KOSA CBS 7- Going Hungry in West Texas: The Food Crisis

Shelley Childers
schilders@cbs7.com
CBS 7 News
August 18, 2011

Presidio, TX – “It’s completely unacceptable what’s happening here, and we are in an urgent crisis to get these needs met.”

Food scarcity for the West Texas Food Bank is now a food crisis.

West Texans are going hungry and the food bank says they do not have the resources to feed their clients.

The second most food insecure county in the state, Presidio County, is home to hundreds who will line up before sunrise for a box of food that will have to last them for an entire month.

The line of more than 400 cars at the Presidio Volunteer Fire Station begins before sunrise.

“It kind of looked like that scene from Field of Dreams, if you build it they will come, the line of cars was sort of long and winding and devastating,” said Paige Phelps, the Marketing Director for the West Texas Food Bank.

Unlike the feel-good movie featuring baseball greats, this line is a sobering illustration of a hunger crisis in West Texas.

Minerva Navarrete is the first in line; she arrived at 4 a.m. for a box of food that she says she would go hungry without.

“It’s very important, very important to me.”

This morning is the only time Navarrete and her neighbors will see help from the West Texas Food Bank for the next month, the branch in Alpine only has the resources to drive down once a month.

“I am so nervous about Presidio, down here we’re it, there are no other charities to help,” Phelps explained.

That reality means hundreds line the streets, hoping to get a box before the food runs out.

The process to hand out boxes begins with an I.D. check, each person must have a U.S. license or passport.

Cars slowly inch their way through the I.D. check, volunteers compare the passports and driver’s licenses to a list of pre-registered clients.

Each I.D. gets one box of food.

The handout begins just after 5 a.m. and as the sun begins to rise the face of hunger becomes more clear, the elderly and children.

“Hunger is ugly, and the majestic surroundings of Big Bend, it doesn’t fit and it shouldn’t fit,” Phelps said.

According to the organization Feeding America, 27 percent of the population in Presidio County has no security for food, the second worst in the state.

In this month’s box only dried foods and a last minute donation of watermelon and cantaloupe, but no meat not even chicken.

“No meat, not even chicken? I will miss the chicken,” said another client as she discovered there would only be dried foods.

A volunteer explained the boxes usually have some sort of meat, even chicken strips, because chicken is the cheapest.

“It is unusual, as far as meat goes, last year we had 21,000 more pounds than we do right now,” said David Sullivan, the Manager for the Alpine branch.

Phelps explained that the massive flooding and droughts in the U.S. combined with a severe lack of funding has cut the West Texas Food Bank short of all produce and meat, now those who need it most will go without.

“Right now, based on how my warehouse is stalked, I don’t have the product to come back, I may not be able to do this next month,” Sullivan warned.

“Right now it’s beyond crisis, beyond red zone,” said Phelps.

By 9:30 a.m. more than 400 boxes have been distributed, although mouths are fed it is a somber day for the Alpine crew who say many of those elderly and families will still be hungry and the prospect of not even returning when their boxes go empty is bitter.

“I’ve met a lot of these people through this job, and I can tell you no one is proud to be hungry,” said Phelps.

The West Texas Food Bank is in dire need of support from the community.

One dollar donated to them can feed four people, and 95 cents of every dollar goes directly to feeding their clients.

Please follow this link for information on how you can help.