The Central Texas Food Bank is at the forefront of hunger relief in Central Texas, but it takes more than just distributing food to families in need to fight hunger.
Despite helping nearly 46,000 individuals a week, one in six Central Texans and one in four children are still at-risk of hunger. Our families’ struggles go beyond just putting food on the table. About 80 percent of our clients regularly have to choose between paying for food and medical expenses and two-thirds have to choose between food and housing.
With the help of our nearly 250 Partner Agencies, the Food Bank’s ReThink Hunger Initiative is transforming the way we address hunger in our community. Our incentive system allows us to identify Partner Agencies who are making a larger impact in the lives of families by providing more resources to help clients stabilize their lives.
Agencies are evaluated according to a formula that aligns with ReThink Hunger objectives and placed at different levels - platinum, gold, silver, bronze, community partner -based on the completion of those goals. Learn more about the assessment process here.
Of our 248 Partner Agencies, only SIX have reached Platinum Level Status. We would like to congratulate Caritas of Waco, Shepherd's Heart of Waco, The Caring Place, Reveal Resource Center, Helping Hands Ministry of Belton, and Hill Country Community Ministries for going above and beyond to fight hunger.
“Caritas of Waco is indeed pleased and delighted to be named a Platinum Level organization,” Caritas of Waco Executive Director Buddy Edwards said. “We feel very much indebted to the Central Texas Food Bank for enabling us to provide a higher level of service to people in need in our community with not only the food component but with other services. We value what you guys are doing and we’re excited to continue to work with you in the future to solve hunger in our community.”
These Partner Agencies are doing an amazing job, but what makes them so special?
Together, our Platinum Partners have distributed 5.6 million pounds of food they have received from the Food Bank this past year with an emphasis on distributing healthy food. At least 80 percent of the food they distributed to families was nutritious food that is high in nutrients and low in fat, sodium and sugar.
Their focus is to work towards increasing availability and access to food for those in need by having their services available at least once a week, in the evenings or weekends, allowing clients to visit more than once a month and limiting restrictions or not having any restrictions to allow anyone in need to access their services.
Our clients may need a little more help to get through the month and our platinum agencies are providing education about government nutrition programs onsite.
These agencies are also committed to supporting our clients with social services to address the root causes of hunger. Our agencies may offer economic opportunity through programs targeted at improving the financial security of low-income families by addressing their housing, financial and employment needs. The Partner Agencies are also targeting our families’ well-being by offering health services to improve the overall mental and physical well-being of our clients.
It’s not easy to fight hunger, but without the help of our outstanding Partner Agencies, the Food Bank would not be able to reach the 46,000 clients we serve each week.
To reward these Partner Agencies for their exceptional work, the Food Bank has reduced their handling fees by 30 percent to 10 cents per pound so that they can distribute more food to families at-risk of hunger. They will receive priority for the Food Bank's Agency Capacity Building Grant Program and other grants, as well as for bonus product, pilot programs, Agency Retail Pick-Up and direct delivery. They will have unlimited credit and access to training and capacity-building opportunities.
Thank you Caritas of Waco, Shepherd's Heart of Waco, The Caring Place, Reveal Resource Center, Helping Hands Ministry of Belton, and Hill Country Community Ministries for your phenomenal work to fight hunger and make a difference in the lives of families!
“This means everything knowing that my kids will be able to eat,” Caritas of Waco client, Aaron, said. “It’s really a blessing. I’m thankful for you guys, I’m thankful for what you guys do with the community and everybody else.”
