North Texas mayors kick off The North Texas Food Bank’s 2023 peanut butter drive
Mayors from 12 cities across North Texas today (Tuesday, Aug. 29) kicked off the race to collect peanut butter for the North Texas Food Bank as part of Hunger Action Month. This is the 10th Annual Spread the Hope Peanut Butter Drive, and it runs throughout September with a goal of collecting 400,000 pounds of peanut butter, both physically and online through a monetary donation, to help feed North Texans facing hunger.
The twelve mayors are Baine Brooks of Allen, Steve Babick of Carrolton, Rachel Proctor of DeSoto, Henry Lessner of Fairview, David Billings of Fate, Jeff Cheney of Frisco, John Muns of Plano, Bob Dubey of Richardson, Christi Neal of Kemp, Vicki Sanson of Lavone, George Fuller of McKinney and Jeff Bickerstaff of Sachse.
The 12 met at the Andretti Indoor Karting and Games facility at Grandscape to film a promotional video to launch the peanut butter drive featuring the mayors in a friendly competition to see which city will win the race for collecting the most peanut butter.
See the video here.
The peanut butter will be distributed through the North Texas Food Bank’s Food 4 Kids backpack program and its feeding network of nearly 500 food pantries and organizations. Peanut butter is a healthy, kid-friendly and shelf-stable item that makes it a key component of nutritional charitable food assistance.
“With inflated food, gas and housing costs, our neighbors in every zip code are facing increasingly difficult choices every day — deciding whether to purchase groceries or pay for other necessities such as gas, medicine or utilities,” said Trisha Cunningham, president and CEO of the North Texas Food Bank. “With record numbers of neighbors seeking food assistance, the annual peanut butter drive is critical for the North Texas Food Bank in providing for those who need us most right now.”
Last year the North Texas Food Bank expanded the drive to include all 13 counties that it serves. The 2022 campaign collected nearly 350,000 pounds, some 1,900 pounds more than was raised in the 2021 campaign. The Food Bank distributed nearly 1.4 million pounds of peanut butter last year.
Support the food drive by collecting physical jars of peanut butter or through a virtual food drive. Find instructions for how to host a virtual food drive and promote it with friends or coworkers here. www.ntfb.org/peanutbutterdrive.
Each dollar donated to the peanut butter campaign platform is used by NTFB to purchase peanut butter for a North Texas family facing hunger.
Physical 16-ounce plastic jars of any brand of peanut or any other nut butter can be delivered to the North Texas Food Bank’s Perot Family Campus, 3677 Mapleshade Lane in Plano. Anyone attending the State Fair of Texas this year can participate by bringing two jars of peanut butter on opening day for discounted admission.
For more information on how to participate in the Annual Spread the Hope Peanut Butter Drive go here.
— Tammye Nash
