🪙 Spare Change at Market Street Added Up to $11,500 for Hunger Relief

🍽️ Iron Chef Cat Cora Headlined a New Luncheon for the County Food Bank

🐴 A Response From Alpha & Omega Services on Mounted Patrol

🌤️ Partly cloudy with areas of fog · 84°F / 66°F

Clocks fall back at 2 a.m., so enjoy the extra hour, and watch for areas of fog.

Source: Vaisala Xweather

Market Street recently donated $11,500 to Keep Us Fed Montgomery County through its Change for Charity program. Keep Us Fed works to alleviate hunger and reduce food waste by rescuing excess nutritional food and redistributing it to neighbors in need.

The money starts as pocket change. Market Street patrons drop it into the voluntary meters bordering Central Park, and each quarter Market Street picks a nonprofit to receive it. Since the program began, it has raised more than $350,000 for local charities.

The source puts the need in numbers: 40% of food is wasted in the United States, yet more than 16% of people face food insecurity. Keep Us Fed aims to bridge that gap in Montgomery County by making healthy food available.

Why it matters: loose change is easy to ignore, and here it turns into food help for Montgomery County neighbors.

Source/Credits: Hello Woodlands

Montgomery County Food Bank held its first Flourish & Nourish Ladies Luncheon on Oct. 22 at The Blue Magnolia in Magnolia, presented by Houston Methodist The Woodlands Hospital. Women from across the county filled the room, and the funds raised will provide hundreds of thousands of meals to neighbors facing hunger this holiday season, according to the food bank.

The afternoon opened with a champagne reception and a photo booth, followed by a luncheon and a fireside chat with chef, author and philanthropist Cat Cora, moderated by KPRC 2 anchor Lisa Hernandez. Cora spoke about growing up in a Greek-American family in Jackson, Mississippi, and about becoming the first female Iron Chef. Brynn Huntsman also provided a $25,000 matching gift.

“Flourish & Nourish filled a room with women who care deeply about this community, and Cat Cora reminded all of us how a meal shared around the family table can shape a life,” said Scott Burns, President & CEO of Montgomery County Food Bank.

Why it matters: this is a first-year event, and the food bank is already tying it to meals for neighbors this holiday season.

Source/Credits: Hello Woodlands

The Woodlands Township is moving its mounted patrol from a private contractor, Alpha & Omega Services, to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office in 2027. County commissioners approved the agreement Oct. 22. We covered the change on Aug. 22, Sept. 19 and Oct. 25.

After our Oct. 25 story, Alpha & Omega’s founder and president, Frank Keller, asked for the chance to share his company’s perspective. Alpha & Omega has provided mounted patrol in The Woodlands since 1994. His statement follows, in his own words.

By Frank P. Keller, Founder and President, Alpha & Omega Services, Inc.

For more than 31 years, Alpha & Omega’s horses and troopers have been part of The Woodlands, from the early Pavilion and Mall days to today’s patrols. Residents see a horse and rider. Behind them are years of training, careful horse selection, veterinary care, transport, supervision, and daily preparation. We built that operation here.

We also asked to do more. I proposed expanded coverage and responsibilities; the Township decided what services it would purchase. Our 2027 proposal increased scheduled mounted patrol from 387 to 425 hours weekly—nearly 10% more. It wasn’t simply a higher price for the same service.

The Sheriff’s Office program includes up to $954,876 in startup funding and $1,371,354 in annual operating funding: $2,326,230 in combined startup and annualized allocations, not necessarily actual 2027 spending. A&O already has the horses, trained personnel, facilities, vehicles, and equipment.

But how much actual horseback patrol will residents receive?

The program has been described as providing “up to 400 hours per week,” yet the October 14 agreement draft guarantees no minimum of actual horseback patrol. It also permits vehicles or other methods when weather, horse health, officer safety, or related conditions warrant. Those safeguards are sensible. Residents should know how horseback hours will be measured and reported.

Other questions remain. Our contract expires December 31; the agreement targets April 30, 2027, for implementation. What service bridges that gap?

The Township’s comparison also claimed no additional Township liability for Sheriff’s Office patrol on private property. A&O’s contracts include insurance and indemnification protections. What written analysis supports that distinction?

I respect the Sheriff’s Office and its deputies. Sworn law enforcement authority matters, but mounted patrol requires specialized expertise. A&O has trained mounted personnel from more than 50 agencies.

I’m not asking residents to oppose the Sheriff’s Office. I’m asking for a fair comparison, measurable service commitments, and recognition of the professionals who made mounted patrol a Woodlands tradition.

The Woodlands deserves nothing less.

Frank P. Keller

The statement above is Alpha & Omega’s. The figures, quotations and the company’s reading of the agreement are its own, and we haven’t independently verified them. Our goal is to tell you what’s happening in The Woodlands, fairly.

🗓️ Cars & Coffee for a Cause: Vets & Vintage | Market Street | 6:00 to 10:00 a.m. | More info

🗓️ Fifth Annual Pumpkin Smash, The Woodlands Township | Sterling Ridge Park and Ride, 8001 McBeth Way | 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. | Free | More info

🗓️ Dia de los Fieles Difuntos | Cantona Homestead, 24706 FM 2978, Tomball | 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. | Free parking | More info

🗓️ Rock the Row | Hughes Landing | Evening | More info

🗓️ Steven Cade with Ian Moore | Dosey Doe Big Barn, 25911 Interstate 45 | 7:00 p.m. | More info

🗓️ Pavilion Palooza (also Nov. 8) | Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion | 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. | $10 | More info

🗓️ Grand Trolley Reveal, The Woodlands Township | Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, Southside Trolley Stop | 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. | More info

🗓️ Veterans Day Tribute, The Woodlands Township | The Woodlands Central Fire Station, 9951 Grogan's Mill Road | 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. | Free | More info

🗓️ Rock the Row, final night of the season | Hughes Landing | Evening | More info

Note: Dates and times are as announced online. Organizers may make changes. Always confirm before heading out.

Shoal, an installation at Hughes Landing, suspends 750 individual orbs of light in the air along Restaurant Row. Created by the art collective Squidsoup, it moves like a school of fish, as a sound piece by day and gentle waves of light by evening.

"He's on a first-name basis with the bottom of the deck." Translation: he cheats at cards, and probably at other things too.

At some point you will wear a shirt for the last time, and you won't know it when you do.

Why did the invisible man turn down the job offer? He couldn't see himself doing it.

Please consider sharing the The Woodlands Digest with friends and family! Just forward them this email, they can use link below to subscribe.

We want to improve! If you’d like to make a suggestion on how we can improve The Woodlands Digest, please share with us at [email protected]