The North Texas Food Bank along with the University of North Texas at Dallas and Tom Thumb/Albertsons are joining forces for public event on Saturday, Nov. 12, to provide food for community members in need.

The public holiday food distribution will take place at the UNT Dallas Campus, 7300 University Hills Blvd. in Southern Dallas, from 9 a.m. to noon. Each family will receive approximately 60 pounds of fresh groceries, including a Thanksgiving turkey for the first 250 families, thanks to Tom Thumb/Albertsons.

Mobile distribution participants do not have to register to pick up food but are required to have a vehicle unless otherwise specified. The food is distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Although no identification is required, the participants will be asked to share their name along with the size of their family and provide a zip code where their family resides to receive food. In addition, educational activity booklets on food nutrition will be available for children in Spanish and English.

The food distribution is one of more than 50 holiday food distributions supported by NTFB during the month of November to provide food to the nearly 700,000 people facing hunger across the food bank’s 13-county service territory. This includes more than 250,000 children, or one in every five in the region, giving the NTFB service area the fourth-highest level of food-insecure children in the country.

NTFB President CEO Trisha Cunningham said, “Tom Thumb/Albertsons and UNT Dallas are joining forces with the North Texas Food Bank to mobilize real change in providing food and hope for our neighbors. Our partners in this initiative operate with the heart of those we serve in mind and I am grateful for their commitment.

“As we work to address the growing issues of hunger and poverty in our community, we look for partners like these who stand ready to address this complex problem,” she added. “Their generosity and initiative help advance our mission of bridging the hunger gap in North Texas during this critical time and beyond.”

Tom Thumb/Albertsons is committed to reducing food insecurity at the local level through its Recipe for Change initiative, according to Christy Lara, Tom Thumb/Albertsons director of public relations. The company has raised more than $200 million through the program and donates millions of pounds of food each year to local food banks, pantries and other agencies on the frontlines in the fight against hunger.

“We are committed to addressing hunger in the communities where we live and serve and helping feed our neighbors in need by championing innovative programs and partnerships to help break the cycle of hunger,” Lara said.

UNT Dallas President Bob Mong said that the school has served as a critical partner of the North Texas Food Bank since the onset of the COVID pandemic, regularly hosting numerous mobile pantry distributions on campus alongside NTFB. Each month UNT Dallas hosts a free, drive-thru food distribution to provide relief to students and the southern Dallas community members in need of support.

“UNT Dallas is proud to join the North Texas Food Bank and Tom Thumb/Albertson’s to serve our community by providing holiday food on our campus,” Mong said. “We are honored to be part of this team effort to help put food on our neighbors’ tables this holiday season.”

For more information on the 50+ holiday food distributions taking place in North Texas throughout November go to ntfb.org/holidaydistributions. Interested individuals are encouraged to check the website regularly for updates to the schedule and to choose food distributions within the county they live.

The food is distributed on a first-come, first-served basis and some of the distributing food pantries may ask for proof of residency to ensure they are distributing the food to residents who live in the counties they serve.

In addition to the holiday distributions, neighbors seeking food assistance can get access to food in several ways. They can find mobile food distributions across North Texas at https://ntfb.org/mobile-pantry/ or they can visit  https://ntfb.org/our-programs/get-food-assistance/find-a-food-pantry/ to find a food pantry nearby that provides food and often other services. Neighbors can also contact the North Texas Food Bank to learn more about Senior Programs and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

— Tammye Nash