~Beneficiaries~

The Wilkinson Center offers numerous resources and services to create pathways out of poverty for those in need in our community, including a food pantry which provides over 500,000lbs of food and serves over 2,900 families and 8,800 individuals each year. Their innovative client-choice model allows clients to select their food according to needs and preferences, eliminating waste and increasing self-esteem.

Dickinson Place is a residential retirement facility for low-income seniors who enjoy indpendent living. They maintain a food pantry to ensure that their residents have well-balanced and nutritious diets. Dickinson Place is currently home to 160 of our community's low-income seniors, many of whom would be living and have lived on our city's streets. 

North Texas Food Bank supplies donated, purchased and prepared foods to local food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and other programs that serve people in need. In fiscal year 2011, the food bank provided over 25 million pounds of food to Member Agency pantries - 75% of all local distributions. Area homeless shelters, day-care centers, soup kitchens, and other facilities provided more than 7 million on-site meals and snacks to the hungry in our community. 

Appletree House of Kazakhstan provides meals in a warm, loving environment for children three days a week. 

~Hunger Facts~

• Texas is the 2nd hungriest state in the country, and 1st in terms of child hunger.

• In Dallas County, 29.4% of our children live in poverty, and 70% of all children in Dallas County public schools qualify for the free- or reduced-cost school lunch program.

• 300,000 meals a day are needed to feed the hungry men, women and children in North Texas (equal to three sold-out Cotton Bowls A DAY!).

• There are more than 187,000 food-insecure children living in the Dallas metropolitan area - more than one out of every four children - that do not have access to adequate, nutritious meals on a regular basis.

• The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization calculates that there are 925 MILLION food-insecure or undernourished people in the world.

• Children are the most vulnerable and visible victims of undernourishment. Children who are undernourished suffer up to 160 days of illness a year.

• Poor nutrition plays a part in the deaths of 5 million children every year, in part because it magnifies the effects of disease, including measles and malaria.

• Causes of hunger around the world include: poverty, harmful economic systems, conflict and climate change.

• The world produces enough food to feed everyone. World agriculture produces 17% more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70% population increase. This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day according to the most recent estimate. 

  ~Suggested Items~

  Canned Veggies ~ Canned Fruit ~ Canned Meat (tuna, chicken, spam)

  Pasta ~ Pasta Sauce ~ Soup ~ Stew ~ Hamburger Helper

  Tuna Helper ~ Macaroni & Cheese ~ Ramen Noodles

  Peanut Butter & Jelly ~ Cooking Oil ~ Juice ~ Rice ~ Beans