Brookshire Grocery Company delivers 40,000 pounds of fresh food to East Texas Food Bank

Published 5:40 am Wednesday, November 20, 2024

On Tuesday morning, Brookshire Grocery Company paid a special visit to the East Texas Food Bank Tyler Resource Center to deliver 40,000 pounds of fresh produce just in time for Thanksgiving.

ETFB CEO David Emerson is “tremendously thrilled” for the donation which will be distributed across East Texas. “It’s huge,” Emerson said.

The donation is an extension of Brookshire’s 43rd annual Spirit of Christmas Food Drive program. Through this drive, the company collects non-perishable food items at Brookshire’s, Super 1 Foods, Spring Market and Fresh by Brookshire’s stores. The food drive runs until Dec. 17.

Pallets filled with various fresh fruits and vegetables were unloaded at the Tyler Resource Center on Tuesday morning. BGC has always been a great partner for the food bank, Emerson said.

“They’re always donating food to us and leading into the holidays, just such a special time people are gonna be gathering with their families,” Emerson said. “People are gonna be needing more food, and so having fresh fruits and vegetables available is gonna be tremendous to our families in need here in East Texas.”

This is the first year BGC donated food directly, working with local growers to get fresh tomatoes, bananas, apples, oranges, cabbages and more. The food donated is equal to 30,000 meals, Emerson said.

BGC donated the food to help the East Texas community, encourage healthy eating and give back.

“We want to be able to provide great fresh produce to help people not only eat healthy, but also fill their plates,” said BGC Vice President of Produce Roger Harkrider. “We’ve partnered with many quality growers that we work with every day across the U.S. that share our same values and wanted to give back to the communities that support us daily.”

Part of ETFB’s mission is to end food hunger. As part of its mission, it ensures 50% of their food is nutritious.

“It’s a very generous donation because it helps us achieve that 50%,” Emerson said.

In 2022, the rate of food insecurity in East Texas was 16.9%, nearly 1 in 5 will face food insecurity. This is higher than the national average of 13.5%. In Smith County, food insecurity is 14.9%, higher than the national average. In contrast, Harrison, Upshur, Wood and Henderson counties have food insecurity rates above the average for East Texas. Upshur County has a rate of 17.8% facing food hunger. Henderson County has a rate of 17.3% of food insecurity and 68% of people live below threshold for SNAP benefits. In addition, meal costs rose in 2022 nationally to $3.99, according to Map the Meal Gap from Feeding America.

The East Texas Food Bank serves 26 counties from Red River County to Angelina County. They have four resource center locations: Tyler, Texarkana, Lufkin and Longview. The resource centers offer food and other resources to help people in need, including free health screenings. They are located in areas with high food insecurity. In addition, they help people apply for SNAP benefits and offer cooking demonstrations to teach people how to cook healthy foods. To learn more, visit https://www.easttexasfoodbank.org/.