Florence Thornton Butt (1864–1954) worked 120 years ago in Kerrville, in the Texas hill country, which hosts the world’s largest established annual folk music festival. When her husband, Charles, was incapacitated with tuberculosis she opened a small grocery store on the ground floor of her family’s home, with $60, in 1905. Florence brought leftover food from the store to hungry people living under the nearby bridge. young Howard, Florence’s son, initially made deliveries using a wagon. Early branch-store ventures failed, but a successful Del Rio store opened in 1926, followed by expansion into the Rio Grande Valley. Her son, Howard Edward Butt kept up and expanded the operation, naming the company HEB after his initials. Over time, the expanded network of 460 H-E-B stores have grossed an estimated $670 billion in cumulative revenue.
Howard’s daughter, Eleanor Butt, married William Crook who led VISTA and served as a US ambassador overseas. She joined the Board of Directors of Bread for the World, where she served for 15 years. She also helped to launch the Alliance to End Hunger (of which WHES is a member). Photo courtesy Houston Food Bank.
Influenced by famine in Ethiopia and her time overseas, Eleanor Butt Crook, shown at right, set up a foundation in 1997, based in San Marcos, Texas,.
In 2017, the Eleanor Crook Foundation pledged $100 million over the following decade to fight global malnutrition. Its present mission centers on ending deaths from malnutrition through research, policy advocacy, and scaling effective interventions. Eleanor continues to shepherd its work as board emeritus. Her grandson, William Moore, now serves as President and CEO.
Its supported work spans countries in Africa and Asia, including Ghana, Uganda, Côte d’Ivoire, Nepal, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Senegal. A focus is on addressing acute malnutrition. Grants have been given to the Clinton Health Access Initiative, to Action Against Hunger (ACF), for ready to use therapeutic foods and for multiple-micronutrient supplementation.
For more information: https://eleanorcrookfoundation.org/
