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August 14, 2009

Take a look at the Video here.

Without the North Texas Food Bank thousands of Texans would be without food.

“Just in the past 6 months alone we’ve seen a thirty five percent increase in new families coming to our agencies doors,” said North Texas Food Bank Event Coordinator Lydia Rudy. “These are families that have never asked for help before.”

The North Texas Food Bank is a huge help to families like Jessica Baca’s. She is a mother of 4 who are all living on 1 income that just doesn’t seem to go far enough. When her son got injured her husband had to quit his job to help look after him.

“My son was in an accident and all of the right side of his toes are completely gone,” said North Texas Food Bank recipient Jessica Baca. “We were so worried because we were at the hospital for a whole month.”

The Baca’s had to make a choice: pay medical bills or put food on the table. Jessica Baca’s story is just one of thousands of those in this community who are finding themselves turning to the food bank for help. Hunger affects every age, race and background.

“For example senior citizens that went into retirement and then lost all of their retirement funds and don’t have any money,” said Rudy.

Right now Texas is number one in the amount of food insecure children in the nation.

“It’s not a stat that we’re particularly proud of,” said Rudy. “We like being number one in a lot of thing but not in terms of hunger.”

The food bank is demonstrating what local hunger looks like by using an engaging exhibit of an empty dinner table for 4.

“A lot of people when they think of hunger they don’t think locally in DFW,” said Rudy. “Hunger here is a real issue especially during the summer and especially with the economy the way it is.”

The North Texas Food Bank distributes food to over 260 agencies in 13 counties across north Texas. These agencies range from food pantries, homeless shelters, soup kitchens and after school programs.

“We’ve got kids that get free breakfast and free lunch everyday of the school year,” said Rudy. “When school is out that resource is taken away. The food bank and all of our agencies have to step up our game and make sure that those kids are taken care of.”

However with just one dollar those 4 empty plates can be filled.

“We have a very simple message that we’re portraying,” said Rudy. “One dollar provides 4 meals for a family. We can feed 4 people on one dollar.”

Look for the real life hunger stories of north Texans around the metroplex to see whom your dollar can help and find time to go to the North Texas Food Bank web site by clicking here.