Nonprofits, pantries brace for increased demand as North Texans continue to face food insecurity

Last month, the North Texas Food Bank had its largest free food distribution since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 6,500 boxes of food were given to 2,230 families, and while none were turned away, organizers say it signifies what could be a months-long marathon for local nonprofits hoping to alleviate hunger in North Texas.

Before the pandemic, an estimated 800,000 people in North Texas faced food insecurity. As the region’s crisis heads into its eighth week of displacing people from all walks of life, food banks and pantries are bracing themselves as demand for food surges to unprecedented levels.

During the pandemic, the North Texas Food Bank has routinely offered mobile food distributions to help feed people all over the area. Demand for food has risen in each of the last seven weeks.

“From January through mid-March, typically per week we were distributing about 1.1 million to 1.2 million pounds of food, depending on the week,” said Trisha Cunningham, the agency’s CEO and president. “The last couple of weeks, we distributed about 2 to 2.1 million pounds of food per week.”

The nonprofit has served about 13,000 families in the last two months. Some 50% to 70% of those are new clients, the agency estimates.

“We’re preparing to be able to continue to meet the increased demand,” Cunningham said. “Some of the projections we’ve seen say that we’re going to need to plan for that for the next 12 to 24 months.”

The North Texas Food Bank is one of the area’s largest suppliers of food to pantries. Many nonprofits rely on a steady stream of food from the bank just to stay afloat. Equal Heart, a nonprofit that distributes meals to northwest Dallas neighborhoods, gets all of its food from the bank.

“The only way we were able to meet that increased demand was because we increased the number of AmeriCorps members, and we can get all the food all day from North Texas Food Bank,” she said.

Equal Heart serves 25 apartment communities in the Dallas area with a focus on complexes in Bachman Lake area in northwest Dallas. Its direct-to-door distribution model, which was in place before the pandemic, allows clients to stay at home to receive food.

In March, Equal Heart served 3,200 families, up from 1,800 families in February. The difference was made up entirely of new clients, of whom 95 percent were Hispanic, Vicknair said.

At Minnie’s Food Pantry in Plano, budget concerns linger as many grocery partners run low on food. Executive assistant Zoya Jackson said via email that the nonprofit, which gets much of its food supply from grocery stores, has seen monetary and food donations plateau as the pandemic continues.

Like other nonprofits, Minnie’s has also seen an uptick in new clients. In March, the pantry served more than 8,000 people, almost half of whom were first-timers. The pantry also helps serve Plano ISD families who are facing food insecurity; that program consists of over 6,600 people.

That new demand for food has placed an unexpected and increasing financial strain on the pantry.

“When you factor in the growing need for food assistance along with the increased cost of goods,” Jackson said, “we are left with a much larger expense that we did not budget for.”

“It’s been challenging,” said Jay Cole, the agency’s executive director. “All organizations have to be nimble during this time because the rules changed along the way.”

Before the pandemic, Cole said, the pantry used to serve on average about 75 households a day. On one particular day after the start of the pandemic, it served 284 households, of which 195 were new families.

“That got our attention,” Cole said. “That day, [we] through our pantry alone, gave out about 19,000 pounds of food.”

Crossroads Community Services is a North Texas Food Bank partner, and to receive food from the bank, most pantries have to pay for a handling fee. Over the course of the pandemic, those fees have been waived to allow money to go toward operational costs, which Cole said has provided a huge relief for the pantry and its customers. In turn, the organization has been able to waive handling fees for its clients, he said.

“The barrier for getting access to nutritious food has been removed, and that’s a big deal.”

Cole said he has been “dumbstruck” by the amount of financial support from the community, which has provided the pantry with enough money to pay for workers and additional food. The support has been motivating and humbling, he said.

However, like other nonprofit leaders, Cole said he doesn’t see the demand for disappearing anytime soon, even after the virus runs its course. But the food supply isn’t a worry, he said.

The concern, he said, is that getting back to “normal life” will be harder for households that are already running on empty.

“This is probably going to be a marathon, not a sprint of addressing this need,’” Cole said. “On average, the families we get are living on incomes of $1,800 a month. The ones that we see, I mean, my goodness. It’s gonna take a while.”