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Friday, September 19, 2008

Hungry to give

Jan pruitt’s job heading the North Texas Food Bank satisfies her appetite for helping dallas’ needy

Jan Pruitt, 55, is the CEO of the North Texas Food Bank in Dallas. As the daughter of a restaurant owner and the granddaughter of a grocery store owner, she jokes that the food business runs in her family. Raising four children as a stay-at-home mom taught Pruitt an appreciation for working within tight budgets and appreciation for the need of the less fortunate. Today, Pruitt works closely with Feeding America, the NTFB’s national office in Chicago, and describes her job as “introducing our community to the food bank and how their help can help us do more.” Her current goal involves eliminating hunger in the Dallas-Fort Worth area through the Close the Gap campaign by providing 50 million meals to the community. Pruitt was interviewed by intern Brooke Cowlishaw.

DESCRIBE YOUR FAMILY. I just celebrated my 36th wedding anniversary, and I have four grown children and two grandchildren. I married my childhood sweetheart.

WHERE ARE YOU FROM? Born in Dallas and raised in Ennis.

WHAT WAS YOUR CHILDHOOD LIKE? I was the youngest of three children and grew up in a restaurant. Most of my childhood was spent in Ennis as the daughter of Dan Tucker, who owned Dan’s Town House. We were the local restaurant in town, and I went from feeding people in a restaurant to feeding people in a food bank.

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Dallas Business Journal - by Brooke Cowlishaw Intern