Albertsons/Tom Thumb Triple Capacity of Pantry at NTFB Partner Community Lifeline Center

Albertsons Companies Foundation provides a $30,000 makeover to help McKinney pantry feed more neighbors.

It all started with a phone call.

Community Lifeline Center Executive Director Robin Forsythe received a call from North Texas Food Bank last year inviting her to participate in an Albertsons Hack-a-Thon. Albertsons Companies Foundation wanted to hear from NTFB partners about what problems they were facing in efficiently getting groceries into the hands of neighbors who need them.

Robin agreed to attend and shared some of the space and storage constraints they were facing as they worked to serve more families. Albertsons executives provided some initial advice that led to a new back door so food could be delivered without interrupting food distribution. Then, Christy Lara, Director of Communications and Public Relations for Albertsons, called and said they wanted to do more.

“We’re passionate about enabling access to food and nutrition for everyone,” Christy said.

Staff and leaders from Albertsons visited Community Lifeline Center at the end of April and not only brought additional shelving, refrigeration and storage, they also delivered pantry staples like cereal, peanut butter, cooking oil and flour. In total, Robin says they made a transformational $30,000 impact on Community Lifeline Center’s pantry.

“Now we have three times the space that we had before, all from a little call from the North Texas Food Bank for something that I had no idea what I was walking into,” Robin says.

Whitney Hill, Pantry Manager, said previously they had constraints on how many people they could serve and how much food they could provide during one visit, simply because there wasn’t enough space to have more food available for neighbors to select.

Now, there is a full wall of new refrigerated units as well as new shelving that Albertsons staff cleaned, installed and stocked for the families that visit Community Lifeline Center.

Wes Jackson, President of the Southern Division at Albertsons, says they first got to know Community Lifeline as a retail partner since Albertons/Tom Thumb donates food to the pantry that they aren’t able to sell. After the Hack-a-Thon, they learned there was more they could do, and they were happy to step in and support the community in which many of them work and live.

“Our goal is to fight hunger, and we just thought this was a good way to do it,” he says.

After Albertsons staff completed the pantry renovation, Community Lifeline hosted a ribbon cutting on May 13 that was attended by dozens of community members and supporters.

During the event, Christy said Albertsons is excited to see the impact the pantry remodel will have on neighbors. Community Lifeline Center is now serving up to 700 families a week and Robin says the need has been increasing in recent months. Along with food assistance, the nonprofit provides assistance with rent and utilities.

“We’re just proud to be a part of it and proud that you now can serve more clients,” Christy said.