High Plains Food Bank - Our Programs

Thousands of people in the Texas Panhandle could benefit from state and federal funded assistance programs to help them access food. These programs represent the first defense against hunger – however, many people are unable to make the journey inside or outside of Amarillo to sign up for the programs. The High Plains Food Bank now has a solution – the process will come to them.

The High Plains Food Bank is excited to announce the addition of a new staff member: Nellie Ramon. Nellie is the Food Bank’s new Social Services Outreach Coordinator and she will travel throughout the Texas Panhandle signing up qualifying people for government assistance programs. The program was made possible by a grant from the Texas Department of Agriculture.

“I am really pleased about the addition of Nellie to our staff,” said Janie Singleton, Executive Director of the High Plains Food Bank. “I know many people of all ages that qualify for food stamps and other government assistance programs that do not have the ability to come to Amarillo to access services.” The entire registration and sign-up process will actually come to the people in need throughout the Texas Panhandle. The Food Bank is excited to launch a mobile social services outreach coordinator.

“Nellie will go to the people throughout the 26 counties that we serve here in the Panhandle,” Singleton said. “It is just one more way the High Plains Food Bank will do all it can to see that low income families are getting food.” Nellie is bilingual and has the experience and training that will help the Food Bank reach out to the Texas Panhandle and help put much needed food on the tables of those in need.

The Texas Food Bank Network received funding for the new program under a grant received through the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA). The TDA grant was distributed to the 19 food banks across the state to ensure that each food bank had at least one social service outreach coordinator. “Since food banks cover every county in the state of Texas, this is a wonderful way to reach out to those who qualify and need to sign up for benefits,” Singleton said.

In Savannah, Georgia in 1989, two young brothers were discovered late one night in the kitchen of their housing project's community center. When asked why they had broken in, the oldest boy replied, "to feed myself and my little brother."

In response to this glaring example of childhood hunger in their local community, the Second Harvest Food Bank of Coastal Georgia started the first Kids Cafe. Kids Cafe is the nation's largest charitable meal service program exclusively for needy children. It is a program of America's Second Harvest, The Nation's Food Bank Network and is sponsored by ConAgra Foods "Feeding Children Better Foundation". Founded in 1993, there are currently 130 America's Second Harvest food banks and food rescue organizations operating more than 1,600 Kids Cafe sites, serving more than 13 million meals and snacks each year to children in 42 states and Washington D.C.

For many children in the Texas Panhandle, hunger is a frightening reality faced daily. Over 60% of all children enrolled in the Amarillo Independent School District are eligible for free or reduced meals.

The Food Bank supplies the food and funds as well as the cook needed to prepare the meals. The member agencies provide the facility and kitchen for the meals, and volunteers serve the meals to the kids.

In 2005, America's Second Harvest, The Nation's Food Bank Network conducted a Hunger Study across the United States. Of the households surveyed with children under the age of 18 in the Texas Panhandle, it found that over 36% of children are hungry. Of those surveyed, 83% of households with children under 18 in the Texas Panhandle are food insecure. Through our Kids Cafe programs and your support, we are taking on this growing problem.

Humphrey's Highland Elementary - Monday through Friday, 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Wellington Opportunity Center - Monday through Thursday, 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

The High Plains Food Bank is in need of volunteers for our Kids Cafe programs. On average, 7,000 meals a month are provided to children through our Kids Cafes. We feed an average of 600 kids per week through these programs. We are honored to have the opportunity to help alleviate hunger in Amarillo and the Panhandle. However, volunteers are needed to help serve the children and help with general clean-up duties.

We encourage individuals, civic groups, clubs, organizations, churches and businesses to volunteer in this successful program. Any time you could give would be great appreciated, and you will make a difference in each child's life. Even if you could only come out one night a month, you would helping the Kids Cafe tremendously. We are in need of reliable and dependable volunteers. Individuals and/or groups interested in volunteering will also need to complete a volunteer registration form (Amarillo locations only). To print a copy of this form please visit our Reports page by clicking here. The Kids Cafe program would not be able to function without your steadfast support. If you are interested and would like to volunteer or if you have any additional questions, please contact Leigh Fuller at (806) 374-8562 or email her at leigh@hpfb.org.

Thanks to our ongoing volunteer groups for keeping the program running:

BWXT Pantex, Baptist Community Service, High Plains Food Bank staff and Board of Directors, Junior League of Amarillo, Polk Street United Methodist Church, Randall High School Key Club, Rotary South of Amarillo, RSVP, Xcel Energy and Western Builders

The Food Connection

The Food Connection is a program that rescues unserved, prepared food from restaurants, caterers, cafeterias, supermarket delis, and bakeries, and delivers it free of charge to agencies with on-site meal programs. The program meets the daily challenges of connecting food donors to people in need.

Our collaborative effort with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Second Chance Program is a win-win situation for all involved. Inmates from the Clements Unit come to the Food Bank each day to sort salvage, fill orders, load agency vehicles and clean the warehouse. We train the inmates in job skills such as forklift certification, filling out job applications and safe food handling. This training will provide inmates with the knowledge to find a job once they are released. We also have a 26-acre tract of land adjacent to the prison. This land is used as a garden to work maximum-security inmates. The garden is designated as the High Plains Food Bank Garden and we receive the produce. We decide on the produce to be grown, and the inmates supply the labor.

Meat The Need / Hunters For The Hungry

The Meat the Need program began in 1993 to help meet the nutritional need for high protein foods. The program enables farmers, ranchers, feedlots and hunters to help supply much needed protein meat products. The donated meat is then processed and distributed by the Food Bank to member agencies.

Each night there are many people going to bed on an empty stomach. These people are sitting in the middle of "beef country" and have never had beef on their tables because they could not afford it. The goal of the Meat the Need program is to help alleviate this problem and enable everyone to experience the Panhandle's greatest commodity: beef.

The meat products donated to the High Plains Food Bank must be processed before distribution. Since we do not pass the processing fees along to our member agencies, the Food Bank must raise funds to assist with any processing fees incurred. Our annual golf tournament in May benefits this program.

Farmers, ranchers and feedlots can deliver the animal to a participating processor and we will take care of the rest. It is then processed into 2-pound packages of ground meat. This way the ground beef could then be best utilized by people in many ways to feed their families. The processor then calls the Food Bank, and the meat product is then picked up in our refrigerated truck on the next monthly rural route delivery to the processor's community.

The High Plains Food Bank received a generous corporate donation through the Cargill Corporation in October 2004 to offset a portion of the processing fees.

Since meat products are in very high demand, high protein products do not stay long at the Food Bank. Our beef donations fluctuate annually depending on the market. In 2004, we received 16,633 pounds of meat product. We are always looking for donations of high-protein food items to help us Meat the Need and alleviating hunger in the Texas Panhandle.

Ede's Custom Meats (Amarillo), Scroggins Meat Processing (Canadian), Dalhart Processing Plant (Dalhart), Circle B Meat Company (Groom), Brown's Meat Locker Inc. (Stratford), Swisher Meat Company (Tulia) and Clint & Sons (White Deer)

Rural Delivery Service

The Food Bank is a Panhandle agency. In order to feed those in need throughout the Panhandle, the Food Bank must be able to deliver product to our rural agencies in 19 communities. Our rural delivery service is expensive as we run trucks into the Panhandle three times a week. The Rural Delivery Service (RDS) began in 1986 with food delivery into several area towns. RDS deliveries are made in the Food Bank's two refrigerated trucks enabling area agencies to receive greater quantities of food including fresh vegetables, frozen and perishable food products and a much greater quantity of dry product than can be transported by private vehicle. In 1993, the Food Bank distributed 249,000 pounds of food into eight area towns once a month. In 1993, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger began giving us assistance with RDS and enabled us to add delivery into three area towns. In 1995, the MAZON grant enabled us to deliver into Perryton and enabled us to begin free delivery service to our out of town agencies. Additional grants from MAZON, the Brumley Foundation, the Payne Foundation and the Swalm Foundation have allowed us to deliver to Borger and Pampa weekly. Agencies in Dumas and Dalhart receive deliveries twice a month. RDS delivers to Hereford, Dimmitt, Perryton, Panhandle, Tulia, Childress, Quanah, Paducah and Wellington once a month.

Packaged and canned foods are not all the High Plains Food Bank distributes to feed those in need. Fresh fruits and vegetables have become a very important factor of distribution here at the Food Bank. The Surplus Agriculture Product Grant Program encourages donations of Texas grown product to the Texas Food Bank Network (TFBN). The grant reimburses a portion of the donors growing and packaging costs. The grant also defrays costs of transporting donated Texas grown product throughout the state to feed those in need. Donors of produce include local grocers, statewide wholesalers, farms and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) gardens.

Examples of our produce include apples, oranges, melons, lemons, limes, and lettuce. Fruits and vegetables are an essential key to maintaining healthy diets, and thanks to this grant, we can offer fresh produce to our agencies for quick distribution. The Food Bank distributed over 1.3 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the Panhandle annually.

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