Nearly $1 million raised to fight hunger in North Texas

A check for $900,000 was presented to the North Texas Food Bank on Thursday and more than 80,000 pounds of food were collected. fight food insecurity in North Texas.

NBC 5 and Telemundo 39 joined the annual Kroger End Hunger Here hunger campaign., on holidays. And this week, two trailers full of food were delivered to the Food Bank of North Texas.

“We are very grateful to Kroger, NBC 5 and Telemundo for allowing food trucks to arrive at our warehouse,” said Erica Yeager, director of external relations for North Texas Food Bank. “The need in North Texas is great right now. Over 700,000 neighbors are food insecure.”

“We cannot thank our clients for their generous income,” said John Votava, director of corporate affairs at Kroger. “Families suffering from food shortages may not know where their next meal is coming from, and that’s part of our mission at Kroger to feed the human spirit.”

The food delivery is 12 pallets of canned corn, 19 pallets of bagged rice, 12 pallets of canned green beans, and eight pallets of peanut butter. Shipments to Feeding America food banks, including the Tarrant Area Food Bank, are scheduled this week, with checks being distributed by Kroger.

“It’s not just food prices that have gone up,” said Steven Rayside, director of external relations for the Tarrant Area food bank. “We also have increased prices for fuel, electricity, the cost of storage facilities. Giving out one pound of food costs a lot more.”

Food banks, which serve as warehouses, deliver pallets of food to food pantries throughout the area.

“Without partnerships like North Texas Food Bank, we wouldn’t be able to keep our shelves in stock and keep up with demand,” said Ben Sky, director of communications for The Storehouse of Collin County, a nonprofit. “The Collin County Warehouse has been working closely with the Food Bank of North Texas since we were established 13 years ago. And even as demand grew, they allowed us to increase our impact on the community.”

The Storehouse offers two food giveaways a week and their latest figures show they serve over 1,000 families a week.

“Before the COVID-19 pandemic, we served an average of 100 families twice a week,” Sky said. “If you look at June-December, which is the second half of 2022, we served an average of 663 families per food pantry distribution, which means more than 1,300 families per week.”

The increase is largely due to inflation.

“One of the things we saw a lot in 2022 was that we started seeing a lot more of our neighbors visiting our pantry in their work clothes,” Sky said. “And it tells us that many of them are working families who may not be making a living in our communities.”

An $80 grocery bag costs even more for families struggling to make ends meet.

“That means parents can take some comfort in knowing they can feed their family tonight,” Yeager said. “This could mean that an older person does not have to make the difficult choice between buying food and buying medicine. And that means our children will learn, thrive and grow because they have access to the nutritious food they need.”

All food will be delivered to all participating food banks by Friday, January 20th.

Participating food banks include North Texas Food Bank, Tarrant Area Food Bank, East Texas Food Bank, Northwest Louisiana Food Bank, and Central Louisiana Food Bank.