Central Texas Food Bank requests donations as need increases

AUSTIN, Texas - The Central Texas Food Bank is on pace to spend ten times more than it did before the pandemic this month. It says the need to feed more people, along with inflation and supply chain issues, is to blame.

According to Mark Jackson with the Central Texas Food Bank, they saw a greater need to feed people during the pandemic. While that number is starting to subside, there are more people in need in the area than ever and the food bank is ultimately putting together 11 million more meals than usual this year.

Jackson said their projections show they fall 20% of their need. In an average year, the food bank budgets about $100,000 on top of donations. Now it plans to spend $1,000,000 to supplement donations. The food bank says it needs to acquire specific types of food for its distribution and that's why monetary donations are preferred. Plus, the food bank can get the food at a heavily discounted rate.

"Our big thing is we just want to educate folks and let them know we can go out and buy an entire semi of peanut butter versus what you get at the grocery store, and we get a much better price on that, so you can make a much bigger impact if you donate [cash]," Jackson said.  

$1 provides four meals for people in need. The Beaumont Foundation is currently matching donations for the holiday season, making that number eight meals. These donations help the one in seven people in our area who are food insecure.

"One in five children in the 21 counties we serve is at risk of hunger we just think that that's completely unacceptable," Jackson said. "When folks step up during the campaigns to help us raise money like Giving Tuesday they're making sure we can keep kids fed and going to bed with a full tummy."

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