The Brazos Valley Food Bank has announced that eight of their 36 agency partners received a combined $223,000 dollars in federal pandemic grant money to increase service to their customers.
The grants, which were distributed by the Texas Department of Agriculture, paid for walk-in coolers at First Baptist Church of College Station, Progressive Missionary Baptist Church in Robertson County, In God’s Hands in Burleson County, and Sonshine Outreach Center in Madison County.
Grant money also paid for other equipment and other improvements at Texas A&M’s 12th Can Food Bank, The Bridge ministries in Bryan and Burton, the food pantry in Anderson, and Progressive Missionary Baptist Church.
After receiving the one time pandemic grant money, the board of the Brazos Valley food bank is discussing the possibility of developing a new fund to continue its ability to provide tangible support to agency partners in the future.
News release from the Brazos Valley Food Bank:
Agency Partners of the Brazos Valley Food Bank (BVFB) that distribute food to Brazos Valley neighbors facing hunger have been working on building their capacity, with the help of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) through the Food Bank Capacity Building Grant, awarded to the Brazos Valley Food Bank (BVFB) in 2022 by the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA).
During the Third Called Special Session of 87th Texas Legislative Session, in Section 7 of Senate Bill 8 the Food Bank Capacity Building Grant was created, provided grant funds for infrastructure, partner capacity, technology, and equipment to build capacity of food banks to handle the higher volume of food, in particular perishable product, needed to meet COVID-19 demand. In addition, the grant funds could be used to increase access to food assistance in rural and other underserved communities (including food deserts) by boosting existing partner capacity and establishing new distribution sites.
As soon as BVFB learned that this transformational funding was a possibility, BVFB Directors advocated that some of the funds be allocated for Agency Partners, since 64% of food that BVFB distributes flows through these partners.
Funds and/or acquisition and installation of walk-in coolers, were offered to active BVFB Agency Partners that submitted a detailed written application explaining how their proposed enhancements would lead to a positive impact – more food distributed, increased fresh food distribution, more people served and/or better access or experience for the food insecure who visit them.
The application process was competitive. With 36 Agency Partners, BVFB made awards to almost a quarter or (8) eight of its Agency Partners. Agency Partners who were awarded were: 12th Can (campus of Texas A&M University); Anderson Food Pantry (Grimes County), Bridge Ministry of Burton (Washington County), First Baptist Church of College Station (Brazos County); In God’s Hands (Burleson County); The Bridge Ministries (Brazos County); Progressive Missionary Baptist Church (Robertson County); and Sonshine Outreach Center (Madison County).
Funding totaling close to $100,000 was awarded to five Agency Partners (12th Can, Anderson Food Pantry, Bridge Ministry of Burton, Progressive Missionary Baptist Church, and The Bridge Ministries), for projects ranging from acquisition and installation of equipment to implement digital client tracking, installation of a wheelchair ramp, development of a covered area to shelter clients during food distribution, acquisition of food shelving and food carts, to road and parking improvements at the location (and more).
Walk-in coolers costing $123,008 to purchase and have installed were awarded to four Agency Partners (First Baptist Church of College Station, In God’s Hands, Progressive Missionary Baptist Church and Sonshine Outreach Center), with the acquisition of the coolers and oversight of the installation handled by PACT Design Studios out of Bryan. The last cooler was installed in the fall of 2023.
While the ARPA Food Bank Capacity Building Grant was a one-time opportunity, BVFB is discussing with its Board of Directors the possibility of developing an internal Agency Capacity Fund to continue its ability to provide tangible support to Agency Partners for years to come.