Virtual food drives helping make a difference in East Texas during COVID

Food drives have always been a part of food banking since the beginning. Everyone loves making a difference when they donate their canned, non-perishable food items to help feed families who are struggling. But with the arrival of COVID-19 last year and new protocols to prevent the spread of the virus, the East Texas Food Bank had to make the tough decision to temporarily suspend our community food drives.

Our solution was to introduce Virtual Food Drives. These online pages are a great way to still donate food to the East Texas Food Bank by making monetary gifts. These food drives have proven to be very popular, with over 546,000 meals raised so far “virtually”.

We recently spoke with one of our virtual food drive organizers, Brett Noteware, about his virtual food drive experience..

ETFB: Brett, how did you learn about our Virtual Food Drives?
Brett: The pandemic has adversely impacted many people in our area. My awareness of food scarcity was heightened by a photo I saw of cars lined up to get food at a distribution in Dallas. I then heard about a volunteer event at the East Texas Food Bank sponsored by my employer, CHRISTUS Health. I wanted to participate in that, but decided not to due to the risk of contracting COVID-19. So instead, I contacted the food bank and learned about Virtual Food Drives and thought it would be a great idea.

ETFB: Why did you decide to host a VFD?
Brett: To help those in need that have been impacted by the pandemic. This also aligns with the values of CHRISTUS Health, who thankfully I am still able to work for during the pandemic.

ETFB: Tell us about your specific drive. What made is special?
Brett: I did the virtual food drive as part of my birthday celebration. The pandemic caused me to reassess my life and develop a new appreciation and gratitude for my station in it. I realized that I would have a better birthday by focusing on those in need instead of myself. Since large gatherings were not an option, I did a “gumbo-to-go” event in which my wife and I made gumbo, homemade rolls and bread pudding. We gave it away and asked for donations for the East Texas Food Bank in return. We ended up raising over $1,000 which was amazing and surprising to say the least!

ETFB: Would you encourage someone to hose a virtual food drive for the East Texas Food Bank?
Brett: Absolutely! The process for setting it up was extremely easy. The staff at the East Texas Food Bank do all of the work, you just provide some basic information to them. It was a very rewarding experience and I am hopeful to do another one in the future.

To learn more about our Virtual Food Drives and how you, your organization or business can make a difference, click here.

New Mobile Pantry Program brings produce to underserved locations

The East Texas Food Bank’s new Mobile Pantry Program targets isolated communities with little or no access to emergency food resources throughout our 26 county service area. Communities are determined by using census data that indicates where the highest level of poverty are located.

“We work with our current partners and have community partners that help us facilitate the mobile pantry,” said Tabitha Johnson ETFB Mobile Pantry Coordinator. “It’s a ‘pop-up style’ event where we come on-site then leave when distribution is over.”

The Mobile Pantry Program currently has 10 sites where fresh produce is being distributed to families. Because the program is truly “mobile”, it allows flexibility in location.

“A typical food bank partner pantry is a brick and mortar building,” Johnson said. “A benefit with this program is we can serve a low-income housing development or a larger population in a church parking lot like we do in Texarkana.”

As many as 500 families have been served during one of the recent distributions, but an average of 200-300 household is more common.

“I think the need is so great right now due to the pandemic,” Johnson said.

The community response to the mobile pantry distributions has been good, according to Johnson. She said those who are served are so grateful.

“When we opened the Marshall site recently, we were able to take water and produce because of the need with having the boil water notice there,” Johnson said. “A lady tried to climb out of the car and give me a hug because she was so excited because they hadn’t had water in days and the food was such a blessing to them.”

There are no income or geographic requirements to participate in the Mobile Pantry Program. For more information and locations on the program, click here. If you are interested in being being a partner and hosting a Mobile Pantry location, click here.

One Year Later: Feeding Hunger During a Pandemic

As we reach an unexpected milestone, the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization’s official declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, I wanted to take a moment to update you on our work and say thank you. Of all the disasters that the East Texas Food Bank has responded to over the last 33 years, this pandemic has brought an unprecedented challenge to our mission of fighting hunger and feeding hope.

When COVID-19 hit our East Texas communities a year ago, we were presented with the perfect storm of increased demand, disruptions to our food sourcing model and a decline in our invaluable volunteers.

Knowing that the need of our neighbors would be greater than ever, we didn’t let these obstacles deter us from our mission. We immediately responded to the pandemic by augmenting our year-round programs so they could safely operate. Additionally, we held drive-thru emergency food box distributions, piloted a senior home delivery program and provided targeted financial and logistical support to our partner agencies so they could stay open.

The East Texas Food Bank, volunteers, food pantries and feeding programs have been, and will continue to be, on the frontlines ensuring our neighbors have access to the food and services they need during this difficult time. Together, we were able to serve more than 24.4 million meals to over 75,000 families from March 2020-February 2021.

I am so grateful for our generous donors, community partners, volunteers and hard-working staff that have made this difficult work possible, but our work is far from over. Every single day, 1 in 5 East Texans, including 1 in 3 children, are facing hunger. However, thanks to generous friends like you, I know we’ll continue to fight hunger and feed hope throughout 2021.

You can help us continue to fight hunger and feed hope in East Texas by making a gift, volunteering with us or having a virtual food drive for your business or organization.