HOUSTON — As grocery prices squeeze household budgets across the city, a Houston nonprofit is quietly delivering a ton of food every single week to families who need it most.
Empower Community Development Corporation better known as Empower CDC runs a weekly food pantry called Empower to Feed, distributing roughly 2,000 pounds of food to nearly 200 families every Wednesday.
“We distribute about 2,000 pounds of food every week a literal ton every single week,” said William Merrick, executive director of Empower CDC. “So what that tells us is that there is a great need for the services that we provide.”
Who the pantry is designed to serve:
Empower CDC focuses on what are called ALICE households a term that stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained but Employed. These are working families who earn too much to qualify for many assistance programs but still struggle to cover basic expenses.
For Merrick, the mission is personal.
“I personally grew up in an Alice household,” he said. “My mom was a single mom. She was an educator back when educators did not make much money, so she worked hard, sometimes two jobs, and still had trouble making ends meet. And we find that that’s a lot of the people that we serve today.”
When and how to access the pantry:
The Empower to Feed pantry is open every first through fourth Wednesday of each month. The organization does not hold distributions on a fifth Wednesday, if one falls in the month.
Registration is encouraged but not required Merrick said no one will be turned away.
“We’re not going to turn anyone away,” he said. “But the registration process does make sure that we are servicing the people that we’re setting out to serve.”
To register, visit empowercdc.org and click on the pantry ribbon. Those who come should bring a driver’s license and proof of current address. There are no hard income restrictions.
A neighborhood hub for the Houston Food Bank:
Empower CDC partners directly with the Houston Food Bank, which supplies all of the food distributed each week. Merrick described his organization as a local hub in a larger citywide network.
“If it weren’t for smaller hubs like ours, people would have to go all the way to the food bank,” he said. “They can just go to one of the local pantries like ours and partake.”
Beyond the food pantry, Empower CDC runs approximately a dozen programs designed to help cost-burdened families build long-term stability. A full list of resources is available at empowercdc.org.
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