El Paso Times- West Texas Food Bank shortage: 140,000 people in El Paso may go hungry
El Paso Times- West Texas Food Bank shortage: 140,000 people in El Paso may go hungry November 22, 2011
A shortage of donations to the West Texas Food Bank may leave more than 140,000 people hungry.
Ruben Sanchez, the director for the El Paso branch, said the West Texas Food Bank usually feeds about 220,000 people in the area with anywhere from 200,000 to 500,000 pounds of food.
However, this year the charity has only received 30,000 pounds of food.
"We're not going to be able to help all those people," Sanchez said. "Of those 220,000 people, 135,000 of them are children."
Sanchez said the food bank will be able to help approximately 70,000 to 80,000 people.
"People like to come out and help during the holiday season but we would like it if they helped out year round," he said. "For every dollar donated to us, we can turn that into 11 dollars of food."
Donations are being accepted at the West Texas Food Banks headquarters at 3727 Shell Street.
Information: 595-1060.
Aaron Bracamontes may be reached at abracamontes@elpasotimes.com; 546-6156.
