“My husband and I used to work in the refineries, and we made two decent paychecks. But they didn’t last for anything. We struggled buying diapers and formula. So it started with asking people to donate things like that for moms and dads and grandparents taking care of young kids. Now it’s grown to all sorts of food items and necessities. And the response has been great. The community is showing they really care. Whatever goes in the box belongs to whoever grabs it, whoever needs it. A lady across the street says it helps her every single day to feed her kids and have diapers for them. That’s what it’s all about. It’s made an impression on my kids, too. They get excited seeing people drop off stuff, and they have a better appreciation for those needing help.

“There are times when we all just sit down and cry. We really miss our little girl. But through this whole experience, I feel like we’ve gotten so much closer to God. I hope nobody else has to go through what we’ve gone through. I hope I bear all the burden and all the hurt and all the sorrow and all the grief for any other mother. Maybe this is not the testimony that I wanted, but I feel like this is going to help somebody else later on down the road.”

— Roxanna Castillo

The Alicia’s Blessings box is located at 1003 E. James in Baytown. It’s available 24/7 for drop-offs and pickups.

Roxanna also wants to highlight the importance of water safety for young children. A great resource is Teresa Rising, who we featured in a story several years ago. She’s a certified master instructor with Infant Swimming Resource’s Self-Rescue program.

The post Blessing box: ‘Her story doesn’t end here’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

Jamari: “We didn’t experience the 2020 that most everyone else did. It was a very exciting year for us. COVID was going strong, but that didn’t stop us from getting married and opening up this business. In a way, it seemed only fitting to open a space to provide nutritional items and nutritional advice during a health pandemic. As first-time business owners together, it’s been a roller coaster. There’s no typical day. There’s always something to do, as far as creating new items, marketing, and following trends that we’re seeing on social media or in the business world. It’s definitely been an eye-opening experience.”

Morgan: “We knew that health is something people really care about. So we just kind of plunged in and went for it. We’re trying to bring new things to Baytown that are healthy, but also taste good. And we’re trying to help build up this area as well.”

Jamari: “We serve on the ACE District board. We want to be impacters in the city and stakeholders in what happens down here. We want to be part of the effort to bring this area of Baytown back to life. What better place to start a business than in your hometown? We’re in a position now to give back to a community that was supportive and good to us when we were growing up.”

Morgan and Jamari Gilbert own Baytown Nutrition at 123 W. Defee (Suite 11). Their newest team member is 5-month-old daughter, Kye, who hangs out with them at work.

Morgan: “She’s pretty chill.” Jamari: “Yeah, she’s rarely fussy or crying, which helps us. We don’t need a babysitter or daycare. We just keep her here. She’s always with us. She’s growing up with us.”

Jamari was a football standout at Lee High School and University of the Incarnate Word, before playing one season for the Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League. He hasn’t given up the dream of playing pro ball, with plans to attend a scouting combine for the XFL in July.

The post Young couple tackle new business appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“In 2009, I was raising my kids. I was doing weddings. I was teaching group fitness. I was doing all this stuff, then my voice kept going out.

“I was a fitness instructor for 17 years. So I had a lot of vocal cord abuse. I would lose my voice for weeks, then it would come back. After a lot of testing, they decided it was from reflux. My esophageal sphincter was wide open. So everything was coming up, and it was burning my vocal cords.

“One of the top surgeons in Texas performed the surgery, and I had some bad side effects. I wasn’t able to swallow hardly anything. Even my saliva, I would start choking. It was absolutely horrific.

“Over time, things got a little better. My voice would come back. I started teaching again. Things seemed to be good. Then, all of a sudden, it deteriorated again. I needed a second surgery.

“I was feeling so bad. I didn’t want to eat. I still have issues. Eating is not fun for me. I can’t swallow normally. I’ve not eaten solid food since 2011. I’m on a very soft diet. When I do eat, it takes me a couple hours. Because as soon as I start ingesting something, I start having esophageal spasms. I have the same issues with drinking anything.

“So during the course of the day, I’m not eating or drinking. And people are asking, ‘How are you able to do anything?’ I say, ‘It’s God’s strength in me. He’s called me to do this.’ Because physically, it makes no sense.

“A couple years ago, I was diagnosed with Lupus. I think that everything I’ve struggled with kind of falls under that. But had it not been for all those struggles, this place would not be here. My illnesses kind of put me back into the Lord’s will for my life. I know without a doubt, this is what he created me to do.

“He’s surrounded me with an unbelievable army of family, friends, staff and volunteers to make this what it is today. Even though it’s hard — sometimes with my health, I’m really down for the count — this ministry is a dream come true.”

— Nikki Rincon

Nikki is executive director of Hearts and Hands of Baytown, a ministry of Iglesia Cristo Viene church.

Related:

• Food ministry ‘delivering hope’

The post Chronic health struggles can’t stop her appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I made a mistake. I used the wrong address for a food fair location. I caught it, but I knew some of the flyers had already gone out.

“I was worried that some people might go to the wrong place, so I drove out there early that morning. I was so glad there wasn’t a line. It was just one car.

“When I got out to speak with the gentleman, and let him know he could follow me to the correct location, he told me his story. He had just started a new job and moved his family here. But shortly thereafter, the company made cuts. He got laid off. It was one of those last-in, first-out things.

“He was a young guy. He had a wife and two small children. And he said, ‘I’ll be real honest with you. My wife and I have not eaten in a couple days, because we’re making sure the kids are fed.’ I told him to follow me to the food fair.

“I called my dad, who’s one of our biggest supporters, and asked him to pack up some extra food and meet us there. I also told the gentleman about the Pay It Forward Diner, where he and his family could get a free meal that day.

“He looked like the man on the street who you might be scared to approach: real rough, with tattoos all over his body. But in that moment, he was standing there just crying. And he was hugging me. He said, ‘I can’t even believe this is happening.’

“It’s moments like that — I could go on and on with those types of stories — that makes all the work of our staff, volunteers and partners so meaningful.

“When people hear the name, Hearts and Hands of Baytown, they immediately think of food. But it’s so much more than that. We’re delivering hope. We’re giving dignity to people.”

— Nikki Rincon

Nikki is executive director of Hearts and Hands of Baytown, a ministry of Iglesia Cristo Viene church. Through food fairs and various other programs with community partners, they strive to eradicate hunger and its underlying causes.

Related:

• Chronic health struggles can’t stop her

The post Food ministry ‘delivering hope’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“We’ve been homeless, and we’ve gone without. There were so many times that our food budget for every two weeks was $50. So we know what it’s like. We’ve always helped people through outreach, but we knew we could do more. We just didn’t know what that would look like.

“Opening the diner has been a beautiful thing. Someone may walk in crying and say, ‘Is it true? Can I really eat here for free?’ And we’re like, ‘Absolutely.’ It’s because of all the caring people who have paid in advance for others’ meals. Each time, we put a heart up there on the wall. So when someone comes in and needs a blessing, they won’t have to go hungry. We don’t want anyone to feel shame. It’s not until after they’ve eaten and gone that we take down the heart.

“It’s not just for people on the streets. It’s for anybody who’s hungry. For this one family, the woman’s husband works but there’s just not enough. She said, ‘I want to volunteer. I don’t want this for free. I’m not looking for a handout. I’m looking for a hand up.’

The other day, a man came in and said he was hungry. He had $5 in change. I said, ‘You keep it, and order whatever you want.’ He grabbed the money out of his backpack and said, ‘I want y’all to have this as a tip.’ I said, ‘No, sir, keep that. Because you might need it later.’ He wouldn’t let me give it back.

“This whole experience is humbling. It’s so much bigger than Paul and me. Every day my phone blows up with people wanting to be part of this. And we have the most amazing staff. They truly cook and serve with love in their hearts. Every morning before we open, we pray. We want people to know that it’s the lord’s diner, it’s not ours.

“We ask people on the streets to let others know. We don’t want anyone to go hungry. There are so many who come in and are beyond grateful that they get a chance to eat. It’s wonderful to be part of something so amazing.”

— Teresa McCartney Hoffart

(Note: Paul passed away on June 22, 2023, and Teresa died on Dec. 18, 2024.)

The post Baytown Pay It Forward Diner feeds the hungry appeared first on The Baytown Project.

When I met Joshua Johnson six years ago, it was outside a Baytown motel. He was staying there temporarily.

He said at the time, “I was living at an RV park. Me and my friend were staying there. He lit a cigarette and threw it at the propane tank. It had a hose leak, and it blew up. The whole bedroom caught on fire. From there, it all went down hill. Ever since then, I haven’t really had a place to live. I’ve stayed with friends. I’ve slept at bus stops. I’ll get on the bus and go to the back to sleep. I fall asleep at the library sometimes. I’m on the waiting list for low-income housing. Recently, I’ve been staying at this motel.”

You may see Joshua around town, riding his black bike while listening to his favorite country tunes from Alan Jackson and George Strait. These days, he has a place to call home.

I caught up with him last week, across the street from an apartment complex. A friend from church helped him secure a spot there nearly three years ago.

“It’s great. I’m staying warm at night. I’m taking showers. I’m cooking real food. And I can actually make coffee.”

The basics that many of us take for granted are much more than that for people in the community who find themselves living on the streets. Joshua has been there and done that.

As he told me back in 2016, “We prefer not to be called homeless. We like to be treated like regular, normal human beings. We’re just having a tough time. We’re just trying to survive day to day.”

These days, for Joshua, life is a little more normal.

Related:

• He wants to be treated like ‘normal human being’

• High school graduation ‘biggest day of my life’

The post It feels ‘great’ to be off the streets appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I had a lump pop up on my throat. Wasn’t sure what it was. Didn’t think it was cancer. Being a Christian, I really wasn’t that worried. My wife told me, ‘Let’s go to MD Anderson.’

“They checked it out and said it was squamous cell carcinoma. They found it on my left tonsil. So they removed it and then did radiation treatments. I also had some lymph nodes taken out.

“Atfterwards, I was able to start eating again, but I was having difficulty. About 10 years ago is when I really began having problems. I had trouble swallowing. I went through a treatment, trying to build up the muscles in my throat. I tried to start eating again, but ended up in the hospital for six weeks with pneumonia. My throat shut down. The flapper quit working.

“That’s when I had to get the feeding tube. I can’t eat or drink like other people. I get all my nutrition through this tube. I’m on a formula. I don’t like it, but I don’t have much choice. Every once in a while, I’ll shoot liquor into it. I’ll do a couple shots. Not enough to really make me feel anything. Just for the hell of it.

“When I get around people, and all they talk about is food, it kind of pisses me off. I can’t enjoy food like they do, and like I used to before all this. It’s definitely changed my whole life. I just deal with it the best I can. I tolerate it. That’s all I can do.”

— Rick Sanchez

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“My mom gardened a lot when I was younger. And way, way back, my grandfathers on both sides were potato farmers from Maine. So I wonder if there’s not something in my genes that just makes me want to grow stuff.

“My husband and I started with a little 4-by-4 garden, growing some tomato plants. Then we started growing more and more things, and experimenting. It was a lot of fun. The world seemed so crazy at that time. So we thought, when you can’t really control anything else around you, wouldn’t it be nice to grow our own food? We were working low-wage jobs, and I was in school. It was just so hard to pay for anything extra. We weren’t sure how we were going to make ends meet. It was a way for us to have a very cheap hobby that was like an investment. You actually get something back that’s tangible.

“From there, we moved from the concept of gardening to permaculture. In general how we grow things in the United States is a monoculture where you grow one thing, like a whole field of corn or strawberries. Permaculture is permanent culture. You do something that kind of mimics a natural forest. You plant trees, like canopy trees, and then understory trees, and then you grow things all around it. It creates a food web that makes it a lot more sustainable. It also gives you a variety of foods that you can’t always get at the store. It’s kind of hard to get kumquats and loquats and fresh figs, those kinds of things. And it’s convenient. Say if you want some basil. Instead of going all the way to Kroger, you can just walk out your back door steps.

“I think that if everybody gardened, a lot of problems could be solved. If something bad did happen, and everybody had a basic little bit of gardening, they’d stand a better chance of providing for their family. Plus, it’s good for mental health. Everybody is so busy, they don’t have time to do anything for themselves. If you can get somebody started gardening, they might go out there for two or three minutes, and they’ll end up staying for 10 or 15. And they’re doing something kind of mindful.

“We have a young baby, and we both work a lot. Our jobs are exhausting in different ways. But having the garden, and the way that we grow, it’s like knowing you’re doing something good for the environment that’s also good for your household. For us, it’s our refuge.”

— Catherine Hunter-McMillin (with husband, Matthew)

The couple run The Enchanted Food Forest of Southeast Texas from their home in Liberty. 

Related:

• Parents coping with baby born during pandemic

The post Their garden is their refuge appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“Living with my grandmother back in Louisiana, I would always be in the kitchen while she was cooking. So I guess it just came natural to me.

“I remember being 7 years old, standing on a chair, trying to fix some gravy from scratch. I could eat rice and gravy every day, so I figured I needed to learn. As the years went on, I got in there with her and learned how to make all sorts of things.

“I’ve never found cooking to be a chore. I’ve always enjoyed it. And I just love to see people eat my cooking. When the holidays roll around, all the family looks to me to cook. Like for Thanksgiving, I’m usually making 15 sweet potato pies, 10 pecan pies, dressing, ham, and all the rest. 

“Opening this restaurant is literally a dream come true. It’s something me and my sister had talked about for years. But just one thing after another kept getting in the way. To finally see it happen, I’m overjoyed.

“When you’ve been poor, and you already know what that life is, you strive for something better. I think that’s why I have this determination to never give up. Every day, I’m here from opening until close. I’m just so determined to make this a success. I’ve been wanting it too long.”

— Sarah Wright

Sarah’s Restaurant is at 3321 Market, the former location of Baytown’s Historic Cafe. They specialize in “Southern comfort and Cajun eats.”

Related:

• ‘Doctor said he was nothing but a miracle’

• Despite major health scares, she’s still cooking

The post ‘I’m just so determined to make this a success’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“My whole life, I’ve been fat. I kind of think about doing surgery or losing weight, but it just never really takes off. I get frustrated, and it doesn’t happen. It got to the point where going into a restaurant was the most I could walk. Even then, I would have to take breaks because I was literally becoming immobile.

“Then last fall, my friend started doing Keto. It didn’t sound too bad. I was like, I’ll try it. So on January 8, I started doing Keto, and my life changed completely. I have purpose again. I don’t stay in bed for 12 hours a day anymore. I get up and I go make my breakfast. I hang out in the kitchen all day cooking and making stuff. And I love it.

“I’m down 60 to 80 pounds. I feel like night and day; so much better. Keto is low carb, moderate protein, high fat and no sugar. It’s pretty awesome. Keto is not magic. It’s not the perfect thing for everyone. But for me, it makes sense. To me, it’s sustainable. I’m not on a diet. This really is a way of life. I plan on being Keto for the rest of my life. This is a way I can live.

“I don’t know why I’m finally ready. Because for 15 years, I wasn’t ready. I had a bunch of false starts. Last month, I celebrated six months Keto. I don’t stick to things. The fact that I have stuck with something for this long is amazing. My friends will say that I’m happier now than I’ve been in five, six, seven years.

“I’m becoming myself again. It’s given me purpose again. It’s given me an interest again. Depression had stolen all my interests. I used to love to read. I kept buying books, but didn’t read them. I like reading about Keto. I like watching YouTube videos about Keto. I like talking about Keto. It’s working for me.

“My goal is to be back to my normal self in two years. I just want to be happy again. I want to be able to work again. I want to be able to get back out there. I don’t have a weight loss goal because I’m not fixated on numbers. I just want to be as mobile as possible, and to not hate life. That’s my goal. I’m making progress toward that.”

— Sheena Gordon

Related:

• Suicide — ‘I would never do that to my mother’

• Sexual abuse as a child continues to haunt her

• Talking about your mental health is key

• When suicide leads to the blame game

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