White Rock Center of Hope Expands Service with New Cold Storage

An NTFB grant supported the addition of walk-in refrigeration and equipment to help serve more neighbors.

When Shjuana first visited White Rock Center of Hope in 2021, she remembers driving around the building and receiving a pre-packed box of food.

The widow of a veteran, Shjuana was new to Dallas at the time and was caring for four grandchildren. “I was embarrassed to come up here and explain that to them, but they did not care and they helped me,” she says.

In the five years since then, White Rock Center of Hope has continued to grow alongside Shjuana’s family. With the support of a North Texas Food Bank Capacity Building Grant, White Rock recently added walk-in refrigeration that expanded the footprint of their pantry’s storage and ultimately enabled them to serve additional families facing hunger.

“We would not be able to keep serving more people without this support,” says Kaylan VanPelt, Director of Neighbor Services at White Rock.

The addition is part of a series of changes that have taken place over the last few years and have transformed the pantry from one where neighbors were given a box of food to a neighbor-choice model where they can shop for the items they know their family will use. Along with adding space for cold and dry storage, the new walk-in refrigerators also freed up additional areas for neighbors to shop.

“Now that I get to pick out food, nothing is given away,” says Shjuana, who works as a security guard while caring for her grandchildren who are now teenagers. “They just say, ‘Take what you need.’ This place is truly a blessing.”

White Rock Center of Hope CEO Greg Smith says the grant allowed them to double their capacity for cold storage while increasing the footprint of their pantry. It has enabled them to accept more donations of food from retail partners and to serve more neighbors. The walk-in refrigeration is also accessible by pallet—something that was not the case before—which means volunteers and staff can process, move and distribute food more efficiently.

“It’s like a breath of fresh air, right, because we were out of space” Greg says. “We were literally unable to expand our services because we had nowhere else to put food.”

Cristal, a volunteer and food recipient, says the changes have improved the experience for neighbors and volunteers.

“The fridges have made it easier to come in and volunteer,” she says. “Everything they’ve done here is appreciated. Everything you do is keeping our community and neighbors fed—especially now when food is so high, rent is so high.”