PLANO (WBAP/KLIF) – Members of the Texas National Guard arrived in Plano to assist the North Texas Food Bank in feeding the community’s most needy people.
According to the North Texas Food Bank, the humanitarian effort will provide a helping hand to the Food Bank as they work to increase their distribution efforts to meet the growing need in the region.
The City of Plano and the team at the North Texas Food Bank thanked Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday for allowing the guard to assist in the mission. One of the side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is an increased need at the North Texas Food Bank and their Feeding Network of Partner Agencies. The guard’s support will help the Food Bank meet its mission of closing the hunger gap in North Texas by providing access to nutritious food.
“The Food Bank and their member agencies play a critical role in North Texas,” said Plano Mayor Harry LaRosiliere. “The support from the National Guard will allow for them to continue to meet their mission. We know that as the weeks go on, the need for support will only continue to grow.”
Effective Monday, more than 250 members of the Texas National Guard were mobilized in support of the North Texas Food Bank.
According to the Food Bank, Guard members will be on-site initially for 30 days and will be applied in four areas:
Production line: Approximately 140 will be immediately put to work on the production floors, creating family meal boxes for distribution.
Mobile Pantry distribution: Approximately 30 will be deployed to expand our growing Mobile Pantry Distributions
Warehouse and Supply Chain: Approximately 30 guard members will be trained on our warehouse operations and 12 will be allocated as drivers.
Partner agency support: Approximately 50 will be available to assist our partner agencies who are also in need of support.
“The team at the Food Bank is thankful to all of our public leaders who helped to bring in these additional resources,” said Trisha Cunningham, President and CEO of the North Texas Food Bank. “Our goal is to serve as many people as possible, as safely as possible. Support from the National Guard will allow us to have the manpower to make thousands of food boxes each week, making these available to our partners and via our mobile pantry program.”
The Food Bank’s mobile pantry efforts have seen an increased demand in recent weeks due to the pandemic, normal distributions served an average of 300 households. Distributions recently have surged from 1,000 to almost 2,000 households served.
National Guard members spent Monday morning distributing thousands of food boxes to a wrapping line of cars outside Bowman Middle School in Plano. Similar events across North Texas are planned for the weeks ahead.
Listen to Clayton Neville’s story below:
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