Robert Craddock, 66, or better known as Bob and occasionally even Father Joe (though Father Joe died 30 years ago), by the clients he helped at St. Ignatius Food Pantry, wasn’t expecting to be in the workforce again after retiring when he was 55 years old.
A couple of years later, he wakes up at 3 or 4 a.m. to get ready for a part-time position with a full-time commitment as the St. Ignatius Food Pantry Director. By 6:30 a.m. he’s arriving at the Food Bank’s Partner Agency to prepare to help feed 1,220 clients a month.
For nine years, this was his routine all because he listened to a 90 something-year old “feisty little lady” who was giving a presentation about Social Security and told him that he was too young to be sitting at home watching TV the whole day. With a little push from a parish administrator, and with the woman’s words in mind, he took on the responsibility.
When he started, the food pantry bought two or three cases of food from H-E-B or Fiesta, but he soon realized it wasn’t nearly enough. The food only lasted one day. He took action and partnered with the Food Bank to help reach more food-insecure people in our community. After all his hard work, this food pantry is one of the Food Bank’s largest Partner Agencies in Austin distributing nearly 230,000 pounds of food last year.
Even if the pantry is not able to provide complete meals to everyone every day, no one ever leaves without eating something.
“We provide coffee and donuts here,” he said. “[For] a lot of them, that’s their only meal all day long.”
After many years of working there, he met all kinds of people he wouldn’t have otherwise met: homeless people who lived day to day, people who were angry, hostile and people just released from prison.
“You’re driving down the road, you see somebody flashing a sign on the side and a lot of the time people don’t even look at them,” he said. “You get to look at these guys; they’d come in and tell you their story… a lot of them were very appreciative.”
Though many of his clients were homeless, Bob clearly remembers the mothers and children he helped.
“You felt sorry for the kids because most of them didn’t have anything,” Bob said. “We’d give them little snacks, donuts and maybe a $20 bill or something like that and they’d be jumping thinking it was the best thing they ever had.”
His clients didn’t just receive food from the pantry. The Partner Agency also provided other basic necessities like clothes and prescriptions. On a particular day, after being robbed, a woman arrived in a shirt and underwear. Bob made sure she received assistance immediately.
To show their appreciation, some of the clients will take out the trash, inform new arrivals of the intake process and help unload food deliveries. Others, once they’re back on their feet, have returned to make monetary donations to show their gratitude for the food they received during their time of need.
Though he will miss the clients and volunteers, Bob has decided to retire again in order to have more time to improve his health condition. With his wife by his side, he plans to travel the country with stops in Oregon, Florida and Alaska among others.
“It’s been a very blessed place to work for,” he said. “I just want to thank everybody out there at the Food Bank; they’ve been very helpful over the years and really helped us out doing different programs.”
Throughout the years, Bob’s work and dedication has been an essential part in helping advance the Food Bank’s mission to fight hunger. We cannot thank him enough for transforming the St. Ignatius Food Pantry into a food haven for hungry families in need. We wish him a happy retirement and give him our sincerest gratitude for his helping hand in our community. Thank you Bob Craddock!
