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ITSHUH News

Bastrop County Soup Kitchen Hosting Drive-Thru

3/28/2020

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BASTROP COUNTY, Texas — Driving up Highway 95 just north of Bastrop, you'll pass by three tall standing crosses that sit in front of In The Streets, Hands Up High Ministry.  The ministry is known for having a family homeless shelter, a soup kitchen that feeds 100 people every day, and hosting prayer services. Due to the impacts from the coronavirus pandemic, the ministry has shifted its soup kitchen operations to a drive-thru for safely handing out lunches to people who need it. 

The drive-thru runs Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at 987 N SH 95 in Bastrop.
"It's very important. There are a lot of people who depend on a meal from the soup kitchen. I mean, from children up to senior adults. I mean, it's very important to keep this going," said Roland Nava, the pastor and co-founder of the ministry. Nava also said they'll be planning on delivering meals around Bastrop County in addition to the drive-thru soup kitchen. 

“Communicating with the school in Bastrop, BISD (Bastrop ISD) and there are actually over 50% of the children who depend, maybe it might be 60% of the kids that go to BISD depend on breakfast and lunch from the schools and even the lunch program they have for the weekends where they have to bring food home," said Nava. “We’re going to continue doing this until everything returns to our regular operations.”
The ministry is asking for donations to keep their operations going. They specifically need materials like plates and plastic ware, among other things.

​https://www.kvue.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/bastrop-county-ministry-hosting-drive-thru-soup-kitchen-passing-out-lunches-to-people-in-need-during-coronavirus-pandemic/269-824dc83d-2311-4eec-8568-4e71ee9c092a
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Vato clause 2019 serving over 1,000 families

12/11/2019

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BASTROP, Texas (KXAN) — The Bastrop pastor who’s been for families experiencing homelessness is preparing again this year to pass out hundreds of gifts to families in need.
Roland Nava, founder of the Open Door Soup Kitchen, will again don the moniker “Vato Claus” to deliver donated toys and groceries this holiday season, drawing the name from the Spanish slang for “guy” or “dude.”
Now in his seventh year as Vato Claus, the pastor expects to serve about 1,000 families, up from 600 last year. 
Vato Claus
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“There’s more families coming in from Houston, coming in from Austin especially, and they’re just not having enough to even pay their rent, much less get a toy for their children,” Nava said. 
Nava was inspired by a friend of his, Richard Reyes, who’s been patrolling the streets of Houston as “Pancho Claus” since the 1980s, delivering thousands of gifts each year.
“Brought a lot of joy to people that lived in the poverty areas,” he remembered. When he was growing up in Houston, Nava said, Pancho Claus gave him a gift.
“Now that my life has changed for the better, now I want to give back to the community what was given to me.”
In addition to donated toys and games, Nava will also be giving out dozens of bikes this year. Waste Connections of Texas in Austin built and will donate 50 bikes to the cause for the second year.


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water well failure at soup kitchen and shelters

9/5/2019

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A water well failure at Bastrop County’s only soup kitchen and homeless shelter has forced the closure of the facility and the relocation of its needy families.
Pastor Roland Nava, who runs In the Streets Hand Up High Ministry, the nonprofit that operates the shelter and soup kitchen along Texas 95 north of Bastrop, is now asking for donations to fix the well.
The shelter discovered the well failure Aug. 29 and spent the day finding new arrangements for the four families living in the facility’s housing units. Without running water, Nava said, the shelter is unable to provide showers, drinking water or restrooms. The issue has also forced the closure of the soup kitchen, which has had to turn away 75 to 100 people daily.
“We can’t wash dishes or anything,” Nava said. “This whole property is run on that one well.”
A water well service technician last week found that the issue stemmed from an electrical failure in the well’s water tank, which will require a replacement of the entire water tank, Nava said.
The well service company estimated the total cost for repairs are $5,500. Nava is making an appeal to the public for further help.
It is unclear when the soup kitchen and shelter will reopen.
The well failure comes at a time when the ministry is struggling to raise money for an emergency shelter. Last month, donations for the construction project came to a standstill as the facility neared completion. The emergency shelter’s foundation has been poured, the walls and roofs are bolted into place, and electricians have wired the warehouse-style building. Now, only $15,000 stands between the incomplete building and a full build out, with restrooms, family rooms and a driveway, Nava said.
As planned, the private emergency shelter would be able to house between 40 to 50 people during a natural disaster. It would be the next addition to the ministry’s plethora of offerings since it relocated from Bastrop to its site at 987 N. Texas 95, near Camp Swift, over two years ago.
The ministry also operates a small shelter for people experiencing chronic homelessness and several small homes for parents and children during times of personal crisis.
Each of the shelter’s facilities are funded by donations. Anyone interested in donating can do so through the ministry’s website at www.itshuh-ministry.org.
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EXPANSION OF FAMILY safe SHELTERS in 2019

5/27/2019

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​Bastrop County ministry expanding its homeless shelter 
​After purchasing neighboring property.

AUSTIN, Texas — The number of people forced to live on the streets continues to rise in Central Texas. In The Streets-Hands Up High Ministry is trying to fight the problem. Its homeless shelter program is getting a big upgrade. 
It recently purchased land right next to its current setup of eight mini-shelters for families who are homeless. 

That land is now being cleared out so the ministry can build seven new mini-shelters for families in transition. The ministry hopes to have the units up and running by mid-September of this year. 
They say they're still trying to meet some fundraising goals.
The current setup is a neighborhood-like style. 
Quaint sidewalks separating each unit, washrooms for separate genders and a laundry machine unit are all on site. 
This is in addition to the Open Door Soup Kitchen they have that serves 100 people every day.

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bastrop pastor opens shelter

1/8/2018

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BASTROP, Texas (KXAN) — A pastor who runs a soup kitchen in Bastrop is looking for sponsors of several short-term mini-shelters for homeless families he’s putting on his property.
Pastor Roland Nava, of In the Streets-Hands Up High Ministry and the Open Door Soup Kitchen, already has three large sheds that he’s converted into fully-furnished shelters with electricity and space for a family of five or more. Two of them will open to families who need them next week, and he’s aiming to add seven more in the coming weeks.
“They’re going to be their temporary home, and we want them to feel comfortable,” Nava said. He couldn’t find anything quite like these shelters in Bastrop County that lets families stay together when they find themselves homeless.
“I have seen two families that actually split up, that got divorced, that broke up because of their emergency,” he said.
All it takes is one crisis for a family to fall through the cracks — just one emergency to make keeping a roof over your head difficult to maintain. Jeff Randle knows all about that. He and his family were at the soup kitchen last week enjoying a free tamale breakfast.
“Pastor Nava, you know, he’s helped us out tremendously,” Randle said.
His family was preparing to move into a duplex in Houston last year after leaving a bad rental situation in Bastrop. Two days before they were set to move in, Hurricane Harvey hit the city and flooded the home. “So just like that, like boom, we’re like homeless, and I’ve never even thought of nothing like that in my life.”
Since then, the four of them have been staying in a hotel room in Central Texas and eating at the soup kitchen when they can. It’s been hard for them to save the money they’re making to find a permanent place to live.
“As long as we’re paying what we’re paying right now, it’s impossible. And it’s just keeping us stuck,” he said.
Randle and his family will be staying for free in one of Nava’s shelters when they open next week. Just a month or two should be enough, Randle thinks, to save up enough to put down the first and last month’s rent at a new home. While they’re waiting, they’ll be staying in the same place.
“We want them to feel the sense of family, togetherness through their hard time, through their situation,” Nava said. Families will be able to stay for up to three months on the property. “We want them to be encouraged, you know, that things can get better.”


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  • Home
  • About Us
    • Learn About Us/The Founder's Story
    • Meet The Board
    • Letter to our supporters & clients
  • Donate
    • Burger & Sandwich Outreach
    • Shelter Maintenance
  • Services
    • Soup Kitchen
    • Family Shelter
    • Overnight Shelter
    • VETERAN SHELTER
    • Men at the cross
  • Inicio en Español
  • ITSHUH NEWS