Honoring North Texas Food Bank Founders this Women’s History Month
Four women founded the NTFB, and women make up 61% of its staff today.
The women who started the North Texas Food Bank more than 40 years ago all had differing backgrounds but were unified around the same vision: imagining a world without hunger.
“It took all of us a long time and lots and lots of meetings to get all this together,” said Liz Minyard. “We wanted to get it right, and we didn’t want it to have a flaw, so we would be set up for success in the future.”
Liz and fellow founder Kathryn Hall had backgrounds in the grocery industry, with Liz working for her family’s business, Minyard Food Stores, while Kathryn worked in government and public relations for Safeway.
At Minyard Food Stores, Liz recounted seeing shoppers struggle to afford the food they needed — especially one little boy who was just a dollar short when paying for food for his family. For her part, Kathryn recalled her dismay at learning Safeway had inventory it would throw away because the packaging was dented or because it was unlikely to sell before its expiration date.
While those two co-founders saw a need from their retail experience, Jo Curtis and Lorraine Griffin Kircher identified the need for a food bank through their work in the community.
Jo spent decades working as Dallas County’s Agricultural Extension Agent, teaching classes on cooking and preserving food and also distributing food to neighbors in need. Lorraine, meanwhile, worked as a volunteer director and organizer for social service nonprofits. Both women noticed that area food pantries were often either understocked or had too much of certain donations. They felt like there had to be a better way to allocate food to those facing hunger across North Texas.
The four joined forces and while it took plenty of work to find the funding and support needed, the women were determined to ensure their neighbors had access to the food they needed.
“Everyone recognized that it was a waste to discard nutritious products, but there was no place that could take damaged food products at scale,” Liz said, during the NTFB’s 40th anniversary. “The concept of a food bank just made sense. A place that could take overproduction at scale and then distribute to small community organizations that would reach the community through a variety of networks.”
The women and their team distributed more than 400,000 pounds of food in their first year, 1983, and today, the North Texas Food Bank distributes around 400,000 meals per day to children, older adults and families facing hunger.
Liz said while the need has only continued to grow, she still believes that working together we can get closer to closing the hunger gap. Jo and Lorraine are gone but their commitment to hunger relief continues through their families. Liz and Kathryn are still active members of the North Texas Food Bank, serving on NTFB’s LIFE Council and various campaigns.
Their work also continues with several women in leadership at the North Texas Food Bank, including President and CEO Trisha Cunningham, Chief External Affairs Officer Erica Yaeger, Vice President of Community Impact Anne Readhimer and NTFB Board Chair Jerri Garison. Women also make an impact across departments at the Food Bank, from the warehouse and food sourcing to accounting, philanthropy and gift & development services.