For the past twenty-three years, volunteers of the Doc & Gayle Young Food Drive, a community service endeavor of the Austin Apartment Association, have helped combat hunger in the capital area. With the help of generous people in Central Texas and beyond, this food drive raises funds, 100% of which is used to purchase in excess of 50,000 pounds of food from HEB grocery store for area residents.
Committee volunteers deliver food packs to families at Austin Housing Authority apartment communities and children and families receiving services at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services’ Rainbow Room. SafePlace also benefits from this drive.
Staff members at the various Housing Authority communities choose the families who receive food. In most cases, the families are struggling to get by on low-wage jobs. In fact, 41,000 children under the age of 18 in Travis County are confronted daily with food insecurity, which according to the Texas Alliance for Human Needs, is defined as the lack of access to enough food to fully meet basic needs at all times due to lack of financial resources.
After helping out with the food drive since its inception, Michael “Doc” Young, chair and namesake of the food drive, knows exactly who receives help.
“Working on this food drive made me realize that there are a lot of people out there who need a helping hand, yet we, as a community, never hear their stories.” Young says, “Sometimes, all it takes is an illness or a disability to put these families in a situation where they are really struggling to survive. They need – and deserve – our help.”
Young says it’s important to realize just how much food the benefiting families receive. “We’re not serving people a single meal, on one day of the year; that’s never been the intention of the food drive,” says Young. “We personally deliver boxes, filled with three to four days worth of food, to well over 1,000 families in town. This way, they can prepare the food according to their traditions and enjoy several hot meals in the comfort of their own home with their family and not crowded in some gymnasium. I really feel this is the best way to help.”
The Austin Apartment Association Thanksgiving Food Drive began in 1986 when the AAA Community Service committee, headed by association volunteer Steve Cartelli, raised $600 to feed hungry Austinites. In 2009, the committee raised over $41,000 in donations. AAA volunteer member Michael “Doc” Young has helmed the committee since 1987. Committee chairs Kim McGregor and Ben Wells recently joined Doc to help lead the crew. In 2005, the AAA Thanksgiving Food Drive was renamed the Doc & Gayle Young Fall Food Drive in honor of Doc and the drive's biggest champion, his late wife, Gayle.
