Cy-Fair Helping Hands, a local nonprofit that serves the homeless and the hungry, received a $27,665 donation Jan. 14 from Metta’s Local Eats, a local Facebook group that celebrates food, fellowship and giving back to the community, according to the group's founder, Metta Archilla.

Archilla and a committee of five others oversaw the Metta’s Local Eats Dine Out for Charity fundraiser from October-December with the goal of raising $10,000 across the 42 local restaurants, cottage bakers and other businesses that participated in the cause.

Local eateries selected featured menu items and donated every time that item was ordered over the course of three months. Businesses that raised the most funds received awards in the following categories.

Overall
  • First place: Duck N Bao
  • Second place: Andy’s Kitchen
  • Third place: Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee & Bakery
Artisan bakeries
  • First place: Jersey Bagels
  • Second place: Cake Fine Pastry
  • Third place: Alchemy Bake Lab
Most sponsors acquired
  • Andy’s Kitchen
Multiple locations
  • The Union Kitchen - Boardwalk Towne Lake
  • The Union Kitchen - Katy
Cy-Fair Helping Hands operates out of a shopping center on Cherry Park Drive, but Executive Director Patricia Hudson said she hopes to expand in the future. Once the nonprofit raises enough funds to purchase land, officials will move forward on a day center, which would host classes, a health clinic, a food pantry and other services for the community, she said.

Services at Cy-Fair Helping Hands are especially needed during the pandemic: About 70 families pass through the drive-thru distribution line every time it is open, Hudson said. As of mid-January, the organization was funding emergency housing for 23 individuals across five families, and Hudson said the number of requests for housing assistance has increased in recent months.


“So many families are people who are not used to coming to the food lines, who have never asked for help and have usually been on the other end where they’re donating, but both of them have lost their jobs,” Hudson said. “We’re a beacon of hope. We try to provide encouragement.”

Hudson said provisions from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will be cut in half this year, and the organization depends on support from local residents and groups, such as Metta’s Local Eats, to continue serving those in need.

Archilla said she and her team are planning a bigger and better fundraiser for April through June.

“We talked with most of the owners already, and we are at about a 90% return participation rate,” Archilla said. “Metta’s Local Eats Dine Out for Charity plans on doing this in the second and fourth quarter every year. We are at a recognition level in the community where we have restaurants coming to us and asking [how to] be a part of this.”