Since 1982, our organization has been there when neighbors needed a helping hand. What began as Waxahachie CARE has grown far beyond the walls of a traditional food pantry and beyond the boundaries of Waxahachie.
Today, we are CARE Services: Compassion. Advocacy. Resources. Empowerment.
Our new name reflects the organization we have grown into: a connector and convener helping individuals and families throughout Ellis County access both the immediate assistance they need today and the resources that can help create greater stability tomorrow.
That starts with essentials like nutritious food and utility assistance, but CARE now reaches much further. Through our services and community partnerships, we connect neighbors with resources including literacy and employment assistance, budgeting education, SNAP enrollment, mental health services, tax preparation, legal aid, veteran and senior resources, healthcare support, government programs, and more.
Our approach is simple: a hand up, not a handout.
We believe asking for help should never come at the expense of someone’s dignity. By addressing immediate needs while connecting people with education, advocacy, and resources, we can help remove barriers and give our neighbors the tools to move forward.
But we cannot do it alone.
As a privately funded nonprofit, the generosity of our donors, volunteers, businesses, and community partners makes this work possible. This North Texas Giving Day, your gift puts CARE into action across Ellis County.
Your support helps us extend compassion when someone is facing hardship, advocate when navigating assistance feels overwhelming, connect families with critical resources, and empower our neighbors as they work toward lasting stability.
Give CARE. Strengthen a neighbor. Empower Ellis County.
One year. Thousands of neighbors. A community coming together to CARE.
In 2025, CARE Services helped 5,485 neighbors across Ellis County access the food, financial assistance, resources, and support they needed to move forward with greater stability.
Together, our community helped make possible:
• 1,097,000 pounds of food distributed to local individuals and families, providing the equivalent of 649,113 meals
• $150,000 in financial assistance helping neighbors manage essential bills during times of hardship
• 2,300 dedicated volunteers giving 8,000 hours of service to their neighbors
• 30 local seniors receiving dependable grocery deliveries directly to their homes each month
These numbers represent more than assistance. They represent groceries on the table, bills kept current, seniors supported, families given room to breathe, and thousands of neighbors reminded that they do not have to navigate hardship alone.
This North Texas Giving Day, help us turn CARE into action for even more of Ellis County.
Ellis County neighbors caring for neighbors by meeting immediate needs, connecting critical resources, and empowering individuals and families toward long-term stability.
Ellis County’s population is growing rapidly, with an estimated 243,841 residents in 2025—a 4.5% increase in just the past year. Now the 25th largest county in Texas, Ellis County is part of the rapidly growing DFW metroplex.
As our community grows, so does the number of neighbors seeking food assistance, financial support, essential services, and connections to critical resources. Rising costs are putting additional pressure on household budgets while increasing the resources required to serve them.
To meet this growing demand, CARE Services needs expanded facilities, additional staff, upgraded equipment, and increased food and financial contributions. As our reach grows across Ellis County, so must our capacity to meet immediate needs while helping neighbors build greater long-term stability.
With your support, we can grow alongside Ellis County and ensure our neighbors have somewhere to turn when they need a helping hand. Together, we can build a stronger, more stable community where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
Nondiscrimination/Anti-Harassment Policy
CARE Services is committed to a work environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. Each person has the right to work and volunteer in a professional atmosphere that promotes equal employment opportunities and prohibits unlawful discriminatory practices, including harassment. CARE Services expects that all relationships among persons in the building will be business-like and free of bias, prejudice and harassment.
Purpose
CARE Services has developed this policy to ensure that all its employees and volunteers can work in an environment free from unlawful harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.
These policies should not, and may not, be used as a bias for excluding or separating individuals of a particular gender, or any other protected characteristic, from participating in business or work-related social activities or discussions. In other words, no one should make the mistake of engaging in discrimination or exclusion to avoid allegations of harassment. The law and the policies of CARE Services prohibit disparate treatment on the basis of sex or any other protected characteristic, with regard to terms, conditions, privileges and perquisites of employment. The prohibitions against harassment, discrimination and retaliation are intended to complement and further those policies, not to form the basis of an exception to them.
Equal Employment Opportunity
It is the policy of CARE Services to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, marital status, citizenship, national origin, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. CARE Services prohibits any such discrimination or harassment.
Retaliation
CARE Services encourages reporting of all perceived incidents of discrimination or harassment and each incident will be promptly and thoroughly investigated. CARE Services prohibits retaliation against any individual who reports discrimination or harassment or participates in an investigation of such reports. Retaliation against an individual is a serious violation of this policy and will be subject to disciplinary action.
Harassment
Sexual harassment constitutes discrimination and is illegal under federal, state and local laws. For the purposes of this policy, "sexual harassment" is defined, as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when, for example: a)submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment, b) submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decision affecting such individual, or c) such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment. Harassment on the basis of any other protected characteristic is also strictly prohibited. Harassment includes; slurs or negative stereotyping, threatening, intimidating or hostile acts, jokes, written or graphic material.
Reporting Discrimination
CARE Services encourages individuals to report discrimination to the Executive Director or a board member so that a rapid and constructive action be taken. Any reported allegations of harassment, discrimination, misconduct or retaliation will be investigated promptly. CARE Services will maintain confidentiality throughout the investigation. If an individual to a complaint does not agree with its resolution, that party may appeal to CARE Services Executive Director, board president, or board vice president. False or malicious complaints of harassment, discrimination or retaliation may be the subject of appropriate disciplinary action.
Resources
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Guidelines
http://www.twc.texas.gov
Civil Rights Act of 1964; Title VII
Organization name
C.A.R.E Services
other names
CARE Services
Tax id (EIN)
75-2490584
Causes
Hunger & Food Access
Operating Budget
$1,000,000 - $2,999,999
Counties Served
Ellis
BIPOC Serving
Black or African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic or Latinx
BIPOC Leadership
Both the Executive Director/CEO and Board Chair
Address
PO Box 371 1208 Ferris Avenue