By Allan Jamail
Jacinto City, TX. – On August 23rd, hundreds of area residents came to get free food at Jacinto City’s distribution point, the city’s Town Hall, located at 1025 Oates Road.
Adele Brady, Director of Marketing and Communications at Houston Food Bank (HFB), said their nonprofit organization supplies the food to their Jacinto City Community Partner (on the fourth Friday of every month) and a network of 1,500 other Community Partners.
“Last year we provided access to 104 million nutritious meals in 18 counties in southeast Texas that included food pantries, soup kitchens, social service providers, and schools,” Brady said.
Mayra Loera, Capacity and Operations Manager for the HFB, encourages anyone interested in setting up a new distribution point as a Community Partner or receiving food assistance help to contact info@houstonfoodbank.org.
Cybelle Cerda, HFB Capacity and Operations Coordinator, was at Jacinto City Friday. She merely asked recipients to provide their name and zip code. “I don’t ask for identification, nor do I check for eligibility. We make about 38 distributions each month like this,” she said.
Lon Squyres, City Manager for Jacinto City, said, “The city doesn’t pay for the food given away, nor do we charge the HFB for using our building.”
The Houston Food Bank is the largest food bank in the United States in size and distribution. They have an app people can download to find a pantry near them, as well as a helpline they can call — 832- 369-9390 — and a webpage — www.houstonfoodbank.org/find-help.