East Texas Food Bank Recognizes Hunger Hero Award Recipients

  • HH23 Nichols

The East Texas Food Bank (ETFB) honored four recipients today with the fourth annual Hunger Hero Awards as part of Hunger Action Month.

Hunger Hero Awards were given to State Senator Robert Nichols- Senate District 3 (Individual Supporter), Tyler High School and Tyler Legacy High School with Tyler ISD (Community Partner Organization), Datamax Inc. (Corporate Partner) and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Ministry Partner).

“This group of honorees exemplifies the commitment needed in the fight against hunger,” said David Emerson, CEO of the East Texas Food Bank. “Record numbers of East Texans are seeking help to feed their families because of inflation. ETFB gave out 27 million meals to 151,000 households in our past fiscal year.”

Individual Supporter

Texas Senator Robert Nichols with Senate District 3 was instrumental in pushing through food bank priorities. The legislation and funding passed during the 88th Texas legislative session will help alleviate food insecurity across the state.

Community Partner Organization

For 33 years, Tyler ISD’s Tyler High School and Tyler Legacy High School students have participated in their own fundraiser for ETFB’s BackPack program by raising funds and food with the annual Pantry Raid.

Corporate Partner

Datamax Inc. regularly volunteers with ETFB and gives monetary donations. They also make sure their customers know about our programs by giving out information on their voicemail.

Ministry Partner

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provided dozens of volunteers during an emergency food drive after the ice storm power outages in Smith County this year. Church members also volunteer every week. In addition, the church donated 42,000 pounds of food to ETFB.

ETFB presented the awards during Feeding America’s Hunger Action Month, held each year in September, to inspire the community to take action and bring attention to hunger in East Texas and the nation.

According to Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap study, 1 in 7 East Texans including 1 in 5 children are hungry. This amounts to 188,530 adults including 63,260 children.