Over the summer, Zac Davis, of Pauls Valley, made a social media post asking if anyone would be interested in helping him offer a meal for those in need in the local community.
The response he received from people willing to donate time, money and food or supplies was swift and overwhelmingly positive.
From that initial post, a group called We Feed PV was formed. Led by Davis, We Feed PV has spent the last several months offering a helping hand to those in the local community who are experiencing food insecurity.
Davis said while that often includes those who may be struggling with housing too, the group’s mission is really about helping anyone who is hungry.
“It’s not just the homeless. We have so many struggling families out there,” Davis said.
Davis, who grew up in the Tulsa area, said money was tight when he was a child and there were times his family made ends meet with help from resources like food ministries and food pantries.
“Being in that situation, I knew how it was,” Davis said.
Helping others through We Feed PV is a way for him to give back, Davis said.
The group’s mission of feeding the hungry is something that he has wanted to tackle for a while, but he didn’t know quite where to start.
“I just never knew how to go about it. It was always, ‘I don’t have enough time. I don’t have enough resources,’ that kind of thing,” Davis said.
And then earlier this year, he had a dream – three days in a row – that he was helping the hungry. He brushed it off at first, but then on the third morning as he tried to ignore it, the pressure in his chest began to grow and he knew he had to do something.
“I actually went to my wife, and I was like, ‘I’m going to do it. I’ve got to do it.’ And she said, ‘That’s crazy, because I actually had the same dream,’” Davis said. “It was like it was all just coming together.”
He decided to start by offering a free meal of hot dogs and chips and made the post on social media asking for help.
Working with those who responded, he decided to have their first “feeding” on a Saturday in mid-July. The group went to work on a grassroots effort to get the word out to the hungry through social media, word of mouth and by distributing printed flyers throughout the community.
“It was just amazing. I think we fed 80 people that first time,” Davis said.
With that initial success under their belt they continued feeding simple bagged meals of ham and cheese sandwiches or hot dogs with chips and snacks on Saturdays through the summer months.
Davis said he has been amazed at how quickly the idea has taken off.
“It just grew. It grew really fast,” Davis said. “It’s crazy how fast this has grown in just a few short months.”
As We Feed PV has grown, Davis has made some adjustments. The group is now offering meals two Saturdays a month. On the weeks they don’t serve, they make sure the blessing boxes located around Pauls Valley are stocked with shelf stable food items that can be accessed on an as-needed basis.
The setup for serving the bagged meals is minimal, consisting of a canopy and folding tables, and the group has experimented with serving from different locations around town, trying to find a spot that is easily accessible to those in need but not disruptive to local businesses.
In October, they began serving in front of Compassion Church Pauls Valley at 113 W. McClure, which Davis expects will be their location for the foreseeable future.
The group operates on a shoestring budget, provided initially by Davis. But he said once the word started to spread donations began to stream in, initially as food donations and then as cash donations.
“We started getting donations like chips or snacks so that was helping fill all the bags. Then we were buying hot dogs, or main course, out of pocket,” Davis said.
They started an Amazon wish list, which allows people to shop from a list of needed items and have those shipped directly to We Feed PV.
“We’ve gotten blown away with those kinds of donations coming in left and right, which is amazing,” Davis said.
We Feed PV is also developing supportive partnerships with other community organizations and churches who share similar missions like Compassion Church PV and Samaritans of Pauls Valley, which has helped, and Davis said he is working to establish a more formal nonprofit structure for We Feed PV that includes a 501(c)(3) status.
He said the simplicity of what the group is doing currently seems to be meeting a need for those who may not qualify for other resources for one reason or another. He said he is frequently asked by those they serve meals to if an ID is needed to get a meal, something that is sometimes a requirement at food pantries or other service providers. Davis said he has found that those who are without permanent shelter or who are struggling in other ways often don’t have an ID.
Davis said he would love to see the community come together to help each other in a variety of ways through We Feed PV.
“I don’t want to get in over my head, but I do have somewhat of a vision, and I want to make it more,” Davis said, adding for now he is content to wait and see what the future holds.
“I’m just going with it honestly. I never thought it would grow this fast. It just blows my mind every day. But I’m glad the community is supporting it so far,” Davis said.
With the holiday season approaching, Davis’ main goal right now is to get the word out to those in need of food and to solidify community involvement through volunteers and donations.
“Volunteers are always amazing. Donations, of course, I hope that continues, but my main goal is for this to be a community involvement thing,” Davis said.
In November, We Feed PV plans to offer meals Nov. 4 and Nov. 18 at 11 a.m. in front of Compassion Church PV.
To find more information about how to volunteer or donate visit the group’s Facebook page, “We Feed PV.”
