More than 5.7 million pounds of disaster relief food and supplies have been distributed by the Houston Food Bank to community partners since Hurricane Beryl made landfall on July 8 in the Texas region.
By the numbers
Partnering with federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, enhances relief efforts in order to provide critical food assistance to communities, food bank officials said. In the aftermath of Beryl and as of July 19, HFB and its network of more than 1,600 food supply partners have distributed:
- More than 1,015 pallets of water
- More than 1,250 pallets of disaster boxes
- At least 1,766 pallets of produce, snacks and disaster-related supplies
Disaster-relief distribution estimates are in addition to the HFB’s normal food distribution operations, officials said.
Quote of note
During a July 19 press conference with officials from the USDA and Texas Department of Agriculture, HFB CEO Brian Greene said more volunteers are needed to help with distribution. The need for volunteers has increased as a surplus of food resources and donations have been funneled into the region to assist households affected by Beryl, he said.
“We do most of our labor as volunteers. So the labor needs shoot way up," Greene said. "We can’t give out cases of bananas. You need bananas and apples inside a bag. Our volunteer needs shoot way up in order to handle the additional food and logistics.”
The USDA approved the need for the HFB to operate what the federal agency calls Disaster Household Distribution—a program that gives impacted households pre-packaged boxes of shelf-stable food sourced from existing inventories the USDA has purchased.
Volunteers can help box and bag food items and disaster relief boxes for distribution to make them distribution friendly, Greene said.
What residents should know
Greene said the food bank also has programs that help families-in-need with benefits programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Women, Infants and Children program, better known as SNAP and WIC, respectively.
He said families-in-need that could use food assistance can reach out to the food bank, not only in times of disaster relief, but also year-round.
“Let’s use [our resources] to help stabilize people who are working families that are struggling. Reach out to us in calmer times so we can help you be more financially stable,” Greene said. “And when the storm hits, it might be a little bit easier to weather.”
More resources for impacted families can be found on the food bank’s website.
