Houston Food Bank
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Type | Non-Profit |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1982 in Houston, Texas |
| Founder(s) | Joan and Stanford Alexander |
| Headquarters | 3811 Eastex Freeway Houston, Texas 77026 |
| Key people | Brian Greene, President/CEO |
| Website | [1] |
Houston Food Bank is a private non-profit organization founded in 1982 in Houston, Texas that provides food and other products to 400 hunger relief agencies in southeast Texas. The Houston Food Bank’s goal is to distribute 40 million pounds of product will help feed 35,000 people everyday. The organization's goals are reached through the community support of volunteering, food drives, monetary donations, and partnerships.[1]
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[edit] Operations
The Houston Food Bank allocates all donations by using only 2.7% of all resources for operation costs which allows 97 cents of every dollar donated to reach the hungry. The organization focuses on balanced diets, nutrition education, and social services provided through its programs: Backpack Buddy Club, Culinary Academy, Kids Care, Operation Frontline, Second Chance, and Social Services Outreach. [2][3]
As a certified member of Feeding America, the Houston Food Bank distributes nonperishable and perishable food items to nearly 400 hunger relief agencies in 18 southeast Texas counties.[4] Its network charities include servicing church and community food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters for the homeless and abused, and nutrition sites for children and elderly.
In 2008, Houston Food Bank distributed 36 million pounds of food to its partner agencies. Realizing that nearly 900,000 people, including one in four children live in poverty throughout southeast Texas, the Food Bank embarked on a capital campaign with the goal to triple food distribution to 120,000,000 pounds annually by 2018. Later that year, The Houston Food Bank and the End Hunger Network merged.[5] The former End Hunger Network is a food rescue organization that operates a food collection effort that places red barrels in area grocery stores to receive food donations from shoppers.
In 2009, the Houston Food Bank is expanding a program that involves inmates that participate in a job training program. The hope is that the partnership will make all participants stronger to get through the bad economy. Several guards from the Texas prison system oversee the two dozen inmates that come over on a daily basis to learn what is involved in the day to day operations of a warehouse. Approximately 90 percent of the food bank orders and a very large proportion of the food sorting is processed by the inmates from Texas Department of Criminal Justice.[6] Houston Food Bank officials say that the slow economy has led to a 20 percent increase in the number of people the Food Bank is feeding in 2009.[7]
[edit] Hurricane Ike
On September 13, 2008 Hurricane Ike made landfall on Galveston, Texas as a strong Category 2 hurricane. In the wake of this storm, hundreds of thousands of Texas residents found they could not obtain food without assistance. Before Ike hit, Houston Food Bank began to prepare itself and its member agencies for immediate disaster-relief in response to the storm. Sustaining moderate damage to its own facilities, the food bank increased efforts overnight to provide food, water, and supplies to families and individuals affected by the storm.[8] Of the 18 counties in Houston Food Bank’s service area, 15 were declared official disaster areas by FEMA. By the end of October 2008, more than 15 million pounds of disaster relief food had been distributed by 7,500 volunteers. The volunteer’s efforts yielded more than 45,000 hours of time to the Food Bank post Ike.
[edit] Board of Directors
- Chair - Matthew Winter (AIG American General Life Companies)
- Vice Chairs - Welcome W. Wilson, Jr. (GSL Welcome), Yvonne Schneider (American Express Travel)
- Secretary - Armando Perez (H-E-B)
- Treasurer - Maria Francis (RRP Insurance Services)
- President/CEO - Brian Greene (Houston Food Bank)[9]
[edit] References
- ^ "Charity Navigator Rating - Houston Food Bank". http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=5673. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
- ^ Houston Food Bank, "Houston Food Bank Programs", 2009, July 17, 2009
- ^ Paula Murphy (2001-10-01). "Houston Food Bank". H Texas Online. http://www.htexas.com/feature.cfm?Story=14. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
- ^ Feeding America, "Food Bank Locator", 2009, July 17, 2009
- ^ "Houston Food Bank, End Hunger Network to merge". Houston Business Journal. http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2008/10/06/daily52.html. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
- ^ "The Houston Food Bank as a Training Program". KUHF, Houston Public Radio. http://app1.kuhf.org/houston_public_radio-news-display.php?articles_id=1235775126. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
- ^ Vicente Arenas (2009-07-17). "Houston's senior citizens benefit from the Houston Food Bank". KHOU.com, News for Houston, Texas. http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou090717_jj_food-bank-senior-citizens-benefit.4d6d8d77.html. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
- ^ "Update 8: Houston Food Bank to the rescue!". Newsvine - Hurricane Ike. http://tj.newsvine.com/_news/2008/09/17/1879705-hurricane-ike-update-8-houston-food-bank-to-the-rescue. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
- ^ Houston Food Bank, "Board of Directors 2008-2009", 2007, May 1, 2009
