North Texas Food Bank
No need is more basic than food. But many North Texas families can’t predictably afford three nutritious meals a day. In fact, more than one in four Dallas County residents under age 18 — that’s 185,000 babies, kids and teens — live in poverty. That sometimes means their parents must choose between paying rent or utilities and buying groceries.
The Dallas Foundation helps struggling families avoid that wrenching choice by supporting the North Texas Food Bank (NTFB). The food bank, a warehouse-style operation in southwestern Dallas, stocks the shelves of emergency pantries in Dallas and 13 neighboring counties. Since its founding in 1982, NTFB has distributed more than 500 million pounds of food to emergency aid centers, shelters, community meal programs and individuals.
“The Dallas Foundation has been with us every step of the way as we’ve evolved to meet the changing face of hunger,” said Jan Pruitt North, president and CEO of the Texas Food Bank. “The partnership we have developed reflects their broad-based commitment to a vibrant and healthy community.”
The food bank doesn’t just provide things to eat. NTFB constantly experiments with food-related programs that meet community needs. It provides training in food preparation for jail inmates who need job skills. It developed a process for speeding food stamp registration. It even found a way to collect and distribute millions of pounds of fresh produce each year to its member agencies.
Through grants from our Unrestricted and Field-of-Interest funds, The Dallas Foundation helps the North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) pursue its goal of a hunger-free community. We’ve awarded grants to help buy foodstuffs and to coordinate donations and distribution of pet food. In 2011, we awarded $100,000 to the food bank for basic operating expenses.
“We just wanted to let them know we think they’re doing incredible work,” said Laura Smith, The Dallas Foundation’s director of community philanthropy.
The Foundation is honored to support the North Texas Food Bank and many other agencies that are as passionate about improving the community as we are.