Our Story

How We Started- Serving since 2017
During this biweekly distribution, a recipient planted seeds from a Papaya that was given to her and a full blown tree of Papayas is now planted in the heart of where Outreach In the Barrio began their work.

worked with a group at the University of Houston in 2006 for a community service project that uncovered the large-scale unmet needs of thousands of resettled refugees right here in Houston. So, the group began to collect items from food to furniture to funds to provide for these individuals.

Noor cherished helping these individuals, but she also felt the need to go back to her own community, in the barrios where she grew up, and start helping those locally too. Every week and often more, Noor would bring goods to these individuals she collected with the help of the Houston Muslim community. Before Outreach in the Barrio was even an organization, Noor was doing the work and learning along the way and eventually, built a deep trust and strong relationships with the beneficiaries of her work.

Then, Hurricane Harvey hit, devastating our city. Half of Houston was desperately in need, and the other half desperately wanted to help. So, the birth of the Outreach in the Barrio community came to be under the guidance, experience and trust of our beloved Noor Morales.

At the heart and soul of this organization, Outreach In The Barrio’s volunteer team has grown exponentially to meet the ever-growing needs of our homeless problem in Houston, Texas. Through our focused programs and events, in a time frame of 4 years, we provided people with 15,000+ hygiene packages and emergency winter relief packages during the winter cold. We have touched the lives of more than 18,000 unsheltered homeless in Houston, Texas since our founding.
over 100,000 people

Our program has served as a model for other cities beyond Houston, inspiring and organizations, to replicate programs such as ours. We hope to inspire cities across America to join us, to promote compassion and service towards the underserved, and to adopt a way of life where we stop wasting food. If you would like to get in touch with one of our team members to learn how you can start a program in your city, please click here
Outreach in the Barrio is on a mission to consistently serve humanity. We are tirelessly working to set the foundation for our future growth in Texas and beyond. We thank you for your support and hope you will continue with us on this journey.

How we started

We meet people where they’re at.

In March of 2017, Outreach In The Barrio officially began serving in an underserved neighborhood where the founder grew up as a child until she was 18 years old. We started with bringing fresh produce, clothing, furniture and basic needs to different underserved communities in Barrios and the hood, and eventually to different housing projects.

A few months passed and our great city experienced a devastating hurricane and the effects were massive. With the help of our Houston Community, Over 400 families received assistance with our efforts. Homes were damaged, communities damaged, the levees broke and the areas were overcome. Because it was in the midst of the Trump area, many people were too afraid to seek help. Many of those people were already living in extreme poverty, and the flood made matters worst. Our founder, Our founder, Mexcian-American Muslim Convert Monica ‘Noor’ Morales, made one phone to some local food bank volunteers and they immediately movilitzed tocreate a caravan with nonperishables, water, bleach, baby food, powdered milk, diapers, hygiene items, etc. and allocated resources to underserved communities affected by the floods.

A common concern grew and it empowered us to take matters into our own hands We realized that there were underserved people who were not being reached – many non profits were doing stationary drives and the barrios & hoods were missing. During the trump era, many of the Latinos were afraid of going out there because of the risk of persecution. Outreach in the Barrio decided to go to them

We believe that we are only instruments of goods and servants of The Almighty,

We hand deliver those resources with love, compassion, empathy, and no judgment. We also assist underserved communities furnish their homes and provide resources such as food, clothes, shoes, household items, toys, etc when resources are available.

Disclaimer: Since the pandemic, we have had to make adjustments are feeding only on Sunday and occasionally on other days in the week.

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