Claudia’s Story

Impact’s Resource Center is one of the largest food pantries in Houston, providing groceries to over a thousand families a week. Much of that food arrives through daily pickups from retailers like Walmart and Costco—donations that must be gathered five days a week to provide for that many people.

Finding the right person for that job has not been easy. The work requires patience, persistence, and heart. Then came Claudia.

Claudia first came to Impact years ago during a difficult season in her life, visiting our Resource Center to receive groceries for her family. One day, while talking with Impact elder Michael Guffy, she mentioned that she had experience as a driver and was looking for work. At the time, Impact happened to be in urgent need of a driver. And from that small conversation big results came!

Since that day, Claudia has become an indispensable part of the Resource Center team. Every morning, she heads out on her route, stopping at stores across the city to collect near-expired items, returns, and low-inventory products ready to be donated. She knows each section manager by name, greets them warmly, and patiently navigates the unpredictable rhythm of retail pickups.

Often, a donation isn’t quite ready when she arrives. So she waits—sometimes ten extra minutes, sometimes long enough to make another lap around the store—just to secure one more small pallet of food. Those small moments of persistence, repeated day after day, add up to something extraordinary.

Each extra mile, each friendly conversation, each small load makes a tangible difference for the families lined up to receive food. Because of Claudia’s ongoing dedication to the little things, thousands of people receive food with dignity and hope.  And God continues to magnify the little into much.