Neighbors Serving Neighbors food pantry in Bartlett helps East Wilco families

Since 2019, a small effort by Bartlett resident Stephanie Myers to help neighbors in need has blossomed into a local food pantry, serving about 500 families per month.

Neighbors Serving Neighbors collects food items and goods to distribute to families in eastern Williamson County. The nonprofit serves neighbors from Bartlett, Taylor, Jarrell, Granger and other surrounding areas.

The pantry is attached to Ms. Myers’ home. Ms. Myers decided to start the food pantry because her neighbors were giving her non-perishable food items to give out to the people she served through Meals on Wheels. When she had left over perishable goods, Ms. Myers allowed people to come pick food up from her house.

“It actually started on the porch,” Ms. Myers said. “Then it went into my living room, and then I was like ‘I can’t have all these people coming into my house.’ ”

Her husband helped convert their garage into the small food pantry that is operating today. After their son moved out of the house, Ms. Myers converted the extra space they had into a storage room.

Neighbors Serving Neighbors has been an official nonprofit for one year. This past July, they received 2,000 pounds of food donated through food drives. The local Dollar General and a nearby Panera Bread also donates food regularly. These donations are very much needed by the organization, which Ms. Myers said is growing at a very fast pace.

“We get new families every week,” she said. “I mean, we’re growing at a tremendous rate. Some people are like, ‘That’s so cool.’ It is, but not really — because that means more people are struggling. And that the world isn’t doing great.”

Ms. Myers has come up with creative ways to ensure that the food pantry is accessible to everyone who needs help. Neighbors Serving Neighbors is an open-concept food pantry. There is no door on the structure, and Ms. Myers stays inside her home unless someone knocks on her front door. Since no one is sitting in front of the food pantry, it is less stressful for people who are uncomfortable accepting free food to get what they need. The wide doorway also makes it easy for people in wheelchairs to enter.

Ms. Myers says that new people usually call her or message her on Facebook before coming, but she usually doesn’t see all clients when they come. There are self-certification forms inside the pantry where people fill out their name and how many people are in their household. Ms. Myers trusts that only people who really need the food are accepting food from the food bank.

The wheel-chair accessibility has made it ideal for elderly individuals who are struggling.

“There’s such a high number of elderly people in these rural communities, and they have no transportation and no means to get anywhere,” Ms. Myers said.

She said she has struck down this barrier to entry through working with her neighbors to take food to homebound people who need it. She has a friend who drops groceries off to people in Taylor on her way home from work.

Neighbors Serving Neighbors has been a great help to Amie Parker, her husband Zack Parker, and her brother Edwin Barritt. Ms. Parker and her family came to live in Bartlett in their van after the City of Austin passed a ban on homeless encampments. They have since found a home here.

“Bartlett is a very homey community,” she said. “Everyone knows everyone. People help people who need help.”

Neighbors Serving Neighbors has been a great resource to them during their time in Bartlett. They first found out about the pantry when they started to work in a tire shop that was being run by Jesus “Chuy” Juarez and Cindy Hitt. Mr. Juarez and Ms. Hitt, who are friends of Ms. Myers, have now “adopted” Ms. Parker and her family — allowing the adults to live in their home.

Between the help of Neighbors Serving Neighbors and their new place of residence, Ms. Parker and her family are now getting back on their feet. On July 28, Ms. Parker was even able to donate some non-perishables she wasn’t using back to Neighbors Serving Neighbors.

“We gave her rice, beans and other nonperishable food that we weren’t using,” she said. “That’s what Neighbors Serving Neighbors is all about: you give something you get something. When someone gives you something, you do something for someone else. That’s what we learned [during our time] on the street.”

Ms. Myers said some Bartlett residents initially doubted her ability to create a steady source of resources for the community.

“I had a lot of people that were like ‘Well you can’t do this’ and ‘oh, it’s not gonna work.’ And I was like, ‘Oh yeah? Well it’s going to work. I’m going to figure it out.,’ ” she recalled. “I mean some days I’m just like, ‘Lord, How do I do this?’ But the food just keeps coming.”

Ms. Myers said an employee from the United States Department of Agriculture called about a month ago to find out about what she was doing in Bartlett.

“She couldn’t wrap her mind around the shelter over the phone,” Ms. Myers said. “When she was here, she said ‘You know, in the 20 years that I’ve been doing this, I’ve never seen someone who has been able to sustain a food pantry for as long as you have.’ ”

Ms. Myers plans to continue to serve the families in Bartlett and the surrounding areas as the CEO of Neighbors Serving Neighbors.

“This is what I do all day, everyday,” she said. “I love it. I really do.”

Neighbors Serving Neighbors has started accepting clothing donations and is also stockpiling toys for the holidays. They are also trying to open a feminine product section that includes toiletries, period products and pregnancy tests.

Neighbors Serving Neighbors is looking to partner with local businesses in an effort to rescue food that is still safe to eat from being thrown in the trash. Local farmers and people wanting to help can drop off donations on the white shelf to the right of the food pantry.

Neighbors Serving Neighbors also accepts financial donations. For more information, contact Stephanie Myers at 254-760-8541.