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Lori Pope
Agency Relations Manager
Micheline Hynes
Nutrition Services Manager
Ginger Cleveland
Food for Kids Manager
Vicky Martinez
SNAP Manager
Barbara Higbee
Community Kitchen Coordinator
Romy Basil
Community Initiatives Coordinator
Robyn Morgan
Resource Coordinator
Kay Dillard
Director of Programs
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About Us
Tarrant Area Food Bank is the distribution hub of a 13-county network of hunger-relief charities and social services centers. We distribute donated product from our 69,000 square-foot warehouse in Fort Worth to our 300 partner agencies that serve abuse victims, children, the elderly, the chronically ill, the unemployed, the working poor, the homeless and other Texans in need.
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Tarrant Area Food Bank 2600 Cullen Street
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The Big Read, Fort Worth
February 29, 2012
at Tarrant Area Food Bank
TAFB hosted the kick-off event for the Fort Worth Big Read which is a community wide reading of John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. Serving as Master of Ceremonies was Wendell Middlebrooks, Trimble Tech graduate and current co-star of ABC's Body of Proof. Over 100 guests attended and helped kick-off the three month program by reading the opening page of Grapes of Wrath together.
Click here for more information about ongoing Big Read events, many of which will benefit TAFB through food drives.
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Nutrition Services
Spring into Better Nutrition
While many people find that New Year's resolutions to improve their health have waned-thank you very much Valentine's Day-March and April provide a surprising amount of inspiration. With spring comes more opportunities to spend time outdoors as well as refreshing spring produce. The Nutrition Services team has many resources available for agencies to help their clients eat healthier, even on a tight budget.
Info to Go
Tarrant Area Food Bank provides colorful, easy-to-read handouts to help you share health information, food budgeting tips, and recipes with your clients at no cost. These materials are available in the Agency Waiting Room in our distribution area. Each agency may take as many of the handouts as they can use back to their facilities to provide to clients. Materials are put out each month and center around a specific health topic.
For March, we're celebrating National Nutrition Month and its theme Get Your Plate in Shape. Not only is eating a variety of healthy foods good for you, it tastes better and feels great, too. To help your clients get started we'll have tip sheets and other handouts featuring ways to keep your plate in good balance, along with tasty, healthy recipes.
We all know the old saying, "April showers bring May flowers," but did you also know it brings May potatoes, broccoli, and lettuce? The month of April is National Gardening Month with Earth Day on April 22nd tucked in as a bonus. In April, we'll provide resources and tips to help your agency and clients grow their own fresh produce, along with some recipes to help you make them taste amazing.
If you don't pick up at the Food Bank yourself, be sure ask your staff or volunteers who do pick up to bring these great resources back for your clients.
Community Garden Program
A little over a year ago, Tarrant Area Food Bank started a Community Garden program to help families in our service area grow and access more fresh produce. Through a partnership with Tarrant Country Public Health, which funded several of the gardens, eleven gardens have been installed, with a few more being planned for installation this spring. Through this program and many hard-working gardeners, 3,000 pounds of produce have been donated to our Partner Agencies since July 2011. While we can only support a few start-ups each year, community gardens are an emerging trend that can help your clients and their families eat better without spending much. Many gardening resources are available online, including the DFW Community Gardens website, sponsored by Tarrant Area Food Bank. The purpose of this website is to connect growers, both expert and novice, across North Texas to share tips, tools and how-to's. Because the site is intended to be interactive, content is always being updated. If you have a garden or want to start one, there is information for you here! Be sure to check out the Resources page when you visit the site. It's loaded with great information on start-ups and local shops, clubs, and organizations. |
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Agency Relations
Food safety training is required for all of TAFB's partner agencies each year. Pantry programs (those that report "Unduplicated Households" on their monthly reports) are required to take Food Handlers Training. This training has to be completed by someone at every pantry, every year. Since the certificate is valid for 2 years, please try to have a different person take the training each year, if possible.
Beginning this year, the training will now be done online. Sign on to www.servsafe.com, and to create an account, choose the Food Handler Solutions button from the column on the left side of the page. On the next page choose Buy Products. Select Texas as your state. The menu of choices will open and the first selection is Food Handlers Online Training item number SSECT5TX. The fee is $15.
The website will prompt you to create an account and will accept your payment information. Pantries will pay the fee for this required training. Once your payment is processed you will be directed to start the course. You'll also get an email with the key code you'll need to log in.
Take the online course and complete the assessment (test) portion at the end. The course will take about an hour and 45 minutes. The test is 40 questions. When you've passed the test, send Agency Relations a copy of your certificate and remember to keep a copy for yourself. Certificate copies are due at the Food Bank by June 29, 2012.
If you have any questions concerning the procedure, please email lori.pope@tafb.org.
TAFB agencies that report monthly meals and snacks must complete Food Managers Training. The Food Bank offers this training several times per year. Click here to register for the full day training. While the Food Managers training is offered free, individuals will need to purchase the book and test form.
The next training sessions will be May 1 and July 19. You must have your book and test form in time to study before the class and in order to take the test. The ServSafe Essentials Training 5th Edition is available on the ServSafe website. The item number is ESX5R. You can order the book and test form from other vendors, just make sure that you get the 5th Edition and the testing form.
When you register for the class you will be sent an email with the class location and a seat number. Pre-registration is required. Food Managers Training is required for meal and snack programs each year. Please email lori.pope@tafb.org if you have questions. |
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Food for Kids
March is National Nutrition Month, a campaign that focuses on the importance of helping children and teens make healthy food choices and develop sound eating and physical activity habits. Estimates of the number of overweight children, ranging from a low of 13% to a high of 25-30%, have more than doubled since the early 1970s. In support of this effort, TAFB hosted their Second Annual Child Hunger Action Month Luncheon on March 6. Larry Tubb, Vice President of Cook Children's Medical Center, presented the results of the Community-Wide Children's Health Assessment & Planning Survey (CCHAPS). This is an intensive study on child nutrition and health in Tarrant, Johnson, Wise, Denton, Parker and Hood counties. The link to the CCHAPS report is on the front page of the TAFB web site.
Breakfast with the Stars will be Saturday, March 24 at the food bank. Stars attending the breakfast include Chewbacca, Texas Rangers Captain, the Maverick's Champ, Cinderella, Winnie the Pooh & Piglet and many more. Children may participate in martial arts, storytelling, music, crafts, interactive science and more. For more information, visit http://www.tafb.org/anevents-breakfast.html. This annual event benefits TAFB's BackPacks for Kids program.
After 11 years of dedicated service, Denae Daugherty is leaving the Food Bank to pursue her independent Mary Kay business. Denae has been a strong advocate not only for TAFB but most specifically for the BackPack and Kids Cafe programs. Her last day at the Food Bank was March 8, 2012. |
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Volunteer Appreciation
National Volunteer Week is just around the corner, April 15 - 21, 2012! What are your plans for showing volunteers how much they mean to you and your organization? Creative ideas may include:
· Give out awards for those who have volunteered the most hours or participated in special events
· Host a themed volunteer recognition luncheon
· "Promote" long-time volunteers to positions with more leadership and responsibility
· Invite a volunteer to a training or conference
· Share a story about a volunteer's commitment and dedication to the community in your organization newsletter
· Purchase a small gift for your volunteers, such as t-shirts, candy bars, journals or other item that relays your appreciation
And remember, a simple thank-you is the easiest way to show appreciation to a volunteer every day. |
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The Pantry Express Program (PEP) will start its first pilot in the Stop 6 area of Tarrant County. This program takes aspects of the Mobile Pantry and Satellite program to provide quick delivery of fresh produce to agencies who will then take on the responsibility of distributing it to their clients within a couple of hours.
The Como area will be the location for the first Senior Share Program. TAFB and Como Senior Center will be partnering with several other community organizations to bring additional food and nutrition education to low income senior residents.
OneStar Foundation has created a quick access to demographic information through an online, interactive mapping tool called Texas Connector. Texas Connector displays nonprofit information pulled from a variety of state and national databases and overlays it with requested demographic and socioeconomic data derived from a variety of governmental and other sources. The mapping site can be located at http://onestar.dfwmaps.com/. For more information go to http://www.onestarfoundation.org/. The final version will roll out in April 2012. |
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Community Kitchen
The interview process for Community Kitchen Class 18 will begin March 19 (1 p.m.) and March 20 (9 a.m.) with class to begin April 30. The goal of the program is employment. There is no need to preregister or bring anything. Please refer anyone that is at least 18 years of age that has a strong desire to have a career in the foodservice industry!
Class 17 will end Phase I of their culinary journey April 20 - the last day of curriculum. Phase II - their two week unpaid internship will begin April 23. These internships often turn into job offers. Class 17 began with 10 eager students. We are on target to graduate all 10!!!
Between 8,000 and 10,000 one-dish, frozen meals are produced each month and these nutritious meals are available for distribution to the Food Bank's Partner Agencies. |
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Go Direct has announced that all federal benefits including Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Veteran's payments will go electronic in one year. This will provide for a safer, more secure and more convenient way for many Americans to access their federal benefits. You may wish to encourage your clients receiving federal benefits to make the switch before the March 1, 2013 deadline.
How You Can Help
- Display Go Direct campaign andDirect Express® card materials in your lobby/waiting rooms/common areas.
- Link to www.GoDirect.org from your website.
- Distribute Go Direct information on your Twitter or Facebook Pages.
- Include Go Direct information in your newsletter or to your email listserv.
- Help people who are about to apply for federal benefits be ready to choose direct deposit or the Direct Express® card at enrollment time and understand what information they should have on-hand when signing up.
- Actively encourage the people you serve who currently get federal benefit checks to make the switch to electronic payments today, so they can beat the last-minute rush to sign up before the deadline.
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