DALLAS — Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, long lines of vehicles waiting to get food at North Texas Food Bank food drives have become a common occurrence.
But Saturday’s event at UNT Dallas was pulled together in just two days to meet the need of many hungry families struggling to find food after the winter storm that crippled the state’s power supply.
“Just like most disasters, you cannot tell when they are going to show up,” NTFB’s Government Relations Director Dr. Valerie Hawthorne said. “The only difference this time is that we have to consider some folks do not have electricity and water, so we have to be cognizant of that with food we serve the community.
The NTFB prepared enough boxes of food for up to 700 families and some of the cars at the beginning of the lengthy line said they arrived 2-3 hours early.
Representative Colin Allred was on hand to help load boxes of food into vehicles and said the Disaster Declaration signed by President Joe Biden on Saturday morning will allow individuals the chance to recoup some of the unexpected expenses from the power outages.
“The cost of repairs for your home, cost of hotel you might have to book, cost of high energy bills; that’s the type of thing covered under the individual assistance program,” said Allred.