We have an exciting project happening over Spring Break!

Next week, multiple groups will volunteer their time and effort to renovate and relocate our Food and Hygiene Pantry.

Our pantry is a well-used resource for many of the working poor in our community. Open every Tuesday evening and Thursday morning, guests are welcome to shop every thirty days. They are given an imaginary seven dollars and can “purchase” items that they are in need of, ranging from shampoo to Spam. Our pantry is extremely helpful for participants to get some essentials for the month.

Currently, our pantry is located on the office side of the building, while most of our other activities are housed on the social side of the building, like our Clothes Closet and Community Meal. This presents itself as a safety issue, as there are typically only one to two volunteers running the pantry for multiple guests, and they are on the opposite side of the building from everyone else.

By using the space on the social side of our building, we will be offering various resources all in the same area of the building. Not only will this be safer for our volunteers, but our guests will find it more convenient to shop our clothes coset and pantry in the same area.

Additionally, the new space will be much larger to house all pantry items. We hope to start including more kitchen staples in our pantry, such as salt or flour. This space will also carry all of our hygiene items sponsored by Superior Healthplan’s Hygiene Grant that we have received to give out hygiene essentials to participants.

We have been looking forward to this project for a while, and we are so thankful for all of the people who will make this happen!

Here is a picture of our current pantry:

Here is a picture of the new pantry location, before any renovations:

Go like and follow our Facebook and Instagram pages to see real-time updates of this project during Spring Break.

The federal and state funding changes currently happening will deeply impact the people we serve. Please be in prayer for our families as they adjust to these difficult changes.

Since 2020, all families receiving SNAP (food stamps) benefits have had an extra emergency allotment to help them endure uncertain times.

As of March 1st, 2023, this extra emergency allotment has been removed. Every family will experience a minimum reduction of $95 in food stamps, “with the average Texas household losing $211 in benefits.”

With the decrease in food stamps and increase in the cost of living, we expect to see an influx of guests at Lubbock Impact. Families will know they have a seat at the table for our free Community Meal on Wednesdays at 5:30. Additionally, they are more than welcome to shop our free Food and Hygiene Pantry every thirty days for essential items.

To further help our participants, we have partnered with MCH to bring in a case manager every first and third Tuesday of the month to help people fill out SNAP forms and ensure their information is up to date.

Concerning healthcare, continuous Medicaid ends at the end of March. This means that all Medicaid recipients must reapply for benefits for the first time in three years. The application is being sent to the address on file, which is problematic if the recipient has moved. We are notifying all of our participants of this information, and encourage them to visit YourTexasBenefits.com to ensure their personal information is up to date.

While the full public health emergency expires in May, we are already anticipating an uptick in uninsured patients seen at The Free Clinics.

Now, more than ever, we know our resources are needed to support and empower the working poor in our community.

If If you are able, consider grabbing some extra hygiene or food items when you are at the grocery store to donate to Lubbock Impact. Or you can shop online and have items shipped directly to us. To see what we are in need of, check out our Walmart Registry here: https://www.walmart.com/registry/RR/c6e0b11b-e541-4a51-9545-e1506d8a94fa

Works Cited & to read more SNAP information:

Changes to SNAP Benefits Will Worsen Food Insecurity in Texas, but Help Is Available

Read more about Medicaid changes:

https://www.hhs.texas.gov/news/2023/01/hhsc-urges-all-medicaid-recipients-update-their-contact-information-continuous-medicaid-coverage

Lubbock Impact hosted our very first family night of the year and it was a huge success!

We were thrilled to host families and provide a night of fun, food, and laughter. Our goal was to create a space where kiddos and parents could enjoy each other’s company and make lasting memories.

Families ate hot dogs together and played bingo. We had a sweet end to the night with an ice cream sundae bar! 

We are so grateful for Classical Conversations Homeschool Co-op who volunteered as families to help host this event and make it a special evening for our participant families. We look forward to hosting more family nights in the future!

You may be seeing two new faces around here very often! 

Welcome to our team, Brandi and Delaney!

We are so excited to partner with HeartCorp to host two full-time paid volunteers here at Lubbock Impact. 

These two individuals bring with them a passion for serving our programs, as well as promoting heart health awareness in rural communities. We have no doubt that their contributions will be invaluable!

When you see these two around Lubbock Impact, please join us in giving a warm welcome!

H-E-B Feast of Sharing gave us $5,000 to use for several of our Community Meals! We were able to provide two meals with their generous donation during the holidays. One meal was a delicious warm stew and for the other H-E-B catered a BBQ sandwich meal to kick off the new year! 

The participants loved the meal! Everyone was raving about how amazing the sandwich was. And not to mention the banana pudding! 

Along with H-E-B providing the means for the meal, they also brought in volunteers to serve. They served Lubbock Impact with such care. We had a blast with them! 

We are so thankful for the partnership with H-E-B and their thoughtfulness for the working poor of Lubbock, Tx.

Thank you again, H-E-B!