MIDLAND, Texas —
Anyone from the Midland-Odessa area knows that the West Texas Food Bank often has food pantry events, but some forget that Ector and Midland County aren’t the only counties they serve.
“We started doing mobile outreaches within the 19 counties that we serve because we have so many neighbors who are truly stuck in rural situations and they can't always get to one of our partner agencies or even get to the Midland-Odessa campuses that we have," said Libby Stephens, CEO of the West Texas Food Bank. "So we created several years ago a pretty robust mobile pantry program. Currently right now we have 22 sites that we go to each month through the 19 counties, which is equivalent to 34,000 square miles of West Texas.”
The mobile food pantry allows the food bank to serve those in more isolated communities who may not have the time or ability to come to the food bank.
“I want to say that we were able to increase the pounds that we were distributing truly in our rural communities. I mean, those are the communities that are truly isolated where they are. Our elderly population is truly isolated there. It's hard for them to drive if they're in Sanderson, Texas to drive to Fort Stockton, that's a pretty long trip for them to be able to get services," Stephens said. "So for us to be able to pull up into Sanderson or places even like Terlingua or places like that really need our assistance, then it's really helpful.”
The mobile food pantry also lets the food bank be ready to tackle all sorts of different struggles related to hunger.
“I think one of the most unique things about the West Texas Food Bank is that we deal with all different kinds of hunger. We deal with urban hunger right here in the Midland-Odessa metroplex. We deal with rural hunger, which is an example of an innovative creative ways that we found to actually reach those neighbors we serve in our rural communities. And we also deal with border issues, obviously with immigration," Stephens said. "So our food bank is really unique. We've had to create different and innovative ways to be able to reach the neighbors in which we serve.”
If people would like to know what the schedule of the mobile food pantry will be, visit the West Texas Food Bank website.