Hope Austin founder Monica von Waaden transforms childhood lessons into a lifeline for hungry students, combating food insecurity in Central Texas schools.

AUSTIN, Texas — Inside a North Austin strip mall, the pace is quick and the purpose is clear. Volunteers line up, hands moving in rhythm as bags slide down the table, each one filled with cereal, snacks, and essentials for a student who might otherwise go without.

At the center of it all is Hope Austin founder Monica von Waaden, whose mission is rooted in her childhood. She says her mother, a teacher, often brought students home -making sure no child left her classroom hungry.

“Our table was always full because she’d bring home kids from her school, she always taught in the most impoverished schools, so I saw how my mother thought that was so important and my dad was also a philanthropist as well, so food insecurity is just something that’s always been near and dear to me,” she said.

Since 2016, that lesson has grown into something much bigger. What started in a small 5-by-7 storage unit, loading up cars from local stores and stocking shelves by hand, has turned into a full-scale operation.

Today, Hope Austin runs out of a large North Austin space, packing food bags multiple times a day, every week. Deliveries arrive by the truckload, keeping shelves stocked with everything from mac and cheese and cereal to healthier options like almonds and sunflower seeds.

Those bags go straight into students’ backpacks on Fridays — helping them get through the weekend.

“There’s cereals, there’s mac and cheese, there’s beef sticks, there are healthy snacks such as almonds and sunflower seeds,” von Waaden said.  “The teachers mostly say you should just see the smiles on these kid’s faces when they get their snack kits or they get their weekend meal kits. It’s a game changer for our kids.”

But the help doesn’t stop there. The organization also provides fresh food, hot meals, and family boxes because, as Monica puts it, if a child is hungry, chances are their family is too.

Right now, Hope Austin serves about 5,000 students a week across more than 100 schools in Central Texas. Teachers help identify which kids need support most.

For Monica, it’s a full-circle moment, turning the values she grew up with into a lifeline for thousands of families.

A simple idea, now feeding a growing community… one bag at a time.

For more information on how you can get involved with HopeAustin, click here.