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Organization History
For more than 20 fulfilling years, our mission has been the same: to alleviate hunger through community partnerships. We bring nutritious eats to those who need them most, and we savor every scrumptious minute of it—we always will and we always have.
It all began in 1985, when a small group of concerned citizens joined together. Their mission? To alleviate hunger. It was a noble goal, a lofty goal—but we have worked hard every year since to achieve it.
In our first year, the West Texas Food Bank used a meager $50,000 budget to bring 203,000 pounds of food to 40 agencies. Then, in 1995, we added El Paso to the mix, beefing up our number of counties served to a whopping 22.
But another massive area didn’t weigh us down. On the contrary, since 2005, the Food Bank has distributed close to 5 million pounds of food each year to approximately 180 nonprofit partner agencies, which are essential in providing food throughout such a vast geographic area. These partnerships help serve the West Texas Food Bank’s primary purpose, which is to provide our partner agencies with corporate and private donations of food and groceries, who, in turn, distribute that food out to an estimated 117,800 individuals needing a helping hand. Included in that network of charitable organizations are daycare centers, youth programs, senior centers, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, residential shelters, rehabilitation centers and food panties. As the clearinghouse and hub of a giant food distribution wheel, we are able to give these small-scale organizations bulk-buying power and bulk storage space. And our dedicated focus brings more public awareness to the critical issue of hunger. In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Federal Emergency Management Administration have entrusted us to provide emergency and disaster food assistance throughout West Texas and to provide other regions with emergency assistance as needed.
The core of our mission is to bring people the food they need, and five million pounds a year goes a long way toward accomplishing that goal. But our organization is constantly evolving, and we have juiced up our standard services to help people not just eat, but learn to eat right.
In 2004-05, the Food Bank began to collaborate with youth service groups throughout the region to provide Nutrition Education, a weekend lunch program, and Kids Cafe©, an after-school meal program.
And while all this working and eating and teaching and more eating goes a long way, we are far from the end of our fight—which is why West Texas Food Bank is constantly working to increase public awareness on issues of hunger. Public awareness boosts donations of food and dollars as well as informs those in need of what help is available in West Texas. It also spreads the word about the importance of eating right.
Organization Profile
West Texas Food Bank has lots of friends in high places. We are a member in good standing of America’s Second Harvest–The Nation’s Food Bank Network and the Texas Food Bank Network. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Federal Emergency Management Administration have entrusted us to provide emergency and disaster food assistance throughout West Texas and to provide other regions with emergency assistance as needed.
These partnerships help serve the West Texas Food Bank’s primary purpose, which is to provide our partner agencies with corporate and private donations of food and groceries. Included in that network of charitable organizations are daycare centers, youth programs, senior centers, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, residential shelters, rehabilitation centers and food panties. Our three branch warehouses (in Alpine, El Paso and Odessa) give these small-scale organizations bulk-buying power. And our dedicated focus brings more public awareness to the critical issue of hunger.
We are the West Texas Food Bank, and we want to put food on everyone’s plate.