Last week’s freeze left women staying at Austin’s Eighth Street Shelter without proper food, leading to online backlash — and concerned Austinites sending assistance in the form of Domino’s pizzas.
The incident was isolated, the city says, but it underscores pre-existing concerns from service providers and clients staying at one of Austin’s longest-standing shelters for women.
A post on Reddit last week highlighting lackluster food offerings during the bitter freeze last week showed loose bread with peanut butter and jelly packets and crackers, and prompted Austinites to donate pizzas to the shelter amid the storm.
Star, who didn’t want to use her real name for fear of losing shelter, said the sandwiches highlighted in the Reddit post are a near-everyday thing: single slices of deli meat with bread for lunch. It’s not enough to fill you up, she says.
“We're hungry, you know, because it's not nutritious, really,” she said. “The majority of us are hungry all the time.”
Endeavors, a San Antonio-based nonprofit, has run the shelter since October. It also runs the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, the Marshaling Yard and the city's Northbridge Shelter.
"I don't understand what they're doing with the money."Star, a current client of the Eighth Street Shelter
Star has been at the shelter since May, before Endeavors took over the shelter. She says the workers regularly complain about short-staffing. They have, she says, since they took over shelter operations.
“There's little staff all the time,” she said. “And that's what we hear all the time: ‘We're low-staff. We can't do this. We can't do that.’”
In a statement, the city of Austin said last week that the food service over last month’s freeze was a “temporary challenge,” and that Endeavors was hemmed in by “logistical issues” because of the weather.
“Operators are required to meet basic nutritional guidelines and ensure that meals are sufficient, safe, and appropriate for the population being served, including making reasonable accommodations when dietary needs are identified,” the statement read.
KUT reached out to Endeavors for this story, but the nonprofit deferred to the city for comment.
Austin paid Endeavors more than $8 million for its contract to run Eighth Street and the ARCH, with $1.7 million of that dedicated solely to feeding clients, according to the contract obtained by KUT.
Pamela Bryant has been serving meals to homeless Austinites for years through her nonprofit, Walking by Faith Prison Ministries. Bryant has lived experience: she used to be unhoused and has struggled with mental health and substance abuse issues.
She says shelter meals aren't often nutritious, and she thinks providers running shelters should do a better job of providing more hot, nutritious meals.
Bryant prepares full meals for Austinites who stay in sequestered camps throughout the city. Over the freeze, she cooked up baked chicken, green beans, mac and cheese, cornbread and — always — a dessert for hundreds of Austinites. That's just what her grandmother did for her when she was struggling.
She’d sleep for days after her grandmother made her a home-cooked meal. It was restorative. Bryant says she could take a break, rest, reflect and remember that she could get herself off the street.
“When you give them home-cooked food, they remember,” she said. “And sometimes it touches their stomachs, and it touches their souls and it touches their mind. And that's when you can have a relationship, a decent conversation with them where they want to change.”
Bryant helped the city respond to its last big freeze in 2023, when hundreds of thousands of Austinites were without power for days. She partnered with Austin Urban League, preparing meals for hundreds of Austinites in the city’s cold weather shelters. She didn’t have the budget that Endeavors did — more than $1.7 million in taxpayer funding — but she understands the strain that accompanies cooking for hundreds of people.
But Bryant doesn’t understand the lack of response to complaints about food. She gets plenty of complaints, she jokes.
“We always try to say that the customer is right, that the people are right. So, if somebody was saying they didn't like it, then ... what is it that you didn't like?” she said. “We build our relationships through food.”
For Star, she has questions about what Endeavors is doing with its budget. Her room at the shelter doesn’t have heat. She and other clients don’t get consistent laundry service. There often aren’t towels when they go to shower. Toilet paper is always in short supply. And, again, the food, which is cooked at the ARCH and carted over across the street, is a consistent issue — chicken like cold plastic, she says.
“I don't understand what they're doing with the money,” she said. “I just get angry.”
