82-year-old Ruthie Mitchell has been nurturing people her whole life.

Before the Central Texas Food Bank existed, there was Ruthie. She was a 35-year volunteer for the Nutrition Program: a one-stop-shop where East Austin residents could get food aid. She helped enroll families. She created recipes for turning donated food into nutritious and delicious meals. She organized food drop-offs so families didn’t have to travel all over Austin. And once they were established, Ruthie worked with the Central Texas Food Bank too.

For nearly 30 years, Ruthie was a resident of Booker T. Washington Terrace. It had a bad reputation. But the people who called them bad didn’t live there. Didn’t know them. And didn’t seem to care about them.

When the chairman of the Texas Board of Human Resources was quoted as saying he’d favor the sterilization of women on welfare, Ruthie and a group of mothers decided to pay him a visit. “We were peaceful and respectful” she says. The women were members of the Black Citizens Task Force and they wanted the chairman—a well-known cattleman—to support increased funding for food programs. Instead, he called security. “I don’t know what came over me,” Ruthie recalled, “but I told him: I bet you can’t even feed your cattle for 88 dollars a month but you expect us to feed our children with that amount?”

Ruthie didn’t win every battle. But she never let her voice be silenced. She made life better for residents through her quiet determination and action. She represented them at the Austin Tenants Council, helped them get access to legal aid, and was instrumental in forcing Medicaid to pay for children’s dental visits through a class-action lawsuit.

Ruthie has been a mom, foster mom, guardian, and honorary mom. She reflects, “I thought I could make a difference. For the lives of young children. For our next generation.”

…And that you did, Ruthie Mitchell.