It is no secret that the Dallas-Fort Worth area is home to a number of philanthropic organizations committed to helping those in need, and one nonprofit in particular has been working to make sure Dallas residents and others in surrounding communities do not have to go hungry.
The North Texas Food Bank’s (NTFB) primary mission is to provide access to food for those in the area who cannot reliably get access to food. It pursues its goal by partnering with 400 entities across 13 counties and through the generosity of North Texas citizens via donations. Listed on The Dallas Express list of most influential nonprofits of 2023, NTFB is working to create a “hunger-free and healthy North Texas.”
“A nourished community is a thriving community, and we are committed to serve as many of our neighbors in need as possible with the resources that the community makes available,” reads the organization’s website.
The NTFB was founded in 1982 by Dallas citizens Jo Curtis, Kathryn Hall, Lorraine Griffin Kircher, and Liz Minyard. According to the organization’s website, the four women gathered and gave out food and grocery items, distributing them through other charities.
Within the first year of its operation, the organization distributed over 400,000 pounds of food to struggling citizens across the area. Members of the NTFB’s organizing committee also lobbied for legislation to better support the efforts of charitable enterprises dealing with food, including the Good Faith Donor Act and the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Act.
The laws had the effect of encouraging food and grocery donations to non-profit organizations for the purpose of charitable giving.
After over 40 years of feeding North Texas’ less fortunate, the organization currently serves 13 counties across North Texas, including Collin, Dallas, Denton, Grayson, Fannin, Rockwall, Hunt, Kaufman, Ellis, Navarro, Hopkins, Lamar, and Delta.
Still, so many decades did not come without setbacks. The COVID-19 pandemic “caused and exposed” more food insecurity within the communities the NTFB serves, reversing some of the gains it made in keeping people fed.
Consequently, the organization launched a new initiative known as Nourish North Texas, which aims to raise $500 million in food and cash donations by the end of the fiscal year in 2023 to fund “critical operations” that would “help move families toward long-term food security and economic stability.”
The NTFB distributed a record 136.9 million meals last fiscal year, meeting its goal of hitting 92 million meals five years ahead of schedule thanks to resources the organization received during the COVID-19 pandemic.