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Today we spoke with Troy Jaster, a Helotes resident of Hearthstone Ranch, Real Estate agent, husband to a NISD teacher and father of two young children who in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic started trending social media project. Troy caught our attention earlier this week after a Facebook group he started grew rapidly.
On April 1st, 2020 at 11:29 AM CST, Troy posted for the first time to the Helotes Curbside Eats group he started on Facebook. According to, Troy in the first couple hours since his first post his group’s membership count went from a single user, himself, to around 300. As I was writing this article, I checked his group to see the member county since our interview, he is now over 1500.
The following is a partial transcript of our interview:
Matt: How long have you lived in Helotes?
Troy: I’ve lived in the area since 2003 and moved into Helotes this past Dec 2019. My family and I have regularly visited local businesses and have gone to a few concerts at Floore’s.
Matt: If you’re comfortable with this, do you mind sharing what neighborhood you live in?
Troy: Absolutely, we live in Hearthstone Ranch off of 1560.
Matt: What are your goals for the group, what is it that your trying to do?
Troy: First thing is purpose, Why? To help out the community and share information. If you do something and want it to be successful you need to be passionate about what you’re doing and have a strong interest in it.
My parents were small business owners who owned a restaurant. I understand firsthand about the sacrifices and hours they put in. Now, we’re all impacted by COVID-19 in some way. From what I’ve seen in the group and the feedback we have so far, this helps or residents and those in the area learn about businesses they never knew existed in Helotes. I feel it moves the needle to generate local business.
I want this resource to continue beyond COVID-19. I hope we can continue to share the information about local businesses. We’re seeing all sorts of positive things happening in our community right now, like neighborhood scavenger hunts and drive-by birthday parades. I think what everyone in the group is contributing is positive too and really supports our local businesses.
Matt: We reviewed the group and found a few businesses listed that are not in the city limits, but relatively close, is that allowed in the group?
Troy: I don’t have a hardline stance on any business outside the Helotes City limits. Our neighbors own Chic-fil-A on Bandera and they live in Helotes. Others I’ve talked to mentioned that their teenagers work in businesses surrounding the community. This is a, Yes, And… scenario!
Matt: Thank you for your time and agreeing to the interview. Is there anything I haven’t covered you would like to say for the article?
Troy: Yes, I’m really enjoying this. It’s a very positive group so far. I haven’t moderated anything. Everyone has been very helpful in the group. I want to draw attention to a recent post.
Someone asked for a recommendation where to find lemon meringue pie after searching around the area. What’s amazing, really just amazing is another group member offered to make the pie if one couldn’t be found!
In closing, Helotes News sends a sincere thank you to Troy for taking time out of his day for this interview and his efforts to support our local businesses! Troy simply had a small idea, in a small town and a big desire to help others. As a news media company we are immensely grateful that our first interview covered a very positive local development.