About Drive Thru Service
This service was conceived in 2020 during COVID (April 14th, 2020) and has provided over 50,000 FREE grocery boxes till 04/2024. It is run by our volunteers with support from our community members and partnership with Central Texas Food Bank.
This food program distributes perishable food items for FREE.
This service is open to anyone who is in need of food and who is subscribed to North Austin Muslim Community Center email distribution list specially set up for this service. The steps to register for this service are outlined below.
Timings:
Registration starts every Friday: Link sent out at 1 p.m. CST.
Drive thru pick up – Sundays 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
Location: Food pick up from Food pantry located at:
11900 N Lamar Blvd,
Austin, Texas 78753
Underground parking lot > Room # 4
How this program runs:
Run 100% by volunteers, this program is a testament of community coming together in the time of difficulty and choosing to do what is right and NOT what is easy. This program started during initial days of COVID 19 pandemic continues till date without having missed any weekend till date(08/2024), Allhamdolillah.
This program runs on the donation of our generous Muslim community who practices the message of charity by living it. The charity is extended to the entire neighborhood muslims, non-muslims.
Over 50 volunteers participate in this program on weekly basis working in several teams like:
Procurement, packing, distribution, home delivery, back office work.
VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITY:
Our volunteering effort is well organized and our teams work for a common cause of serving the community. If you are a volunteer, please fill in the volunteer form here: ______________
We have good time while serving the community: Family friendly atmosphere, breakfasts, snacks and refreshments.
Volunteers with varied backgrounds professionally, ethnicity and age brings the unique blend of a successful community. We have had youth volunteers who are now the leaders of several communities across the country.
We are pioneers of innovation when it comes to finding solutions and solving food inequity. We have implemented digital solutions that were recognized by Central Texas Food Bank auditors. We were the pioneers of processes in contactless systems during COVID 19. We have made solutions for problems that lead to less wastage and maximum usage of our food produce.
STEPS TO REQUEST FOOD:
1. Email Registration
Subscribe to North Austin Muslim Community Center emails for Grocery Drive Thru and other supportive services.
(Required to get into the program)
- Click here to subscribe for receiving emails.
- You should receive an email confirmation to the email you entered to confirm your subscription. Please confirm by clicking the link in the email.
- Please give us 1 week time to set you up to receive email from us every Friday 1 p.m. as per the process below
2. Order Placement
You will receive emails every other week to register for the grocery boxes. Since we have a high demand for our service and limited supply, we give equal opportunity to all participants to benefit from this program by dividing the entire list into two groups. Each group gets the link for registering for food every other week.
Email will be sent out every other Friday to your registered email Id at 1 p.m. CST. The food ordering is by Tickettailor system which is our ticketing platform and anyone can register for food on a first come first serve basis. The ticketing system will close the window for food ordering once all the boxes are reserved.
All the details are required in the form and you will have to provide consent to the information provided as it is shared with Central Texas Food Bank as per its form guidelines. We will ask you qualifying questions that are required as per Central Texas Food Bank guidelines. We will ask you qualifying questions that are required as per Central Texas Food Bank guidelines.
If you don’t qualify per the food bank policy, we will make the best attempt to accommodate your needs with the other donated food items. We intend to serve everyone in need.
Everyone is encouraged to order one box for a family of 4. This supply is good for a family of 4 for 1 week. If you have a big family then please register for more boxes with the same email.
You will receive an order confirmation email that will have a barcode with details of your registration and your food order is reserved to be collected as per the order pick up guidelines.
3. Order Pick up
On Sunday come anytime between 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. , please come to the North Austin Muslim Community Center location mentioned above.
What to expect when you come in:
- Drive into North Austin Muslim Community Center parking and head towards underground parking. It is a one way parking and it will guide you to the underground parking.We expect everyone to be in the car while picking up the food. Please open up your trunk as you drive into the underground parking.We have a first base where we will verify your order placement by checking your ticket. For unregistered recipients, please check the steps below for unregistered recipients.
We have a marketplace style pick up where you will drive around and ask the volunteer if you are interested in the item displayed on the table. Items on the table are displayed to show the quantity and quality of goods that will be given. You stop at the table, point to the volunteer if you are interested in that item on the table and the volunteer will load it to the trunk.
This marketplace style setup helps us to avoid wastage and get the things to the right people.