Fulfilling A Need In Randall County

January 10, 2024

“For I was hungry, and you gave me food.”
—Matthew 25:35

Canyon—It may seem hard to believe, but in this day and age of food insecurity, no full-service food pantries exist in Canyon, or Randall County for that matter.

Until now.

St. Helen’s Outreach at St. Ann’s Church conducted the grand opening of The Market on Tierra Blanca Jan. 9 to answer this need.

“For several years, Father Scott L. Raef, pastor at St. Ann’s, has been challenging the parish to become more active in building God’s kingdom by practicing the Corporal Works of Mercy,” said parishioner Glenn Backus, director of St. Helen’s Outreach. “During my prayer time, I could sense God directing me to feed the hungry. After several consultations with Catholic Charities of the Texas Panhandle, we determined that this is something St. Ann’s could do, with guidance and direction from Catholic Charities and others involved with food insecurity in the area. We learned through the course of our construction that God will do all the heavy lifting; all He requires is a yes and willing participants.”

It was during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in October 2022 that the origins of St. Helen’s Outreach began at the parish.

“A group of parishioners from St. Ann’s, including Father Raef, were on this pilgrimage when we learned about St. Helena of the Cross,” said Backus. “Not only is she credited with finding the true cross upon which Jesus was crucified, she was also instrumental in building churches and helping the poor throughout the Holy Land. By naming our Corporal Works of Mercy outreach efforts after St. Helena, we try to emulate her works and continue to seek her intercession.

“St. Helen’s Outreach is the umbrella organization. We hope to form additional ministries underneath St. Helen’s focusing on the corporal works of mercy, as God leads us. The Market on Tierra Blanca (which sits on Tierra Blanca Drive) is the name of our food pantry. We learned that there can be a negative connotation with including ‘food pantry’ in our name so we chose something more uplifting; hence The Market.”

The original idea for The Market on Tierra Blanca began with the idea of renovating the existing Fishery Building on the St. Ann’s campus. While a noble and worthy idea of giving life to an older building, it was not to be in this case.

“After our initial meetings with a general contractor, we quickly determined that it would cost more to renovate than the building was worth,” Backus said. “Starting with a new building would give us much more space, add utility efficiencies and look much more appealing.

“Before we could demolish the Fishery building, the City of Canyon required an asbestos survey. The survey indicated asbestos throughout, which would have required a costly remediation, if we could even use the building at all. Once again, God blessed us by leading us to a contractor that would construct a new building at roughly the same cost as renovating the original.”

The new building housing The Market on Tierra Blanca is 40’ x 80’ and includes a lean-to, which allows those volunteering in the market to unload trucks and trailers under a roof.

“We constructed two offices for our volunteers to use to register clients and conduct other administrative tasks,” said Backus. “We also have two bathrooms—both ADA compliant—and two coffee bars: one for our volunteers, the other for our clients. We have a large waiting room where our clients can relax until their turn to shop in The Market. We also have ample storage space above the offices for supplies.

“We have three rows of four shelves in our warehouse where we place the food for our clients. We also have a staging area where we set the food until we load it into inventory, and a separate section for students from West Texas A&M University. We should have enough capacity to serve 1,000+ clients per month.”

Backus said the goal in designing the layout of the building was to create the most efficient operation possible, one that utilizes technology to create a pleasant, speedy shopping experience for its clients.

“We worked hard to implement a paperless operation that limited the administrative work required to serve our clients,” he said. “We had given a technology wish list to Cactus Cares, who offered to assist us, but we found a software solution, utilized by Dumas’ food pantry, that encompassed all the features we needed, and then some. Clients can complete an application on our website, sthelensoutreach.org. We then load that information into our system, qualify our clients (based on the High Plains Food Bank guidelines) and confirm everything when our clients check in.

“Our clients will start each month with 65 pantry credits, determined by household size (one to two household members). Each additional dependent will get 10 more pantry credits up to a maximum of 95. WT students will get 45 pantry credits. Our clients can then choose to spend those credits on the food they desire until they’re used up, and these credits reset every month with no carryover.

“We have barcode scanners that allow us to scan existing barcodes on the packages of food to load it into inventory, price the food, debit the client’s account and debit inventory. This allows us to keep track of client spend and to know at any point in time where we stand on inventory.

“We also have a client portal that clients will use to order food online. We will then fulfill the orders and deliver them to our homebound clients. We plan to roll this service out in late spring or early summer.”

The Market on Tierra Blanca is open Tuesdays from 3:00pm to 7:00pm and Friday mornings from 9:00 to noon, and Backus said hours will be added as needed.

There are several other features that makes The Market on Tierra Blanca unique, according to Backus.

“We created a concierge team to greet our clients, get them checked into the system and assist them as needed with their shopping and checkout,” he said. “We welcome our clients as we would welcome guests into our own home, as if Jesus walked through our door. We created a warm, comfortable environment. Our clients can have a cold cup of water or a hot cup of coffee while they’re waiting their turn in the warehouse.

“Deacon Beck Knox will also be available on Fridays to visit with clients, get to know them, tell them about other services offered throughout the community as needed and pray with our clients if appropriate.

“We also have a registered dietician and nutritionist—Dr. Jen Leheska—on our Board, who helped us create a food pyramid for our clients to make sure we’re providing the best food available to meet the needs of the food insecure.”

For additional information about St. Helen’s Outreach or to volunteer to help in The Market on Tierra Blanca, please contact Backus at 806-655-3302 or via email, [email protected].