Funded Partner Spotlight: Hill Country Daily Bread Ministries, addressing rural poverty through relational ministry

By Jane Hevezi, grants specialist

I am in a unique position to intimately see how Methodist Healthcare Ministries' funding to nonprofit organizations serves as an extension to the organization's mission of creating access to health care in South Texas. We recently had the privilege of sitting down with one such organization. Hill Country Daily Bread Ministries, a regional resource center located in Boerne, Texas, has been helping transform the lives of their neighbors in poverty for the past 16 years.

In 2016, Methodist Healthcare Ministries awarded nearly $83,000 to Hill Country Daily Bread Ministries to support their Family Mentoring Resource Program, a program impacting the lives of underserved individuals and families in the Texas Hill Country. Elements of the program include employment assistance, family and social support, longitudinal case management and mentorship, and resources intended to alleviate situational and generational poverty.

"This is the brainchild of my husband, David. We started in a garage 16 years ago. We had this blueprint of relational ministry from the very start. We knew poverty wasn't going to be solved by material things. We had to blend it with a relationship with Christ. Just seeing how God has blessed us over the years and brought wonderful partners like Methodist Healthcare Ministries to help us fulfill that dream – it can be pretty overwhelming at times," explains Agnes Hubbard, co-founder and executive director at Hill Country Daily Bread Ministries.

"What a joyful thing it is to look around and see people walk in the door with their head held low and hanging, sometimes in tears, and about an hour later after working with a case manager, walking upright with a smile on their face, there's just nothing like that. They know people love them here. That's transforming for both client and us."

Learn more about grant-making at Methodist Healthcare Ministries. To learn more about Hill Country Daily Bread Ministries, visit www.hillcountrydailybread.com.