Dripping Springs restaurant owner donates thousands of pounds of food

DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas - In May, heavy rain flooded Homespun Kitchen and Bar in Dripping Springs with more than four feet of water, but, thanks to the community, not only is the restaurant doing better than ever before, they're helping other people in a big way. 

It was a group effort to load five large carts of food onto trucks outside of Sam’s Club. 

“$4,000. 4,000 pounds. It works out to be about a dollar a pound,” said Randy Ford, owner of Homespun.  

Ford said it's a tradition for him and his fiancé Jennifer Walker. 

“In my opinion, we all have to pay it forward in different ways and a long time ago I was like, ‘Hey, I own a restaurant, how can I pay it forward? I can feed people.’ And that's what we do and as many as we can,” said Ford. 

There were moments this year where Randy and Jennifer weren't sure they'd be able to afford it. 

“It was very emotional in May. It was like, oh my gosh, that's the second flood we had. And we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, I don't know if I can do it again.’ Because it's very devastating to have to build it back,” Walker said. 

Following the flood, the Dripping Springs community showed up in mass to help Randy and Jennifer get back on their feet. 

“The next day we had 100 people helping us,” Ford said.  

“We were able to get it open in six days, which was a record,” said Walker. 

With customers back inside the restaurant, Randy set his sights on how he could repay those who helped him. On Wednesday, he dropped off 4,000 pounds of food at Helping Hands, a food pantry in Dripping Springs. 

“It feels amazing. I feel blessed that I'm able to bless them,” Ford said. 

“We see anywhere between 60-80 families a week and that's around 200 to 125 people, so that's going to get us through a two-week period at least with food,” said Amanda Lewis, president of Helping Hands. 

This is the food pantry’s busiest time of the year and Lewis said having so much donated food not only helps stock their shelves but also allows them to save money for other needs.

“If you need food, we're going to be here for you. If you need help with bills, you can call us and we can help with things like that, too,” Lewis said.  

“We take care of our community, and they take care of us,” said Ford. 

Next year, Ford’s goal is to double the amount and donate 6000 to 8000 pounds of food to the pantry.