<Tarrant Area Food Bank News Archive>

NOTE: In 2007, Tarrant area residents topped previous records and donated 224,761 pounds of food that was picked up by members of NALC Local 226 and given to Tarrant Area Food Bank. The 150% increase in donations is attributed, in part, to grocery bags generously printed by Kroger for the Stamp Out Hunger food drive and delivered by letter carriers several days before the drive.

FORT WORTH, TX (April 25, 2007) – As the school year ends, hunger becomes real for many of the 140,000 SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN in the greater metropolitan Fort Worth/ Tarrant County area who depend on school meals for their primary source of nutrition.

To help feed these children and their younger siblings, residents can donate food from their mailboxes SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2007, for the 15th annual “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC). Letter carriers in the Dallas / Fort Worth area and across the nation will collect donations of nonperishable foods that are in non-breakable containers.

LETTER CARRIERS THROUGHOUT TARRANT, JOHNSON AND WISE COUNTIES will collect nonperishable food placed beside residential mailboxes for donation to either Tarrant Area Food Bank or other local agencies providing emergency food and meals programs. The week of the drive, LETTER CARRIERS in the Tarrant County area WILL DELIVER GROCERY BAGS TO THEIR RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS to fill with food.

OF THOSE RECEIVING FOOD ASSISTANCE from social service agencies served by Tarrant Area Food Bank, MORE THAN ONE-THIRD (35%) ARE CHILDREN. Tarrant Area Food Bank distributes 1.2 million or more pounds of food each month to 300 social service agencies in Fort Worth and 13 surrounding counties, including Tarrant. EACH MONTH, Tarrant Area Food Bank’s network of

partner agencies distributes emergency food to 35,000 HOUSEHOLDS and serves more than 500,000 MEALS AND SNACKS on agency sites.

NONPERISHABLE FOODS MOST NEEDED TO FEED HUNGRY CHILDREN:

Cereals

Dry Milk

Pull-top Canned Fruit

Pull-top Canned Vegetables

Boxed Instant Foods

Boxed or Canned Juices

Pasta

Rice

Breakfast Bars

Pull-top Canned Meats

Baby Formula

Peanut Butter

OTHER FOODS NEEDED include canned meats and fish, canned vegetables and canned fruits.

MAJOR SUPPORTERS OF THE 15TH NALC NATIONAL FOOD DRIVE include Campbell Soup Company, U.S. Postal Service, Cox Target Media-Valpak, AFL-CIO Community Services network and America’s Second Harvest—The Nation’s Food Bank Network. In the Dallas - Fort Worth area, Kroger is sponsoring the grocery bags being delivered to residential postal addresses.

LOCALLY, Tarrant Area Food Bank relies on the VOLUNTEER SERVICES AND VEHICLES of Blakeman Transportation, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of North Texas, Coors Distributing Co. and the U. S. Postal Service to help transport the donated food from the postal stations to the food bank’s warehouse in Fort Worth.

For more information about the 15th Annual NALC Food Drive, visit www.nalc.org/ commun/foodrive .

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NEWS

Tarrant Area Food Bank honors school children, artisan business owner, community volunteer, government servant as outstanding volunteers

As part of Volunteer Appreciation in April 2007, Tarrant Area Food Bank honors its 2,000 or more volunteers and presents awards to three individuals and a school district for their exceptional efforts on behalf of the regional food bank. A reception honoring the award recipients and all other food bank volunteers will be held THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2007, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the food bank.

The honorees and their awards are as follows:

• FERNANDO COSTA , director of planning for the City of Fort Worth and immediate past president of the Tarrant Area Food Bank board of directors, is presented the DEBBY BROWN VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR AWARD for his six years of leadership;

• JANET RODRIGUEZ, ceramics artist and owner of Hart Street Pottery in east Fort Worth, receives the PATTIE VERKAMP VOLUNTEER FUNDRAISING AWARD for creative leadership in volunteer fundraising;

• The FORT WORTH PARENT TEACHERS ASSOCIATION (PTA) and the students, teachers and administrators of the FORT WORTH INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT are presented the PAT MOHLER AWARD for their exceptional leadership of annual food drives benefiting Tarrant Area Food Bank;

• PATRICIA BELLINGHAM of southwest Fort Worth receives the IMA STRAIN VOLUNTEER AWARD for long-term dedication and commitment as a volunteer to Tarrant Area Food Bank.

• FERNANDO COSTA, a member of the food bank’s board of directors since 2000, has provided leadership on policy issues while supporting staff initiatives to improve Tarrant Area Food Bank’s effectiveness.

"Mr. Costa’s knowledge of community issues and his experience in strategic planning have enabled Tarrant Area Food Bank to align its resources more closely with the needs of the growing and changing population,” said Bo Soderbergh, executive director of the food bank.

JANET RODRIGUEZ has been a leading donor of bowls to Tarrant Area Food Bank’s Empty Bowls fundraising luncheon since it was initiated five years ago.

“I don’t have a lot of money, and making bowls is something I can do to help feed people right here,” Mrs. Rodriguez said. “It makes me feel good to know that something I make can be used by someone with pleasure and at the same time [the sale of that piece] can feed someone who is hungry. It’s win-win-win.”

MRS. RODRIGUEZ has not only donated her own work, but has recruited other artists to donate bowls and to donate special pieces for the silent auction at Empty Bowls. In addition, she has donated her time, materials and studio for the past three years to host painting parties at which other artists and volunteers paint bowls for the event.

For the recent 2007 Empty Bowls, she and volunteer painters donated more than 500 ceramic bowls. This year alone, Mrs. Rodriguez’s leadership helped Tarrant Area Food Bank raise $70,000 at Empty Bowls.

FORT WORTH ISD students and adults have participated in the Holiday Food Drive for the food bank since the first drive in 1982, the year the food bank opened. For the 2006 fall food drive, these tireless fighters of local hunger collected 109,000 pounds of nonperishable goods.

"Every year Tarrant Area Food Bank has been fortunate to receive a large amount of donated food from Fort Worth students,” said Susan Frye, the food bank’s community events director. “We are very grateful to the PTA and the school district for supporting the students’ efforts.”

PATRICIA BELLINGHAM has volunteered as an office assistant for seven years. For several of those years her grandson, Mike, who is now a college student, volunteered with her. She currently files records in the agency services department, which recruits, monitors and assists social service organizations that receive food from Tarrant Area Food Bank.

“Pat is the type of volunteer who slips in, gets her job done, and quietly leaves,” said JoAnn Biggers, the food bank’s volunteer coordinator. “The only thing that she requires is a cup of ‘good’ coffee and a step stool to help her reach the top file drawers.”

Last fiscal year, 2,700 VOLUNTEERS donated more than 60,000 HOURS OF SERVICE to Tarrant Area Food Bank in its efforts to eliminate local hunger.

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2006 NEWS

NEWS RELEASE

Local demand for food assistance up 12.5%

Tarrant Area Food Bank reports households served at

food pantries up 12%, number of meals served at

hunger-relief charities up 13%

FORT WORTH, TX (Nov. 16, 2006) — Although a new government study reports a slight decrease in the number of Americans who don’t always have enough food for healthy, active living, Tarrant Area Food Bank and its network of hunger-relief charities report an overall increase of 12.5 percent in the number of people served between 2005 and 2006.

Comparing the first nine months of 2005 and of 2006, the number of families served by food pantries in Tarrant Area Food Bank’s 13-county service area is up 12 percent, and the number of meals served by soup kitchens, senior centers, Kids Cafes and other meal programs is up 13 percent.

Nationwide, according to “Household Food Security in the United States,” a report released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the number of Americans struggling to put food on the table decreased from 11.9 percent in 2004 to 11.0 percent in 2005. However, the number of Americans suffering from “very low food security,” or those who sometimes or often go hungry, remained the same at 3.9 percent of the nation’s population.

Among Texans served by Tarrant Area Food Bank’s network, 75 percent describe themselves as sometimes not having enough to eat or having to go without any food. Among all client households, 46% have had to choose between buying groceries and paying for medicine or medical care, and 41% have had to choose between paying for food and paying their rent or mortgage.

According to the USDA food security report, Texas, with 16.0% all households struggling to get enough food to eat at all times, has the third highest percentage of hungry households. New Mexico has 16.8 percent and Mississippi has 16.5% of households experiencing periodic or chronic hunger.

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ANNOUNCEMENT

American Airlines Volunteers Set Benchmarks for

Productivity in Quality Control

Talk about committed volunteers! Information Technology employees from American Airlines came in groups of 40 to 50 to work shifts in Quality Control for an entire week in October (2006). By the end of the week, the 450 volunteers had set all-time records for productivity in sorting and boxing food!

In two days, they bagged 16,050 pounds of diced carrots.
In one day, they sorted all 52, 910 pounds of food from the annual CANstruction event AND boxed 32,880 pounds of it for distribution.
In one day they put together food for 4800 bags for the weekend Backpacks for Kids program, AND painted an office.
In one shift on Friday, they sacked 4,320 pounds of tortillas.

In poundage and commitment, the American Airlines Information Technology group has set records that will be hard to beat.

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ANNOUNCEMENT

CANSTRUCTION® 2006 AWARDS

The five judges for the Tarrant County 2006 CAN STRUCTION® Competition and Exhibition evaluated the show Monday, Oct. 16, and announced their decisions.

All can-structions were built with canned and packaged foods. The exhibition continued through Saturday, Oct. 21, at North East Mall in Hurst. Tarrant Area Food Bank received 52,910 pounds of food from the event.

Structural Ingenuity

Lending a Helping Can

by Quorum Architects

(Hamburger-Helper logo hand)

Best Use of Labels

All I Want for Christmas

by Frank W. Neal & Associates

(Christmas Tree with packages and toy train of cans plus a fire place with logs

and flames)

Best Meal

7 Course Meal

by Carter & Burgess, Inc.

(Skyscrapers, sidewalks, streets and a central park area laid out in cans.)

Jurors Favorite

CANdergarten Lunchtime

by Gideon Toal, Inc.

(Lunchbox opened to reveal a peanut butter & jelly sandwich; an apple and a water bottle sit outside the box.)

(The lunch box lid shows

Snoopy as the Red Baron.)

Honorable Mention

Can

Voyáge

by Freese and Nichols

(Cruise Ship)

Canfare 06, Show Your True Colors

by Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford Architects

(Peacock)

The competition judges were Mike Burden of Acme Brick; Mary Lou Jacobs of the Fort Worth Business Press; Jim DeMoss, president, DeMoss Construction; Lee Kirby of Hubbell Lighting and Cee Yager, president, Worthington National Bank.

The 2006 CANSTRUCTION® Committee responsible for organizing the 2006 competition and show includes Carol Cameron of Huckabee, Inc. and member of the Society for Design Administration (SDA), Yvana Franz, SDA, of Franz Jeanes Lazo Cora, Sharon Krueger of K+K Associates LLP and member of The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and Morris McIntosh, AIA, of Franz Jeanes Lazo Cora.

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NEWS RELEASE

Northeast Tarrant Quilting Bee Fights Hunger

“Stars of Hope” quilt to benefit local hunger-relief charities

FORT WORTH, TX (Jan. 31, 2006) -- Six Northeast Tarrant women have created and donated a unique quilt for a raffle drawing in February to benefit hunger-relief charities in Tarrant County, including 21 agencies in Northeast Tarrant.

As members of the quilting bee A Few Loose Threads in the Bear Creek Quilt Guild, Jackie Cleghorn and Carol McCabe of Colleyville, Joy Cook and Rita Harper of Bedford, and Ruth Loyd of Grapevine designed and sewed the queen-sized quilt they named “Stars of Hope.” JaLonn Carter-Stanley of Trophy Club and a member of the Bear Creek Quilt Guild did the decorative stitching attaching the batting.

The square 84-inch quilt has a black background that sets off rainbow-colored five-pointed stars cut from batik fabric, which was donated by Cabbage Rose Quilt Shop. A permanent sleeve on the backside will hold a display rod. Photos of the Stars of Hope quilt can be viewed online by clicking here.

The quilters created Stars of Hope specifically for Tarrant Area Food Bank’s fourth annual Empty Bowls—An Artful Luncheon to Fight Hunger on Friday, Feb. 24, at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth. The quilt is in keeping with the art theme for Empty Bowls at which each guest selects a keepsake from among hundreds of pottery, wood and glass-blown bowls created by Texas artisans and others.

Raffle tickets for the Stars of Hope quilt may be purchased by calling 817-332-9177 ext. 110, by going online at raffle tickets, or by visiting Tarrant Area Food Bank at 2600 Cullen St., Fort Worth. Raffle tickets are $5 each or 5 tickets for $20. The winner need NOT be present at the drawing Feb. 24.

The 21 Northeast Tarrant partners of Tarrant Area Food Bank include: Bedford —First United Methodist Church/Project Help and Trinity Baptist Church; Euless —First Church of Nazarene, First United Methodist Church, New Life Fellowship Church and Restoration Church Care Ministry; Grapevine —GRACE; Haltom City —Christian Center of Fort Worth, Riverwalk Fellowship Church and the Senior Center; Haslet —United Methodist Church/God’s Food; Hurst —Battered Women’s Foundation, Faith Works Academy, First United Methodist Church/Mission Central Metroplex and Open Hands Center; Keller —Christian Community Storehouse, Christ’s Haven for Children and the Senior Center; and North Richland Hills —Bursey Road Senior Center, Community Enrichment Center and Dan Echols Senior Center.

Tickets for Empty Bowls 2006—An Artful Luncheon to Fight Hunger on Feb. 24 are being sold in advance only. Due to limited seating and popularity of the event, no tickets will be sold at the door. To purchase tickets, call 817-332-9177 ext. 110 or go online at advance tickets. The ticket price is $25 and benefits Tarrant Area Food Bank (TAFB) and its 290 partner charities.

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NEWS RELEASE

NEW HUNGER STUDY released February 2006:

158,000 Tarrant Area Residents Sought

Privately-Sponsored Food Assistance in 2005

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2005 NEWS

Kids backpack feeding program expands

Three Fort Worth schools added

Toymaker’s $10,000 grant takes Tarrant Area Food Bank’s

Backpacks for Kids to Hamilton County

FORT WORTH , TX (Nov. 16, 2005) – Tarrant Area Food Bank (TAFB) has received a $10,000 grant from The Hasbro Children’s Foundation to pilot a Backpack feeding program in a rural area. Tarrant Area Food Bank is one of eight members of America ’s Second Harvest—The Nation’s Food Bank Network to receive a grant for this national pilot program of the Hasbro Rural Initiative.

Through its Backpacks for Kids program, Tarrant Area Food Bank provides food over the weekends for economically disadvantaged school-aged children.

Before receiving the Hasbro grant, Tarrant Area Food Bank expanded the program this fall from two schools in Fort Worth and an after-school program in Gainesville ( Cooke County ) to five schools in Fort Worth plus the Gainesville site.

In Hamilton County, with The Hasbro Children’s Foundation grant, TAFB is working with one of its partner food pantries, Hamilton United Care, to sponsor Backpacks for Kids. The programs are being hosted at Ann Whitney Elementary in the City of Hamilton and Hico Elementary in the City of Hico. Through Backpacks for Kids, TAFB will provide food for the weekends through the end of this academic year and for the entire 2006-07 school year for 120 children and their siblings who might otherwise go hungry.

“We are very excited about expanding our Backpacks for Kids program beyond the urban areas of Tarrant County,” said Bo Soderbergh, TAFB executive director. “The Hasbro Children’s Foundation grant allows us to provide immediate relief to children who are hungry or at risk of hunger,” he said.

In the Hamilton Independent School District, 51% of the students qualify for the free and reduced-cost school meals program; in the Hico ISD 31% of the students qualify.

“We are pleased to support America ’s Second Harvest and its members like Tarrant Area Food Bank by providing funds to help feed children at-risk of hunger,” said Alfred J. Verrecchia, CEO, Hasbro, Inc. “We also want to raise awareness of the 6.7 million U.S. families with children who are food insecure,” he continued. "Our ultimate goal is to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry,” he said.

The TAFB Backpacks for Kids program began in Fall 2003 and in Fall 2005 is in four elementary schools of the Fort Worth Independent School District and at a Montessori School in Fort Worth as well as in an after-school program sponsored by V.I.S.T.O., one of TAFB's partners in Cooke County.

Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) is a worldwide leader in children’s and family leisure-time entertainment products and services, including the design, manufacture and marketing of games and toys ranging from traditional to high-tech.

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Tarrant Area Food Bank accepts food for

Hurricane Katrina victims

FORT WORTH, TX, August 29, 2005 – As Hurricane Katrina comes ashore along the Gulf Coast, TARRANT AREA FOOD BANK (TAFB) reminds potential donors that America’s Second Harvest-The Nation’s Food Bank Network will channel donated food to relief organizations for storm victims.

“As members of America ’s Second Harvest-The Nation’s Food Bank network,” said Bo Soderbergh, TAFB executive director, "Tarrant Area Food Bank urges Texans who want to help to work through this experienced, well-established network to get donated food to people affected by this storm. At this time, America ’s Second Harvest has asked Tarrant Area Food Bank to accept product from the public that can be moved to the disaster area as needed,” she said.

“Texans are famous for their generosity,” said Soderbergh, "and I know they will want to help. Working through America ’s Second Harvest means getting food where it is needed, and making the most efficient use of time, effort, money and food,” he said.

Soderbergh cited guidelines from the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in cautioning against individuals and local groups shipping food independent of a coordinated effort.

The NVOAD guidelines for people interested in supporting disaster relief efforts include:

• Donate through an organization.

• To volunteer, affiliate yourself with a volunteer agency involved in disaster response and recovery. (American Red Cross)

• Financial contributions are often the best kind of donation to make.

• Confirm the need before beginning a collection of donated goods.

• Transportation must be planned in advance.

• Donate goods must be well-packed and labeled.

• Used clothing is rarely a useful item to collect for disaster relief.

"The bottom line," Soderbergh said, "is to work locally through nationally-affiliated organizations." More information about disaster relief is available at www.nvoad.org and www.fema.gov .

AMERICA ’S SECOND HARVEST-THE NATION’S FOOD BANK NETWORK is the country’s largest network of regional food banks and food-rescue programs. America ’s Second Harvest has participated in relief efforts since 1989, organizing donations and providing supplies to emergency feeding centers.

TARRANT AREA FOOD BANK is a private, non-profit, 501(c)(3) organizations. As the primary supplier of food for programs that combat hunger in 13 Texas counties,TAFB serves a network of 290 agencies that distribute food to the needy, including children, the elderly, the severely disabled, victims of AIDS and other chronic diseases, abuse victims, the working poor, the homeless and the unemployed. To volunteer, make donations of food or funds, or learn more about hunger relief, contact TAFB at 817-332-9177.

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Opinion Editorial for National Hunger Awareness Day

On Friday, June 3, 2005, in advance of National Hunger Awareness Day (June 7), the Star-Telegram published the following OpEd signed by Barry Richardson, president of Tarrant Area Food Bank's Board of Directors, July 1, 2004 - June 30, 2005.

In a nation of plenty, many still want

Hunger, once considered a third-world problem, is a reality for nearly 36 million Americans living in the world’s richest nation. More than 250,000 of them live in the greater Tarrant County metropolitan area, not including Dallas. Their incomes keep them in poverty, which for a family of four is an annual pre-tax income of no more than $19,350.

The 13-county network of hunger-relief charities served by Tarrant Area Food Bank reports that those experiencing hunger in our community include divorced mothers in low-paying jobs, the elderly living on fixed incomes, two-parent households whose earnings are not enough to cover the basic necessities, families facing unexpected chronic illnesses or surgeries and families of college-educated unemployed workers who have exhausted their life savings.

A terrifying statistic is that nearly 4 out of 10 (37 percent) of those receiving food assistance from the Tarrant Area Food Bank network are children. These are often the children who are having difficulty in school as hunger robs them of the ability to focus their attention and to comprehend.

The extent of hunger in and around Tarrant County can be measured, in part, by the number of families served by Tarrant Area Food Bank’s hunger-relief partners.

Each month, this network of pantries, soup kitchens, senior centers, after-school feeding programs, shelters and other social service agencies provide groceries for 40,000 families. In addition, they serve 500,000 meals and snacks on their own sites. The majority of families served live in Tarrant County .

Why are so many families in our community unable to afford food?

In metropolitan areas like the greater Tarrant County area, the cost of housing and utilities relative to the minimum-wage gobbles up the earnings of low-income households.

To illustrate: Affordable housing generally means a household pays no more than 30 percent of its pre-tax income on rent and utilities (not including phone service).

The fair market rent for a two-bedroom living unit in Tarrant, Johnson, Parker and Hood Counties last year was $757 per month.

In a two-parent, one-income family with two children, a father who works 60 hours a week making $7 an hour (more than the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour) earns a pre-tax income of only $1,680 per month. Thus, almost half (45 percent) of the family’s income must go to the rent and utilities. That doesn’t leave much for transportation to and from work, food, clothing, medical care, toiletries, cleaning supplies, home furnishings and school supplies much less entertainment or birthday gifts. It leaves absolutely nothing for emergency spending.

A family faced with more expenses than income will cut expenses where it can. Because it is not often possible to pay only part of the rent, utilities or transportation costs to and from work, a family will often cut back on the quality and quantity of food. Thus, food becomes the most flexible necessity in a family’s budget.

A past survey of families seeking food assistance from Tarrant Area Food Bank’s agency network, revealed that 47% of the households had, at one time or another, been faced with choosing between buying food and paying for utilities. In that same survey, 36% of the households reported having to choose between buying food and paying for medicine or medical care.

Working to focus attention on the families who have to make these choices, a grassroots movement created National Hunger Awareness Day three years ago.

This fourth year, on Tuesday, June 7, hundreds of anti-hunger advocacy groups and hunger-relief organizations like Tarrant Area Food Bank will sponsor events and volunteer opportunities to raise awareness of hunger as a daily reality for millions of U.S. residents, not just citizens of third world countries.

What can one person in the Tarrant County area do on June 7 or any other day to help solve the problem of hunger in our community? Here are some suggestions:

• Volunteer at your neighborhood hunger-relief organization and see for

yourself who is asking for food;

• Organize food drives in your workplace, church, school, civic group or club;

• Contribute funds to local hunger-relief agencies;

• Advocate for programs addressing the causes of hunger.

To learn how others are working to develop long-term solutions to hunger in America, take a look at the “Blueprint To End Hunger” issued by the Alliance To End Hunger, a coalition of national organizations ranging from religious faith councils to Texas’ own H.E. Butt Grocery Company. The Blueprint is online at www.alliancetoendhunger.org , or call 817-332-9177 for a copy.

Together, we can create a community free of hunger.

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Price Pinch

Record-high fuel prices strain budgets of

food recipients, Tarrant Area Food Bank

(May 2005) You’ve heard the headlines, read the stories: Record-high fuel prices pinching truckers, cutting into city and school budgets. And you know what the past year’s 26 percent increase in gasoline prices in the greater Fort Worth / Arlington area has done to your budget.

Think what these price increases do to the budgets of senior citizens on fixed Social Security incomes and of low-wage workers struggling to support their families on minimum-wage pay—wages that keep them in poverty. Tarrant Area Food Bank’s network of partner agencies is beginning to see indications of this hardship.

At West Aid in west Fort Worth , William Pherigo, executive director, thinks that increased gas prices may affect his agency’s clients more than in the past. “I’ve noticed that those with jobs seem to be working much farther from home,” he said. He gave an example of a man living in west Fort Worth who will soon work near Texas Motor Speedway in far north Tarrant County . Considering the wages he will earn, Pherigo advised him that he might want to move his family closer to his job. “In the past,” Pherigo said, “you just drove whatever distance necessary to your job.”

In less urban communities , high gas prices are definitely beginning to affect people seeking food assistance. Rene Ashmore at Wise Area Relief Mission (W.A.R.M.) in Decatur said the agency is receiving more requests for help buying gas.

In Granbury, the agency People Helping People serves 650 families a month from throughout Hood County . “Many of our clients have to come a long way,” said Ermine Lawrence, executive director. She said the agency usually gives out food to each family on a particular week of the month according to where their last name falls in the alphabet. “Now our clients are carpooling more than in the past,” she said, “so we serve them whenever they can get here.”

In addition to directly straining the resources of Texans seeking food assistance, rising fuel costs have affected operations at Tarrant Area Food Bank . “High fuel costs have dramatically increased freight prices we pay to transport donated food from throughout the nation to our warehouse,” said Barbara Ewen, TAFB associate director. “From fiscal year 2003 to fiscal year 2005, our freight costs have gone up 56 percent,” she stated. "During the same time period," she continued, "packaging fees for produce have increased 88%."

In order to stay within our budget , Ewen said, TAFB has reduced the number of donations we accept. “Freight costs differ between Fort Worth and particular geographic areas, so we have controlled costs in part by not taking donations from areas with the greatest increase in freight prices,” she explained.

“Another way to control prices,” she said, “has been to take in less donated produce, which carries not only higher fuel costs but the increasingly higher charges for packaging.” Since September 2004, TAFB has reduced the amount of produce donations it has accepted by 68 percent. “We have concentrated on bringing in staples such as potatoes and onions,” Ewen said, “and have also focused efforts on finding lower freight costs.”

Lower freight costs may not be available if the price of fuel continues to rise. If that’s the case, Ewen said, Tarrant Area Food Bank “will need to raise more money from the community and/or further curtail the variety of food being trucked to our warehouse.”

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2004 NEWS

City of Fort Worth, Tarrant Area Food Bank and

ConAgra Foods unite to fight child hunger

FORT WORTH, TX (Dec. 1, 2004) — To help end child hunger, the City of Fort Worth and Tarrant Area Food Bank, in partnership with the ConAgra Foods Feeding Children Better Foundation and America’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank Network, are opening ConAgra Foods’ first Kids Cafe in Fort Worth at the Martin Luther King Community Center. Grand opening ceremonies are Wednesday, Dec. 1, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at the Community Center, 5565 Truman Dr., Fort Worth.

The ConAgra Foods Kids Cafe will be the food bank’s 19th cafe, with one more to open before the end of 2004. In honor of this accomplishment, the Fort Worth City Council is declaring Dec.1 st as KIDS CAFE DAY .

With approximately 1,300 sites nationwide, Kids Cafe , a program of America ’s Second Harvest, is one of the country's largest free meal service programs for children at risk of hunger. ConAgra Foods is the national sponsor of the Kids Cafe rogram.

“This new partnership means meals for even more children,” said Bo Soderbergh, executive director of Tarrant Area Food Bank. “This collaboration with Martin Luther King Community Center, ConAgra Foods and America ’s Second Harvest to open this new Kids Cafe gives parents and caregivers one more way to ensure that their children receive hot, nutritious meals.”

Hunger Impacts Fort Worth Children

Tarrant Area Food Bank establishes Kids Cafes in neighborhoods where at least 0 percent of the children qualify for free and reduced price meals in the national school lunch and breakfast programs; in most cases, 90 percent or more of the children qualify. Last school year in Tarrant County, almost 124,000 children qualified for free and reduced-cost school meals. This school year in Fort Worth, 80,000 qualify.

The new ConAgra Foods Kids Cafe will initially serve 35 - 50 children two days a week at the Martin Luther King Community Center, 5565 Truman Drive, Fort Worth, TX 76010. After Jan. 1, plans are to increase the meal service to four days week.

“We have seen a need and really want to expand our offerings to the youth in our community,” said Paula Jackson, coordinator of the Martin Luther King Community Center .

ConAgra Foods is also sponsoring a new Kids Cafe at the Boys & Girls Club in Arlington, which recently started service; as well as a new site in Dallas operated by the North Texas Food Bank.

Research Shows Kids Cafes Are Effective

Research evaluating the impact of the Kids Cafe program conducted by the Center on Hunger and Poverty at Brandeis University shows that the program not only addresses child hunger by providing free meals, but it also acts as an important support system for families. Children who participate in Kids Cafe reported earning better grades in school, having more energy and less fatigue, exhibiting improved concentration, and feeling less grouchy.

Parents/caregivers reported seeing improvements in their child’s overall health and learning. They rely on the Kids Cafe program to ensure that their children will have meal even if they need to work non-traditional hours. Program directors, parents/caregivers and children also view Kids Cafe as much more than a meal, with importance placed on providing a safe environment for children.

"In five years of serving as the national sponsor of Kids Cafes, we have seen first-hand the benefits of providing regular nutritious meals and a safe, nurturing setting for children,” said Anita Wheeler, president of the ConAgra Foods Feeding Children Better Foundation. “We encourage community residents in Fort Worth to join us in taking action against the solvable problem of child hunger.”

Fort Worth residents interested in information on child hunger and hunger-relief efforts can log on to www.FeedingChildrenBetter.org, a resource created by the ConAgra Foods Feeding Children Better Foundation. For information about child hunger resources in the Fort Worth area, visit Special Programs on this site.

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Regional food bank invites public, food businesses

to fill new freezer

New Freezer (Freezer #2) holds 498,800 pounds of frozen food =

383,692 meals

Existing Freezer (Freezer #1) + Freezer #2 hold 946,000 pounds of food = 727,692 meals

FORT WORTH , TX (August 26, 2004) – Tarrant Area Food Bank , Fort Worth ’s nonprofit, regional supplier of donated food to hunger-relief agencies in 13 counties, invites the public and commercial food suppliers to donate frozen foods on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2004 to fill the food bank’s new additional freezer. Donors can deliver frozen food between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. to Tarrant Area Food Bank, 2600 Cullen St., Fort Worth .

On “Fill the Freezer Day” (Aug. 26), invited guests, including commercial food donors and financial underwriters of the new freezer, will attend a ribbon cutting at 11:45 a.m . for Freezer #2 . The 2-story, 54,990 cubic-foot freezer, was built with funds donated by the Amon G. Carter, The Burnett, and the Sid W. Richardson foundations of Fort Worth, The Meadows Foundation of Dallas, an anonymous donor and Capital One, Inc. The Hoblitzelle Foundation in Dallas donated funds for a stand-up forklift needed to navigate the narrow aisles among the 232 pallet spaces in racks stacked four high.

“The need for a second freezer has been being growing for more than 10 years,” said Bo Soderbergh, Tarrant Area Food Bank executive director. “All that time,” he continued, “we have had to rent cold storage space and pay to transport frozen food between the rented space and our warehouse. The amount of frozen foods donated to us increased 30% over the past three years alone ,” he said.

When full, Freezer #2 holds 498,800 pounds of food, according to Janice Crain, Tarrant Area Food Bank warehouse director. That translates into 383,692 meals. Together, the food bank’s original freezer and the additional new freezer can hold 22 truckloads of food, or 946,000 pounds, she said. That is 727,692 meals.

Tarrant Area Food Bank (TAFB), founded in 1982, provides food, education and other resources to a network of 280 social service and faith-based organizations working to eliminate hunger in 13 counties. Last year, TAFB distributed nearly 15 million pounds of food and household products to partner agencies that EACH MONTH provided food assistance to nearly 40,000 families and served more than 550,000 meals and snacks on their sites. From the first six months of 2003 to the first six months of 2004, TAFB’s partner agencies report a 35% increase in the number of families served.

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817-332-9177 FAX 817-877-5148 2600 Cullen Street Fort Worth, TX 76107 email: tafb@tafb.org
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