Monica von Waaden on Leading an All-Volunteer Army | Rock Solid Round Rock

Bryan: Hi everybody, it’s Bryan Eisenberg and welcome to Rock Solid. Today I’m joined by my good friend Monica von Waaden, fellow ambassador and the person behind Hope Austin and Hope Round Rock. Welcome.

Monica: Thank you for having me.

Bryan: You have such a diverse career that you don’t really talk about. You started as a special education teacher. You worked in domestic violence advocacy. You’re a lawyer. And now you’re in food insecurity. What inspired that whole lens to focus in on people who are in most need but yet rarely can express or even tell people that they’re in need?

Monica: Oh, that’s quite the package there. I grew up in a very amazing home by two amazing parents. My dad was an electrical engineer at White Sands Missile Range and my mom was an educator, and she taught in the poorest parts of El Paso, Texas her entire career. That’s what she wanted. My parents had these great philanthropic hearts that always instilled in us kids that with great blessings comes great responsibility. So I took that to heart. My mom would bring home kids when it was safe to do that. There were no regulations. There were always extra people sitting at our table. Always. She was always packing extra food to take. So we saw that. And my dad, being the brilliant man that he was, insisted that those kids who came into our home be part of the science fairs. He wanted them to learn. There was always projects going on that he was helping them navigate, because in their homes that was not something the parents could offer their children in that exact moment. So my dad offered that. I grew up in a home that was just filled with philanthropy. That’s where I learned it.

Bryan: There’s a lot of people who talk about food insecurity. It’s definitely a big issue in Texas. I think in our area it’s one in four children.

Monica: One in four children.

Bryan: And probably getting worse right now. So definitely a big concern. And most people think it’s just about getting them a snack. But you’ve taken a whole different approach, because it’s not just about the insecurity of not having food, it’s about development. It’s about really empowering them, not filling their bag with the carbonated drinks or the processed foods or refined sugars. You’re avoiding all of that, really trying to fuel them. What’s given you that direction, as opposed to the standard “we’re just going to get them whatever we can get them, if it’s Oreos, if it’s whatever”?

Monica: Correct. As a backpack organization, that’s what we’re known as, but we have evolved. We’re of the mindset that an education is the best commodity we can give our children. An education will break generational lines of poverty and allow the best learning outcomes for our children, and that will carry them through the good educational system that is here in central Texas and Round Rock, and also into the competitive markets they’ll be entering for jobs or college. Those kids will continue to be part of our community right here in Round Rock and must be prepared to benefit this community as well as benefit from the community. Our kids are already at a nutritional deficit, so we want to make sure that the food we give them makes the impact they need, so their bodies run like they’re supposed to and their brains are firing at all levels for the best learning outcomes.

Bryan: Let’s take a typical backpack. A lot of people have probably seen them around. It’s chips, it’s cookies, it’s fruit rollups. Let’s talk about what yours looks like differently than those.

Monica: Correct. Currently our backpack meal kits for the weekend are 68 to 73 grams of protein, and we are shelf stable only in that program, and we’ve removed all that ultra-processed food. We put in nutritional granola bars made by Cooper Street. They’re whole grain, they have quinoa, buckwheat, real fruit, dark cherries, blueberries, and less than half the sugar of a typical granola bar. These aren’t candy bars. We also do something called a backpack yogurt, which is shelf stable, real calcium, real protein. And I know we all love ramen, but ramen is nothing but a bucket of salt. We removed that product from our kits, and we now use a product called a woodle, a whole grain, half the salt, protein-filled cup of noodles that is actually good for you. We also do almonds, sunflower seeds, and items like that, plus whole grain reduced sugar cereals.

Bryan: There’s a lot of lessons I want you to share with our community, because as an ambassador you’re always out there trying to support our community, and with all you do with the kids, we’re talking about over 5,000 kids a week that you’re affecting. But there are bigger lessons you can share, because you’ve had a successful franchise business in the food space. What are the lessons from your law degree, from teaching, from all this, that you can bring in, that you realize you see a lot of business owners struggle with, that have made you also successful in what you’re doing with Hope Austin?

Monica: Correct. First of all, always in my mindset, there are no failures, only lessons learned.

Bryan: So important.

Monica: Totally. Unless you try something, you don’t know if it’s going to work. And if it works, great. And if it doesn’t, it wasn’t for your model in that particular moment. The funny thing is, my first self-published book, my mentor always used to say this line, and we dedicated the book to him and his wife. It says “to Roy and Penny,” and we misspelled his wife’s name purposely. In the acknowledgements we put it incorrectly and said “anything worth doing is worth doing wrong.” And then you learn from it. It’s fine. And as we evolve, there will be mistakes, but you have to take those risks to evolve, to better yourself for the people you’re serving, or who are buying from you, your customers. Evolving is the key, I believe, to success.

Bryan: Life is constantly full of change, and if you don’t adapt… look, we can look at companies that were successful for a hundred years. We just had David Valdez, who’s a well-known photographer. Kodak was one of the biggest brands in the world. He talked about when he was with the president, 65,000 rolls of film. You don’t hear about Kodak anymore. They didn’t evolve, even though they invented the digital camera.

Monica: They didn’t believe that was the right thing to suit their customers, and we know what happened to them. Change is inevitable, and you have to be able to change along with it for the benefits to be seen.

Bryan: I also like to look at it from an operations point of view, because what you’re doing is fairly complex. Those 5,000 students, how many different ISDs is it? How many volunteers are you working with? Let’s talk about that scale.

Monica: We have evolved. We used to be a simple backpack organization serving on the weekends only. Over our ten years, we’ve evolved to have eight distinct nutritional programs to keep our kids well nourished. We have our weekend program, our snack support during the school day that also protects our educators, a fresh food program, a hot food program, a teen pregnancy program, all the things. None of this is rocket science, but it does require a lot of organizational logistics, because we take our food directly to our kids at school. We have about 60 drivers who spread across the central Texas metroplex each and every week delivering. That also means we have a lot of volunteers within the unit to pack everything that goes out to our students. We have lots of volunteers from all segments of the community coming in to volunteer and make the kits, because we have to have 5,000 kits ready to go each and every week.

Bryan: And getting ready to expand again.

Monica: Yes, we’re going to take on HUD, it looks like, in the spring or fall of the 2026 school year.

Bryan: When you first started this out of a little storage unit, could you have imagined you’d have had the impact you’re having now?

Monica: Never. In my wildest dreams did I begin to envision that we would have grown the way we have. We were in a 5-by-6 storage unit, the model of inefficiency, I’ll tell you, because it was what we could afford at the time. We had to bag outside, set up and take down each and every time. Now we’re in what we consider a luxurious space off Anderson Mill. It’s cramped, but the location is phenomenal for what we do, and I’ll use the word blessed to be able to serve out of that space.

Bryan: A lot of people think about nonprofits and look at things like Charity Navigator, at how much of donations go to salaries and stuff like that, and you guys haven’t taken anything out of this. Ten years of doing that. What does that say about you, or the program, or the need, or the community you’re serving?

Monica: Well, first I don’t think it says anything about me personally. I’m just so lucky to be a part of what goes on. We set a path, and together we are driving along that path, navigating, making corrections, and speeding ahead as we can, making sure our kids are well nourished. Like I’ve said numerous times, it’s not rocket science, but it is an essential part of what needs to happen. Food is a basic necessity. It’s the fuel that keeps driving us. And it’s also all volunteers. Everyone is a volunteer, including myself. All of our drivers, my driver operations lady, all the packers, all of our drivers, all volunteers. We’re so lucky that our volunteers are such amazing, dedicated individuals. They generally sign up for an entire semester at a time, both semesters during the school year. They don’t get paid, and they’re such dedicated individuals because they see the value of our mission. They drive the mission.

Bryan: I imagine you probably have some that have been with you nine plus years at this point.

Monica: Yes, nine plus years. Hope Austin is about relationships as well. We love it when we see our drivers pull up every Wednesday, that’s when we make our deliveries, and the school districts see who’s coming up. Everything has cameras. When our drivers pull up, our campuses know, “Oh, it’s the Hope Austin driver, it’s Kathy, it’s John, great, let’s make sure that car is up.” They’re so happy to see them. When I talk with a principal, I always get a gracious comment about one of our drivers. “Oh, your driver Kathy, she’s amazing, she makes us laugh, she asks about us too.” Our drivers are fueling the relationships as well.

Bryan: Do you get a chance to hear from the kids about the impact the program’s had on them?

Monica: We do. Often our school districts will have their students write thank you notes. And on occasion, we’ll see a student who receives our services. I’ll tell you a brief story about one. It was last summer, and it made an impact on me. I’d been delivering all summer, because we do deliver during the summer, hunger doesn’t take a vacation. This young lady, a second grader, at one of the campuses in Round Rock ISD, I’d seen her at every single drop. On the last one, she said, “I wanted to tell you something.” I said, “What do you want to tell me?” She said, “I know you.” I said, “How do you know me?” She said, “Well, I don’t know your name, but I know that you feed me, and that really makes my mommy very happy. So I do know you.” That was the end of the conversation. Those little encounters have a big impact on what we do, because often we don’t know what goes on in our service, our educators disseminate that, and it doesn’t change our service model one iota, because we’ll do the same things. The fact that we don’t know their names is irrelevant.

Bryan: This year, Leadership Round Rock decided that Hope Austin needed to be the charity they were going to work for. What was your first reaction when you heard they chose you out of the countless number of nonprofits in our community?

Monica: I’ll say overwhelmed. When I saw the list, I was like, wow, look at those amazing heavy hitters doing such amazing work in this community. I had my guesses about who was going to get the benefit. And when they said it was me, I almost lost it, because I was deeply honored that they would select Hope Austin. They’re really doing a lot to benefit the children we serve together, because the children of Round Rock need them.

Bryan: What do you think was behind them choosing you versus all the others?

Monica: I want to say the mission is a good mission, providing an education for kids who need it. We are consistent, we are dedicated, and we know this is about community, and we do it together, as a community, for community.

Bryan: If we’ve got corporate listeners, and I know you get both corporate donations and individuals, what do you want them to know about the program and the impact they can have?

Monica: The impact you can have is it changes the lives of children in need. There are so many of our students who actually rely truly on the services we provide for them. Since we operate around the calendar, 365, any donated items, any monetary donations, go directly to serve the kids here in Round Rock, in their community. No one draws a paycheck. Everything fuels the program as it is.

Bryan: Do most people even realize the extent of the food insecurity, from their perspective, even if they have kids in school?

Monica: Nope, it’s not even sometimes on people’s radar. I’ve been asked, “What do you mean there’s food insecurity in central Texas, here in Round Rock? We’re a very affluent community.” And that is a fact. But there are many students who don’t have the promise of a next meal, and it’s real. Even me, I was like, wow, there’s a child very close to here that until a few days ago was sleeping on the floor, right here in Round Rock, mother not putting enough food on the table. She’s being helped now. We like to work alongside and partner with other organizations, so through one of the counselors at a Round Rock school, we directed her to Heavenly Beds. They’re a wonderful organization, and those children now get to sleep in a bed rather than on the floor. That word “together” keeps coming up. That word “community” keeps coming up. It’s about ensuring those of us who are in jeopardy can be successful in their futures by fueling them today.

Bryan: You still find time to serve as an ambassador for the Round Rock Chamber. What was the decision to say, “yeah, I’m going to devote more time to helping support the business owners in the community”?

Monica: Becoming a Round Rock ambassador has been one of the best decisions I made, both personally and for Hope Round Rock. It’s my goal that once I can’t or won’t run Hope Austin anymore, that Hope Round Rock can walk on its own, and the chamber and the ambassadors have helped those walking legs, helped me grab a hold by my hands and put what we do out there on a platform for everyone to see, so that together we can make sure our kids are well nourished, because it will come back, these kids will be part of this community. I’ve met such wonderful people, and it’s been a joy to be a Round Rock ambassador.

Bryan: You met your husband in law school, but you’re not doing law. Any part of you that thinks maybe you should have stuck with law, or used that law degree for this advocacy for kids? Do you regret not being in that field?

Monica: Do I regret it? No, I don’t regret it. I think it wasn’t necessarily planned that I wouldn’t be an attorney the rest of my life, it was just a course of events. It was hard at first, but law school is such a great way to learn, it teaches you to think differently, that the shades of gray we live in is essential. The thinking lessons you learn in law school are great for whatever you carry forward. I did love my practice of law, because I got to help battered individuals, and I loved that. So when I had to step away from that, I was sad for a little while, but then I found my new place, and it was good. I think my law career helped me be able to found Hope Austin, Hope Round Rock.

Bryan: Between you and your husband, both being lawyers, if you have an argument, who’s the better litigator?

Monica: Oh, me, 100%. And he will say “yes, dear.”

Bryan: Now your son is leading your Panera franchise. That’s a very challenging thing, passing a business to a child, or working with family. What were some of the biggest takeaways and lessons you can share with others to make that successful, because a lot of times husbands and wives don’t work well together for a long time, and then passing on to the next generation is also difficult. You guys seem to be thriving with it.

Monica: Well, Mark was running the Panera businesses. I had my own aspirations that I was working on the side, raising my kids, being part of the community and PTAs. I was his sounding board, and we’d mesh our ideas and then he’d take them out to Panera. We always told our kids, “we will never rob you of your purpose, it is your responsibility to go to college and make your own path, your own career.” We do not hand over anything to our children. They both got college degrees. My oldest, Nicholas, is about to graduate from medical school. My youngest did a little bit of other things out of college, wasn’t fulfilled, wasn’t happy, and asked Mark, “may I come and work with you?” Mark said, “absolutely, start at the bottom.” That’s where he started. He went to the managerial process in St. Louis, did a bit of that, then started working alongside Mark, learning a lot of lessons, and very recently was promoted to president of the company. My husband was wanting to step back anyway, and he was grateful that one of his sons would want to take over, because that’s not always the case. This year Alex learned how to build the business from the ground up by himself, and opened his very first store, with Mark standing back watching, being that sounding board my boys witnessed growing up, and taking something by the horns and getting it done.

Bryan: So it’s almost like reverse Undercover Boss. Was there a part of the job he realized he really hates, but is so critical to the business?

Monica: That’s a good question, and I don’t know the answer. I’ll ask him when I see him later this week.

Bryan: What’s the lesson you hope he never forgets?

Monica: That as a leader, we set the tone by our example. For me, it’s also, I would never ask somebody to do something I wouldn’t do. Regardless of your position in a company or any business, you have to be willing to do everything it takes for that business to run. I throw the recycling and the trash at Hope Austin, Hope Round Rock every day. Yesterday my friend came in and I was mopping. She said, “You’re mopping?” I said, “Yes, I’m mopping.” The business in totality is your responsibility, and it’s all of us together, whether it’s employees or leadership, it’s a together endeavor.

Bryan: I think that’s a big part that a lot of leaders struggle with when they’re trying to pass off responsibilities. They don’t understand what it looks like, so they may have a hard time delegating, or they struggle because they want control of it all, and that balance point is really difficult for a lot of business owners.

Monica: It is hard to delegate, because sometimes you think, “oh, it’s just easier for me to do it.” But that teaching moment is essential, and that’s what will keep the business running when you’re not there, and you can’t always be there.

Bryan: A lot of people who listen have heard about the power of community, it’s a big theme of the podcast. Maybe they don’t have the financial resources to give. Are there other ways they can contribute to the community, or to Hope Austin, to feel like they’re making that kind of impact?

Monica: Absolutely, we’re always looking for volunteers. Our shifts are an hour and a half, you come in, create a kit in a safe, comfortable environment, we put on some great music, it can be like a dance party, jokes are told. Or if you’re looking to drive to our many schools here in Round Rock, we’ll be looking for new drivers, because we’re having a few step off next school year due to health issues. Drivers are always needed, even on a sub position, or if you have a particular skill you’d like to share, ideas, we’re always open to new ideas to help us run more efficiently.

Bryan: What age groups can volunteer with you?

Monica: We have children as young as five come in. It’s not rocket science, they can grab a bag and start to fill it, they may need a little help. Do they last an hour and a half? No. If they can volunteer for 30 minutes, that’s a win.

Bryan: And just being part of it, seeing it, learning by example from their parents, serving together as a family, is a gift.

Monica: Absolutely.

Bryan: If people want to learn more about how to get involved, whether it’s through time or resources, or maybe we’ve got CPG companies developing great new food products, what would be the best way for them to connect with you?

Monica: Email is always good, it’s monica@hope4austin.org. Or you can email me and we’ll give you my phone number, happy to chat online or on the phone anytime.

Bryan: Or definitely come to some of the Round Rock Chamber events, because you will definitely see Monica there. Monica, thank you so much for everything you do for our community.

Monica: Thank you for having me, and again, it’s a together endeavor.