UMHB Partners with H-E-B and One More Child to Serve the Community Through Love CTX

BELTON, Texas-On Saturday, Aug. 8, as part of this year's Welcome Week, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (UMHB) students participated in Love CTX. The annual event is designed for students to discover service opportunities and grow closer to their Cru Groups by serving the community.

For the seventh year, UMHB's Love CTX event supported One More Child, which provides Christ-centered services to vulnerable children and struggling families. Nearly 400 UMHB students packed 28,000 meals and wrote notes for Belton ISD students. This year, the local H-E-B in Belton donated all food items for the meals, equaling more than $19,000 in donations.

"H-E-B is honored and excited to work with UMHB and One More Child to serve the Belton community again," expressed Amy Flores, H-E-B's area community coordinator. "As a company committed to Texans Helping Texans, we are proud to work alongside these dedicated students who are making a meaningful difference in the lives of local children and strengthening our community one meal at a time."

"Strong partnerships make it possible to meet real needs in our communities," shared Joanna LeMasters, director of initiative engagement at One More Child. "We are thrilled to work alongside UMHB and H-E-B once again to provide meals for Belton students and ensure more children have the resources they need to thrive."

"This is one of my favorite parts of Welcome Week," said Katy Hartt, UMHB's associate director of student leadership and organizations. "Seeing our new students jump right into serving their new community is really incredible. I love that we get to partner with One More Child and H-E-B to provide meals to our BISD students."

The meals will go to Belton ISD's Project Heartbeat program to help students who may not have food at home and will be distributed throughout the school year. "Supporting our Project Heartbeat students, including those experiencing homelessness through the McKinney Vento program, students in foster care, and other underserved students, truly takes a community. We are incredibly grateful for the partnership and generosity of One More Child, UMHB, and H-E-B," said Christina Wilson, McKinney Vento liaison, coordinator for Project Heartbeat with Belton ISD. "Thanks to their support, we were able to provide food to students in pre-K through 12th grade across every Belton ISD campus last year, and we hope to do the same again this year. Their commitment has made a meaningful difference in the lives of our students and families."