LACare food pantry serves growing need in Highland Lakes

DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR

BURNET — There’s nothing fun about having to go to a food pantry. You wish you didn’t need to, but life and circumstances put you in a situation where it’s one of the few ways you can keep food on the table for your family.

Sometimes it stings your pride a bit as you pull up outside the pantry, get out of your car and walk in. For patrons of LACare (Lakes Area Care) in Burnet, one of the benefits waiting on the inside — other than the food — is Lottie McCorkle.

“Lottie is amazing,” said Marilyn Petrick, a LACare board member. “She’s just the right person for that job. People will come in, and, more than food almost they’ll want to see Lottie.”

McCorkle, the part-time director of LACare, easily works a full-time job at the pantry. But that’s one of the things about doing something about which you are passionate: You don’t measure what you do by the hours you put in but by the lives you change.

Along with McCorkle, a cadre of volunteers numbering more than 70 makes sure each person who walks through LACare’s doors is greeted with a smile and treated with respect. The obvious mission of LACare is serving a person’s physical needs as far as food. But treating that person with respect helps the individual feel better despite his or her current situation.

LACare and other food pantries are a necessity across the Highland Lakes and the country. Though the United States is the richest nation in the world, many Americans still face the day wondering from where their next meal will come. It’s sometimes only a temporary situation rather than a chronic problem, but it’s a real one. When Petrick makes presentations about LACare to groups within the community, she still finds people can’t fathom that hunger lives within the Highland Lakes.

But it does.

In 1985, four churches — Burnet Presbyterian, First United Methodist Church of Burnet, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and First Christian Church (DOC) of Burnet — formed a ministry that would lay down LACare’s foundation. Eventually, more churches joined the ministry.

When it opened in June 1985, three volunteers served the first 12 clients. Two month later, the client number jumped to 64.

Twenty-nine years later, LACare serves 355 families, or 1,215 individuals, each month.

“And the number seems to be climbing,” Petrick said. “On Monday (Nov. 3), we saw 41 people. And on Wednesday, we were well on our way to see that many people as well,” Petrick said.

This number takes on a bit more significance considering LACare is open for only four hours on the days of operation and limits families to the number of times they can come in per month.

And with the holidays approaching, Petrick expects the need will grow.

LACare relies on community donations as well as several local businesses to support its operation. Petrick said the local H-E-B allows LACare volunteers to pick up day-old bread, but recently added produce and even meat to the donations. And the Burnet 7-11 also makes regular contributions.

During hunting season, Robert Griffith of Griffith Taxidermy in Burnet processes deer taken during Lower Colorado River Authority-controlled hunts at no cost and gives it to LACare.

And the churches, well, many of them hold special collections to continue to keep the shelves stocked. But with so many people depending on LACare, volunteers often empty them within a couple of weeks.

Donations are always welcomed. Petrick said they can stretch cash donations a bit further because of added purchasing power through the Capital Area Food Bank. But if the food bank doesn’t have something LACare needs, volunteers hit the local grocery store aisles.

As for handing out the food, LACare uses an interview process to find out exactly what a family or an individual needs so nothing goes to waste.

Even with the strong community support, Petrick said more help is always appreciated.

“It’s a needed ministry,” she said. “You know you’re truly helping people.”

LACare is located at 507 W. Buchanan in Burnet on the grounds of Our Mother of Sorrows Catholic Church. It’s open 2-6 p.m. Mondays and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays.

People may also drop off donations 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Nov. 12 at the KBEY 103.9 FM Radio Picayune studio on the courthouse square in Burnet during the annual food drive for KBEY and The Picayune.

daniel@thepicayune.com