In August 1987, the Minister of Education at First Baptist Church--Killeen, Raymond Smith, filed the Articles of Incorporation for the Food Care Center. Mr. Smith, the Food Care Center’s first Executive Director, also filed the paperwork for the Food Care Center to be a non-profit 501C3 faith-based organization. In the early days of the Food Care Center operations, a collaborative effort between the First Baptist Church and St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, led to food being distributed to families in need out of a small building at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.

Mrs. Ruby Lee Wilson, who was baptized at First Baptist Church in 1931 and served as the Financial Secretary at First Baptist from 1958-1985, came out of retirement at age 75 to be the volunteer Financial Secretary at the Food Care Center. Mr. Smith said, “Since Ruby Lee volunteered to be the financial secretary of the Food Care Center, we have no worry that the financial rewards of our Food Center are taken care of in the right manner. What a remarkable person. What a remarkable Christian. What a servant of the Lord she is.”

The Food Care Center continues to serve our community, following the faith based/servant heart foundations set by First Baptist Church, Raymond Smith, and Ruby Lee Wilson. We are committed to being good stewards of the funds we are blessed with as we have been able to “stand in the gap created by hunger in our community” for the last 36 years. We remain a faith-based organization; it is our hope and prayer that our light will continue to shine bright and our good works will glorify our Father in Heaven. Our founding church, First Baptist Killeen, continues to support the Food Care Center both financially and prayerfully. The Food Care Center receives a monthly donation from First Baptist. Current Pastor, Dr. Randy Wallace, is a dear friend of the Food Care Center. The Food Care Center has been led for 16 of the last 18 years by Executive Directors (Ann and Gerald Farris and Raymond Cockrell) who are members of First Baptist Church. First Baptist Church hosts the Food Care Center’s annual volunteer banquet and, during this summer’s most recent Vacation Bible School (2023), the children gathered in over $900 in cash donation and 267 pounds of groceries for the Food Care Center.

Thanks to the longstanding support and strong faith-based foundation from First Baptist Church Killeen, the Food Care Center has distributed over 50,000,000 pounds of groceries to over 2,800,000 people in need in our community throughout the past 36 years. In fiscal year 2023, we will distribute groceries to an all-time high of over 100,000 people in need in our community; 17% are active-duty military. With the Good Lord’s blessing, the Food Care Center will continue to “stand in the gap created by hunger” for many years to come.