Meals on Wheels delivered about 900 meals on Thursday.
AUSTIN, Texas — A nonprofit organization is keeping up with a long-standing Thanksgiving tradition to make sure families and homebound seniors have a hot holiday meal.
Meals on Wheels Central Texas prepped and delivered about 900 meals with the help of over 200 volunteers, which included Texas’ first family.
According to CEO Henry Van de Putte, on an average year, they typically serve about 600 meals.
Gov. Greg Abbott, along with his wife and daughter, picked up their meals and headed out to two homes to deliver the food personally.
“We want to pay it forward to the people who cannot get out, who may not be able to go enjoy a Thanksgiving meal themselves,” Abbott said.
Seasoned volunteer Terry Bown has been contributing to the organization for 14 years and for this year’s Thanksgiving event, and this year she convinced her son, Kevin, to sign up.
“I’ve heard the stories over the years of my mom driving to deliver meals, and realize that it wasn’t about delivering food, per se, as much as it was the human connection,” Bown said.
The holiday comes after the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, where SNAP benefits were temporarily cut off and thousands of Texans hit local food banks.
In response to questions about any impacts the government shutdown had on food insecurity, the governor said there were none for Meals on Wheels and he was able to ensure everyone in the program still had their meals.
“Folks realized how many people are food insecure, and it’s something that in the state of Texas, we lead the nation in, and it’s not something we want to,” Van de Putte said