Last year, the Brazos Valley Food Bank received $100,000 dollars from a foundation through a matching grant challenge.
This year, food bank director Theresa Mangapora says the Bert and Mae Dean Wheeler foundation is matching donations of up to $200,000 dollars.
Mangapora says the money raised from the challenge grant can be spent where it is needed the most. She says “that can be as non-exciting as gasoline for the trucks, (to) electricity for the large cooler/freezer to the actual food that goes in the backpacks for kids.”
According to a food bank e-mail, donations will go towards distributing “healthy food to neighbors through our 34 partner agencies” and “make special BVFB programming available to assist under-served populations, like children, teens, home-bound seniors and those who live in the more rural parts of the Brazos Valley”.
Mangapora also told WTAW News the food bank has started to receive more donated food, but they are “still in that trend right now and I see that going into at least into half of the next calendar year of purchasing more food than we ever have before.”
Mangapora says the food bank is also recruiting volunteers.
Click HERE to be directed to the Brazos Valley Food Bank’s challenge grant donation page.
Click below for comments from Theresa Mangapora, visiting with WTAW’s Bill Oliver: