By Brittany Anderson
HAYS COUNTY — Hays County’s sole food bank will finally get a much needed upgrade that will ensure it can keep up with the county’s growing population and need for food security.
On Dec. 20, the Hays County Commissioners Court unanimously approved $1.2 million of American Rescue Plan funds to go toward building a new facility for the Hays County Food Bank (HCFB), as it has outgrown its current space in a county-owned building in San Marcos.
With this vote and these funds, HCFB will be able to hire a consultant, put $88,000 toward a feasibility study and $1.1 million toward construction of a new 15,000- to 30,000-square-foot facility. Although the estimated cost for a facility of this size ranges between $3 million and $9 million, these funds will at least help put the gears in motion for the project.
According to HCFB Executive Director Eleanor Owen, a new facility has been a long time coming. The food bank has operated out of a 2,250-square-foot building (which includes office and warehouse space and 160 square feet of cooler and freezer capacity) on Herndon Street since the mid-’90s.
However, Owen said a new facility has been needed for at least 20 years, and that was before the county experienced its explosive growth. When HCFB’s current building first opened in 1996, the population of Hays County was 78,389. Now, it’s nearly 256,000.
The county’s need for such a facility and services is unquestionable. According to information provided by HCFB, Texas households experiencing food insecurity increased from 13% in December 2018 to 22% in June 2021, meaning one in eight Texans, or 4 million individuals, experience food insecurity.
Locally, HCFB distributes more than 93,000 pounds of food each month, serving more than 4,000 households in the county.
The new facility would increase storage to expand food capacity, improve access for large delivery vehicles, create an onsite grocery/pantry facility, service more households, provide more protein items that require refrigeration and have a loading dock that would require less manual labor in food movement.
While the location is not quite set in stone, HCFB has proposed that the new facility be built on 4 acres of land off Reimer Avenue, adjacent to The Village of San Marcos, which has a variety of social service organizations and resources.
With this new facility in the works, the food bank is looking to reach more Hays County residents and working toward ending food insecurity across the county.
