Saturday, May 27, 2017 • Page 1C
Big Tex opening fourth Houston location on Ella From Staff Reports According to a press release May 15, Big Tex Self Storage will be building its fourth Houston location in the Garden Oaks/Oak Forest area at 3480 Ella Blvd. Construction on the spot began earlier this month, and the locally-owned business plans on opening its doors to the community in June of 2018 if all goes according to plan. The state-of-the-art facility, to be built on the site shared with Ella Plaza, will offer 100,000 square feet of storage space to Garden Oaks and Oak Forest residents, and owner Bobby Grover says Big Tex is excited to be moving into another one of Houston’s burgeoning communities. “Garden Oaks and Oak Forest have seen tremendous growth over the past 5 years, and the Big Tex Storage team is excited to be a part of that evolving story”, he said in a release. “Houstonians want
to be a part of this community thanks to it’s beautiful tree lined lots, top-rated schools and fun neighborhood restaurants and bars; it’s no wonder it was named one of Houston’s “Hottest-of-the-Hot Neighborhoods” in 2016.” According the company’s website, Big Tex Self Storage will offer an on-site storage specialist, flexible renting options, 24/7 computer and camera monitoring and door alarms on each unit. Residents’ storage units will have consistent tuned climate control from 65 to 78 degrees Farenheight to protect their belongings. The Garden Oaks location will be open Monday-Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Residents will be able to gain access to their belongings at the Garden Oaks location seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Photo from Facebook Big Tex Self Storage looks to be opening its fourth Houston location in the Garden Oaks area. According to a press release, the facility will open in June of 2018.
GO 365 set for take-off
Focus on Non-Profit Seventh of a multi-part series
Neighbors help fight hunger By Jennifer Layer
jennifer@theleadernews.com
Image source: Whole Foods Whole Foods announced its intent to move into The Leader area more than two years ago, and some new details were revealed about the development earlier this month
By Landan Kuhlmann landan@theleadernews.com Austin-based Whole Foods announced plans to move into the Leader area with a new concept more than two years ago, but little had been divulged regarding specs of the new store–until now. According to a report from Virtual Builder’s Exchange earlier this month, vertical construction is about to take off at the site at the northeast corner of Yale Street and the North Loop 610 frontage road on the project known as the Yale Marketplace after bids were received and finalized May 4. Yale Marketplace, by developer Fidelis Realty Partners, will host a 12,000-squarefoot facility for an emergency room clinic and possibly other tenants along with a 30,000square foot space for Whole Foods’ newest concept according to the report.
W O N
The Austin-based grocer announced the new concept in May of 2015, and wasted no time searching Houston for a good location, saying it is designed to meet the public’s growing demand for natural foods through the use of a curated selection of products in a store occupying a much smaller footprint than its flagship brand. As the eighth largest food retailer in the US, a typical Whole Foods store occupies about 40,000 square feet. Whole Foods currently operates 420 stores, and announced a target of 1,200 locations earlier this year. Of these, they did not indicate how many would be the new concept. Despite the fact that the 365 concept will have a considerably smaller footprint, representatives believe Garden Oaks 365 will have just as much staying power as its older brother.
N E P O
“365 is designed to complement the Whole Foods Market brand by bringing the highest quality, healthy foods to a broader audience,” said Jeanette Webster, Houston media and community relations manager for Whole Foods said in August 2015. “365 will allow us to serve more customers with a fresh, value-driven shopping experience. The new stores will feature a mix of products that meet our quality standards, in an environment that’s fun and convenient for shoppers.” It remains to be seen how the new concept will mesh with H-E-B on the southeast corner of Shepherd Drive and West 24th Street (just southwest of the Whole Foods 365 site) upon both arrivals, but one thing is for sure–Garden Oaks and Heights shoppers will have their pick of quality grocers within a convenient distance.
Back in 2008, a local Zion Lutheran church goer named Alice Bongers was sent to Chicago to learn about neighborhood ministry. This entailed being able to look at a community and being able to identify the needs of that community. After returning to Houston, Bongers was able to recognize just how many hungry people were living in the Heights and worked with St. Marks Methodist church to get a food pantry going. In July of 2009, the non-profit Heights Interfaith Food Pantry was opened. “The first day we opened we had five clients,” said Bongers, Executive Director for Interfaith Ministries Food Pantry. “And we thought ‘Okay, we’re going to have to go stand on the street corner advertising.’ But it didn’t take long before everyone knew about us.” Interfaith allows their clients to come every 30 days, and their homeless clients get to come once a week because they can only carry so much food at a time. They started by serving only two zip codes and slowly grew from there. Then when the flood happened about a year and a half ago and due to the gentrification in the Heights they decided to open it up to all zip codes. “A lot of our clients are either working low paying jobs or are on social security,” said Bongers. “If you only get about $700 of social security a month, there’s no way that you can support yourself. And if you’re elderly you often have to choose
Photo by Jennifer Layer Interfaith Food Pantry, shown here, has existed since 2009. In the time since then, the pantry has served anywhere from 60-100 people per day in efforts to combat the problem of people going hungry in the Heights.
between your medicine, your rent, or your food. And the food is what goes.” Interfaith is a partner with the Houston Food Bank which means they purchase most of their food from them. “Now when I say purchase, I mean we get a huge case of pinto beans for five dollars,” said Bongers. How it works: The pantry serves anyone who walks through the doors, ranging from 60 – 100 people a day. The person comes, they get a number, and they wait in line. Once their number is ready they are interviewed, and are asked to fill out a simple form. Then they are given a shopping list that limits the amounts of food each person can get. “We are very fortunate,” said Bongers. “We started out with three churches sponsoring us, and now we have six, including: Zion Lutheran, Christ the King Catholic,
St. Marks Methodist, The Vineyard, Church of Christ at 1548 Heights, and St. Andrews. What that means is we have two members of each of those churches on our board of directors. They are the ones who approve the budget, run the pantry, come up with ideas, and keep things in line.” Although their client and sponsor base grew quickly and easily, their volunteer base did not. Because Bongers is such a strong believer in youth volunteerism, she has worked diligently with the girl scouts and local schools for young volunteers. “Our youngest volunteer is four and our oldest is 89,” said Bongers. The volunteers and members of the Pantry do more than just serve food. They become a family to the cliSee Pantry P. 6C
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