FREEPORT, Texas — At Freeport Municipal Park on Sunday, June 28, tables set up by Feeding Hearts Inc. were packed with trays of food.
Within about 25 to 30 minutes, the food was gone.
For MsRey of Feeding Hearts Inc., the Sunday meal service is only one part of a larger mission. She described the work as more than simply handing out plates. It is about helping people who are often overlooked, pushed aside, or left without consistent support.
Feeding Hearts Inc. serves meals at Freeport Municipal Park on Sundays, but MsRey said the work behind the service goes much deeper. Some people come to the park for a meal, while others pick up plates to take to people who cannot make it there themselves.
“So you’ve got people grabbing these plates so that they can go take it to whoever can’t make it,” MsRey said.
The work, she said, began years before Feeding Hearts became what it is today.
MsRey said her path into feeding others started through her time around the Salvation Army and community service work in Freeport. After Hurricane Harvey, she said she was asked to help provide meals when disaster response workers could not immediately get into some areas because of flooding.
According to MsRey, what started as 200 meals twice a day grew quickly during that disaster response.
“The first two days was 200 meals twice a day,” she said. “And then it jumped to 900 meals twice a day.”
She said the experience changed the way she saw community need.
Later, during the COVID-19 pandemic, MsRey said she began seeing people she had served before asking for food again. She said that was part of what pushed her toward starting a weekly meal service.
The first Sunday meal, she said, happened on Jan. 16, 2021.
“I promised him that day when I heard him that if he provided it, that I’d cook it,” MsRey said. “And that when he quit providing, then I’m done.”
The first meal, she said, was beans and rice.
Since then, MsRey said the meals have continued each Sunday. She said Feeding Hearts uses what is available and builds meals around donated food, including meat, canned goods and leftovers from people who do not want good food to go to waste.
“If they’ve got meat in their freezer, bring it on,” she said. “If there’s some canned goods they want to get rid of, bring it on.”
MsRey said the food is real food, not just something thrown together. She said donated items have included deer, fish, rice, beans and other food that can be turned into meals.
Behind the Sunday service are volunteers and supporters who help make the work possible. MsRey mentioned one supporter, Mr. Peter, who she said helped Feeding Hearts Inc. become a 501(c)(3) and continues helping with supplies such as to-go plates.
“He keeps sending the right people to do whatever I don’t know how to do,” MsRey said.
MsRey said Feeding Hearts Inc. does not only serve meals. She said the organization works with people who are often treated like outcasts or forgotten by society, including people facing homelessness, hunger or hardship.
She said the need in Freeport remains visible.
“We all know the need is most prevalent here,” MsRey said.
As Feeding Hearts continues its work, MsRey said one of the organization’s long-term needs is a building. She described a vision of having a place where people could sit down, eat a meal and be treated with dignity.
For now, Feeding Hearts continues showing up at Freeport Municipal Park with food, volunteers and a mission that MsRey says she feels called to continue.
“It’s a mission,” she said. “I could be doing something else. I still got a little life to live in me, but I know I’m supposed to do it.”
Gulf Coast Times will continue following local organizations and residents working to meet community needs across Freeport and Brazoria County.