H-E-B Chairman Gives $20 Million to Texas Food Banks

The North Texas Food Bank is grateful to be among those receiving part of Charles Butt’s gift.

H-E-B Chairman Charles Butt announced this week that he is giving a $20 million personal gift to support Texans facing hunger.

The donation is being split between 20 food banks across the state that are part of the Feeding Texas network, and the North Texas Food Bank is grateful to be among those receiving this critical support.

“This generous gift from Charles Butt and the continued support of H-E-B on alleviating food insecurity will help us ensure we can continue to support our mission of a hunger-free Texas,” said NTFB President and CEO Trisha Cunningham.

Trisha said the NTFB never takes for granted that it cannot meet the needs of its neighbors without the support of the community and strong partners, like H-E-B and the Butt family, both of whom are steadfast supporters of hunger relief efforts in Texas.

Recent data from Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap report shows that Texas now leads the nation in hunger, with nearly 5 million neighbors experiencing food insecurity, and the 13 counties served by the NTFB rank the fourth highest in the nation, with nearly 778,000 individuals facing hunger. Nearly 40% of those people are children—a statistic that Charles Butt said is simply unacceptable.

“The thought of children going hungry anywhere is painful, but to have that happen here in Texas is unacceptable,” he said, in a release from H-E-B. “My aim is to support access to essential food programs and invest in solutions for Texans. By supporting the hunger relief efforts of these dedicated organizations, we hope to make a meaningful impact across the state.”

Trisha said the gift is particularly impactful as it comes at a time when the NTFB and other Texas food banks are serving needs higher than seen even at the height of the pandemic, only now there are no but pandemic-related relief programs to help support those needs. She added that the NTFB planned to operate at a deficit during the current fiscal year so that it could purchase more food to meet demand and continue distributing around 400,000 meals a day.

Along with Butt, Trisha also thanked NTFB Board Member Mabrie Jackson, managing director of public affairs for H-E-B and Central Market, for her support and for her steadfast dedication to NTFB’s mission.

H-E-B has been dedicated to hunger relief since its founding in 1905, and over its history has donated more than 1 billion bounds of food to 5,500 nonprofits in Texas and Mexico. Last year alone, the Texas-based grocer donated more than 33 million pounds of food. Find out more here.