East Texas Food Distribution

TYLER � The East Texas Food Bank will be distributing boxes of food to families in Tyler and Longview this month through the Summer Family Nutrition Program. The Food Bank and its volunteers will screen to determine eligibility and then distribute food to families who qualify. The screening and distribution in Tyler is underway and continues till 6:00 p.m. today at the East Texas Food Bank, 3201 Robertson Road. In Longview it’s Wednesday, August 25, noon � 7:00 p.m. at Maude Cobb Convention Center, 100 Grand Boulevard.

�The Summer Family Nutrition Program targets families with children who are struggling in this recession and are having difficultly providing nutritious food for their family,� said Dennis Cullinane, executive director of the East Texas Food Bank. �In four years, the East Texas Food Bank has grown 90 percent in the number of East Texans seeking emergency food assistance, that�s nearly double the national increase.�

Cullinane says families will receive nutritional food boxes containing pantry staples such as pasta, spaghetti sauce, canned soups, stews, and fruit, peanut butter, baking mixes and other substantial food items. �Nearly half, 44 percent, of who the East Texas Food Bank serves are children,� said Cullinane. �The Summer Family Nutrition Program will alleviate both child hunger and child obesity for East Texas families with children at risk of hunger.�

Since June, the East Texas Food Bank and its partner agencies have been distributing the 46-pound boxes of food to eligible families. The Summer Family Nutrition Program is a program of the Texas Food Bank Network. Those families who are eligible to participate are: households with legal guardianship over at least one child under 18 years of age and with an annual household income equal to or less than 185 percent of the federal poverty guideline; and families whose children received free or reduced-price lunch, or who receive WIC, SNAP (food stamps) and other federal programs.