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EDUCATION
& FEEDING PROGRAMS
As
a complement to the Tarrant Area Food Bank (TAFB) food
distribution program serving hunger-relief charities,
TAFB offers
(a) nutrition education to individuals and families receiving
food assistance,
(b) two different feeding programs for
children, and
(c) culinary job-training for low-income adults.
For
the community, TAFB offers
(a) an interactive workshop on the reality of hunger,
(b) tours of our warehouse, and
(c) guest speakers knowledgeable about local hunger and
Tarrant Area
Food Bank.
NUTRITION
EDUCATION
Through
our Agency Services and Outreach Department, we disseminate information
on nutrition, food preparation and related topics, and offer nutrition
education classes to help recipients enjoy optimal nutrition from
their food.
Info
To Go provides healthy recipes and nutrition
tips for Partner Agencies to distribute to individual food recipients
and is available in our Agency Waiting Room in the distribution
area of the Food Bank.
Choices!
 This
adaptive nutrition curriculum teaches basic nutrition and safe
food handling. It can be presented as a series
of classes or a one-time workshop to any age group, including
low-income senior citizens, parents, and children at any of our
Partner Agencies.
Choices!
emphasizes the link between
healthy food choices and good health as well as
the link between healthy nutrition and performance at school or
on the job.
Choices!
classes have
been provided
for, among others, elementary
and middle school students in collaboration with Communities In
Schools of Greater
TarrantCounty, at Senior Centers across Ta rrant
County and for residents of public
housing communities in collaboration with
the Fort Worth Housing
Authority, and at Senior Centers across Tarrant County.
For
more information about Choices!, contact our
Nutrition Education Coordinator, Micheline Hynes, at 817-332-9177,
ext.122, or by email.
Nutrition
on a budget
Tarrant
Area Food Bank partners with Share Our Strength to offer Operation
Frontline®. This innovative program uses cooking classes
to teach nutrition to low-income families. The goal is
to provide a long-term solution to hunger and poor nutrition by
teaching how to get the best nutrition possible on a limited budget.
 
The
six-week, hands-on classes
are taught in the kitchen by chefs and nutritionists who
volunteer to share their strength by teaching nutrition, cooking,
food-budgeting and shopping techniques. Tarrant Area Food Bank
offers Operation Frontline®
classes in collaboration with Partner Agencies such as after-school
programs, family support centers, food pantries and shelters.
Volunteer
chefs (or chefs in training), dietitians or nutrition
educators and class assistants are needed help us present the
program. If interested, please visit our Volunteer
page.
Partner
agencies interested in hosting Operation Frontline®
classes can contact , Micheline Hynes, Nutrition Education Coordinator,
by email or by
calling 817-332-9177, ext. 122.
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CULINARY
JOB TRAINING
 The
Tarrant Area Food Bank Community Kitchen provides
free culinary job training to low-income men and women and at
the same time provides nutritious meals to Tarrant Area Food Bank’s
Kids Cafes.
A
professional chef on the Food Bank's staff teaches
a three-month course in food preparation and service and supervises
the subsequent one-month internship for each student. In addition,
the Food Bank contracts with The Women's Center of Tarrant County
for a career developer to provide life-skills training and counseling
for all participants, some of whom may be unemployed, homeless
or temporarily dependent on welfare.
As
the students work to achieve their own self-sufficiency, they
also serve the community by producing meals for Kids Cafes and
for students at East Fort Worth Montessori School where the Community
Kitchen is housed.
  
Volunteer
chefs are needed to give demonstrations, and commercial
and institutional food operations are needed to provide internships
for students.
To
volunteer and/or for information about student applications
and other aspects of the Tarrant Area Food Bank Community Kitchen,
contact Lylette Pharr, Director of Community Outreach, at 817-332-9177,
ext.118, or email
her.
The Community
Kitchen and its students and graduates have been featured in print
and broadcast news media, which can be viewed in the News
section of the website.
For
Community Kitchen Graduates
lists
food service jobs
in the greater Fort Worth area.
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FOOD
FOR KIDS FEEDING PROGRAMS
Children
who consume nutritious
food are better students.
They
concentrate better, they retain more information and they perform
better on tests. Children whose meals and diets are unsupervised,
irregular and without nutritional content are at high risk for
obesity, diabetes, stroke, heart disease and bone and joint deterioration.
Tarrant
Area Food Bank's agency network serves many children
who depend on the free and reduced-cost school breakfast/lunch
program for the one or two nutritious meals they
will eat all day.
To
help fill the meal gap,
TAFB
establishes Kids
Cafes and BackPacks
for Kids.
 To
provide nourishment on weekends for children
at high risk of hunger, Tarrant
Area Food Bank collaborates
with elementary
and middle schools to offer its BackPacks for Kids program. This
program is placed at schools where 80% or more of the students
are eligible for free and reduced-cost meals.
 The
schools identify the economically disadvantaged students, and
Tarrant Area Food Bank provides the backpacks and the food that
children can easily access without the help of adults. At the
end of the school week, children take home food for themselves
and their school-aged siblings.
 During
the 2006-07 academic year, Tarrant Area
Food Bank provided weekend backpacks of kid-friendly food to 12
sites in three counties.
Faith
organizations and other groups are invited to help organize food
for the backpacks by reserving a Wednesday evening in Warehouse
Quality Control. If interested, contact our Volunteer Coordinator,
JoAnn Biggers, at 817-332-9177, or email
her.
You
can also support the BackPacks
program
through
the
national virtual food drive sponsored by
U-Pack  during
2007-08. All donations
are tracked by ZIP Code and stay with the Second Harvest food
bank serving the donor’s community. To
learn more about the U-Pack A BackPack initiative and
to donate, log on to www.U-PackaBackPack.org.
 For
more information about BackPacks for Kids, contact
Tarrant Area Food Bank at 817-332-9177, or email
Denae Daugherty, BackPacks for Kids Coordinator.
Many
children in our service area who have access to school breakfast
and/or lunch programs do not have access to a nutritious evening
meal. To
address this issue, we adopted the Kids Cafe program
designed by America 's Second Harvest—The Nation’s Food Bank Network.
 Kids
Cafes serve children at high risk
of hunger by providing prepared meals in environments that are
safe, accessible and convenient. Tarrant Area Food Bank establishes
Kids Cafes in
neighborhoods where at least 70% of children qualify for the national
free and reduced-price school lunch program.
 The
nonprofit organizations hosting the cafes offer structured
activities such as tutoring, mentoring, life skills and physical
recreation after school or on weekends. For each cafe we supply
food and reimburse the host agency for each meal served.
With
financial support from Capital One, ConAgra's
Feeding Children Better Foundation and other donors, Tarrant
Area Food Bank operates 19 Kids Cafes that provide
nutritionally balanced meals to more than 1,500 children in two
counties.
Organizations
hosting Kids Cafes must be nonprofit by IRS standards and meet
TAFB’s eligibility criteria for partner agencies. See Eligibility
Criteria for details.
For
more information, contact Denae Daugherty, Kids Cafe
Coordinator, at 817-332-9177, or by email.
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EDUCATION
FOR THE COMMUNITY - Hunger Made Real
Hunger 101 is
a group activity designed to put participants in the shoes of
people needing food assistance. Role-playing enables participants
to experience what it is like to be chronically hungry and to
deal with barriers to obtaining food assistance.
Hunger
101 is perfect as a school or company activity and can be
tailored to your time constraints. Hunger 101 can also
be conducted for various age groups and as a module for a
Girl Scout Patch.
 
To
arrange to experience Hunger 101
at your location or at Tarrant Area Food Bank, please call
our Hunger 101 Coordinator, Lisa Simonds, at 817-332-9177, ext.
123.
Warehouse
Tours are conducted for first-time volunteers
at TAFB, food drive groups, guests who reserve our  Community
Room for activities, donors and any other interested individual
or group.
To
schedule Warehouse Tours or Volunteer Time in Quality Control
to help BackPacks for Kids, contact our Volunteer Coordinator,
JoAnn Biggers, at 817-332-9177, or email
her.
Speakers
knowledgeable about local hunger and Tarrant Area
Food Bank are available to speak to your group. To
schedule Speakers, contact our Director of Volunteer
Resources, Mary Kathryn Anderson, at 817-332-9177, email
her.
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HOW
WE HELP: What We Do | Food
Distribution | Special
Programs
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