Houston ISD hands out food to more than 4K cars at NRG
A mile-long line of cars turned out Saturday for 90,000 pounds of food — enough to last a family a week, maybe more — at the first mass food distribution site of its kind in Houston, a symbol of relief in the shadow of NRG Stadium.
The line was so long that Houston ISD and Houston Food Bank officials opened the site for business at 1:30 p.m., 2½ hours before the scheduled 4 p.m. start, to prevent a traffic jam — and so workers could avoid handing out bags of potatoes, meat and milk in the rain that threatened the massive operation.
Elsewhere, Harris County Public Health closed its COVID-19 testing sites because of the weather.
A short-lived downpour forced Mayor Sylvester Turner to seek shelter under a tent while volunteers continued filling open trunks with food. Some drivers made it through the assembly line in about a minute, never getting out of their vehicle or rolling down their window.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo at times was directing motorists to keep the line moving.
“It’s just a well-oiled machine,” said Patricia Watkins, operations manager for HISD’s nutrition services.
Watkins was working the meat tent, and although she was unable to meet those she was helping, she spied some passengers blowing her “little air kisses.”
About 3,000 vehicles were expected to receive a share, but the food was enough to be distributed to more than 4,100 cars whose drivers braved the line, Houston Food Bank spokeswoman Paula Murphy said. The last car left the site at 6:15 p.m., she said by email.
It was only a 20-minute wait for Javi Barrios — an out-of-work DJ. He decided to surprise his family — including a 15-year-old child — about his venture in case he came home empty handed.
“I need some help,” Barrios said, speaking as volunteers packed his car. “I’ve been to a lot of places, and the lines have been too long.”
For Daniela Perez, it was her first time to a food bank — even before recently losing her job in the food service industry.
“It looks like the end of the world,” she said through a rolled-down window.
Ravi Kumar made the decision Friday that he would seek out groceries from the food bank for his family of six — among them a second-grader and a fifth-grader — after learning of the distribution site from the school district.
Kumar said he was forced to reduce his hours to two days a week at Houston Methodist Hospital, where he works as a researcher. He attributed the cutbacks to the hospital shifting its focus to clinical work during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“This is the hardest thing we’ve ever been through,” Kumar said.
U.S. Rep. Al Green, DHouston, said he was at another food distribution site near U.S. 59 and Beltway 8 earlier on Saturday where Alliance for Disaster Relief had to turn drivers away. Enough food for 500 vehicles was budgeted, but the line included double that.
“We didn’t have enough food for the families who were there,” Green said.
Across the street from the distribution site — away from where the civic leaders and lawmakers gathered to speak to reporters and help fill vehicles — was a shorter line of people who lacked vehicle transportation. A walk-up area drew more than 500 people to a separate distribution line, food bank officials said. At 4:30 p.m., most of the two dozen or so in line were women, most of whom did not speak English.
One woman, who asked not to be identified, said she had hoped the distribution site would be closer to the Metro rail stop. The walk was long for her and her two children, one of whom fell asleep in the metal cart she was pushing.
Interim HISD Superintendent Grenita Lathan said district officials were not keeping track of who was in line or whether their families included students, she said.
“I feel confident these are our families,” Lathan said. “At the end of the day, we are one community.”
Distribution of some kind will continue for the rest of the school year and summer, she said, without elaborating.
The district kicked off a series of distribution sites once the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in the Houston area, and school was canceled as a result. The distribution paused in late March after a worker came into contact with a confirmed case of the novel coronavirus but returned with workers being provided personal protective equipment.
On Saturday, before entering the makeshift facility, volunteers had their temperature taken and were handed gloves and masks to wear.