Agency News Alert

“May Your Thanksgiving be Blessed with the Bounty of the Season”- Agency Relations Department

Food Bank Closing
The Food Bank will be closed November 27th and 28th. Agencies picking up orders the week of November 24th -28th must select an alternate pick up day if you pick up on Thursdays. You may select Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday by placing a message in the delivery instructions of your order. Orders for that week will be subject to the midnight deadline November 23rd. Orders placed for the week of December 1st-5th need to be in by noon November 26th.

Holiday Events at Your Agency
Is your agency doing anything unique or special for Thanksgiving? For example: making decorative food baskets, serving a meal on Thanksgiving Day, or doing anything extra for your clients. The NTFB’s Public Relations Department is in the process of scheduling media opportunities for the week of Thanksgiving. Also, please let us know if you are open the day before and on Thanksgiving Day and would allow a TV or radio crew to be present. Please email your responses to Amanda O’Neal. A member of the PR team will contact you with details if your agency is chosen for a news story. We need your help to get publicity to raise awareness for the increased need.

We Need Your Participation for the 2009 Hunger Study

The North Texas Food Bank is in the planning stages of next year’s Hunger in America Study. Hunger in America 2009 is a nationwide study providing comprehensive and statistically valid demographic profiles of low-income people seeking emergency food assistance. A team of NTFB staff have been assembled and will be conducting every aspect of the Hunger Study on the local level, providing volunteers to agencies who are selected for site visits and one-on-one client interviews. Agencies that are not selected for site visits will be included in the study through surveys arriving in the mail in early January. The results of this research will help us to more effectively quantify the needs in our communities and analyze the capacity of food distribution systems to meet those needs. We thank you in advance for your help with this study! View the 2005 Hunger Study: Local results and Highlights.


Did you know?
Throughout the year we will be highlighting items listed on the Member Agency Agreement. If you have any questions about these items please contact us at: agencyrelations@ntfb.org

11. Accept all food and other items received from or through the North Texas Food Bank “as is” and may not return the items once taken from the North Texas Food Bank. Exceptions include product not received on deliveries where a credit is due the recipient organization.

12. Agree to sign invoices prior to leaving the North Texas Food Bank or before departing from the delivery location to ensure that all items have been received. Also agree to have a second person at the agency inspect the order and sign the invoice, verifying that all product has been received at its intended destination.

Congratulations to the Wilkinson Center

On October 28th, a grand opening event was held for the Wilkinson Center Food Pantry and Poverty Prevention Center in Pleasant Grove. The new center is located at 3312 North Buckner Blvd., Suite 302. Medical City Hospital employees raised $192,441 for the center. Britt Berrett, the hospital’s President and CEO, presented Wilkinson Center’s Executive Director, Brian Burton, with the check. The North Texas Food Bank’s President and CEO, Jan Pruitt, also presented Burton with a $20,000 grant for the expansion of services.

The new facility is equipped with a food pantry, and estimated to serve 3,000 to 5,000 people every month in its first year of operation and doubling the number currently served through the existing Wilkinson Center Food Pantry in central Dallas. In addition to the food pantry, caseworkers will be available to help clients navigate through a variety of life skills programs, including case management, adult education and English as a Second Language (ESL), encouraging them to finish school and begin a career.

The greater Pleasant Grove area of Southeast Dallas currently has one of the highest number of people living at or below the poverty level in Dallas County. Ninety-four percent of the children are on the free or reduced lunch program at school, while more than half of the residents have not obtained, or will not obtain, a high school education. The new location will be the first step in serving a community long overlooked and far underserved.


Media Spotlight

Meadows, SMU-in-Legacy launch dual food drives
SMU's Meadows School of the Arts, in conjunction with SMU-in-Legacy and the new Dallas-based choir Resounding Harmony, is launching a 3-week campaign to raise funds and food supplies for the North Texas Food Bank. ...
SMU Forum - See more here...

The North Texas Food Bank Sets New Record!
By NTFB
In the month of October we set a new record for the number of pounds both received and distributed! Our previous records were set in September of 2005 as we responded to the Katrina and Rita Hurricanes. They were: ...
North Texas Food Bank's Blog - See more here...