eventually open to the broader community. Creedmoor has continued to grow, but it's unclear when more grocery options will follow.

“We can wait, or we can have these programs fill that gap,” he said.

The Creedmoor pantry offers healthful items such as fresh produce. The pantry is part of a post-pandemic push to have more health-related services at the elementary school, Principal TJ Moreno said.
The Creedmoor pantry offers healthful items such as fresh produce. The pantry is part of a post-pandemic push to have more health-related services at the elementary school, Principal TJ Moreno said.

Central Texas Food Bank eyes more programs

The numbers that popped up during the Central Texas Food Bank’s community needs assessment of Del Valle made it clear that the area was an effective place to inaugurate its school pantry program, CEO Sari Vatske told the American-Statesman.

Though Creedmoor is about 5 miles south of the four census tracts the food bank studied as part of its assessment, Vatske said the organization believes that the city has many similarities to those tracts. The Del Valle school district recommended the site.

Interviews highlighted that residents felt the long travel times to their grocery stores of choice were one of the biggest factors keeping them from having the groceries they wanted.

Elidia Benitez-Jaimes said the food pantry has been helpful to her family. Many area residents said long travel times to stores are a major hurdle to getting the groceries they want.
Elidia Benitez-Jaimes said the food pantry has been helpful to her family. Many area residents said long travel times to stores are a major hurdle to getting the groceries they want.

Per the assessment’s data, Del Valle residents were younger than the average resident of Central Texas. Almost a third of the area’s households have children under 18. That’s compared with about a fifth of Travis County's households and about a quarter of Bastrop County's.

“That immediately tells us that something like a school pantry is necessary — meeting people where they are,” Vatske said.

Vatske said the food bank plans to open another location of its mobile FARMacy program in the area as a result of its assessment. That pop-up service allows users to pick out food in a grocerylike setting.

The food bank's leaders hope the data- and interview-constructed needs assessments help them tailor its programs throughout its service area.

The organization is completing a needs assessment in Waco and plans to conduct similar assessments in Hays and Williamson counties. Its next school pantry site is planned for Bastrop.

Social worker Kierten Hazelwood, left, helps Yaquelin Cornejo select food from the Creedmoor pantry. Among Cornejo's choices were some items she usually skips because price and novelty make her hesitant to try them.
Social worker Kierten Hazelwood, left, helps Yaquelin Cornejo select food from the Creedmoor pantry. Among Cornejo's choices were some items she usually skips because price and novelty make her hesitant to try them.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin food bank starts pantry program in Del Valle district school