Tarrant Area Food Bank officials are working to boost more than 500 partnerships to aid the agency as it addresses increasing food insecurity in 13 counties amid a loss of $4.2 million in federal funding.
Julie Butner, the agency’s president and CEO, detailed efforts to address hunger in North Texas during a State of the Food Bank conversation Sept. 15 with Fort Worth Report founding publisher and CEO Chris Cobler.
The Fort Worth-Dallas area, serviced by both the Tarrant Area Food Bank and the Plano-based North Texas Food Bank, is the third hungriest metropolitan area in the nation, said Butner, who is a board member of Feeding Texas, a statewide network of food banks.
“It’s terrible,” Butner said of the problem. She cited regional growth as one of the reasons for the rapid increase in food insecurity.
“If you think about who is food insecure in our 13-county service area, some 580,000 people — 1 in 7 adults and 1 in 5 children — about 200,000 children — are hungry in just our service area alone,” Butner said.
Many workers don’t make a living wage of about $30 an hour, which is what’s needed to pay for monthly expenses, including rent, utilities, gasoline for a car and food, she said. When faced with high bills, many people, including some parents, often sacrifice on food costs to make ends meet.
“If you don’t have enough money to pay for those four basic things, what’s the easiest thing to forgo — food. Maybe I’ll skimp on a meal, maybe I’ll eat one meal a day,” Butner said. “If you are a mom or a dad and you’re making that decision for yourself, you are likely making that same decision for the household and the children.”
The food bank uses the acronym ALICE — Asset Limited, Income Constrained and Employed — to represent those struggling to pay bills and provide food for their families.
“ALICE, for us, is typically a single mom,” Butner said. ”She is working, often two or three jobs, to support her family.”
Federal funding cuts that become effective in October are a challenge for food banks.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture eliminated two federal programs — the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program and the Commodity Credit Corp. supplemental food purchases — that provided about $1 billion to schools and food banks that purchase food directly from farmers and suppliers. About $660 million was also cut from the Local Food for Schools program.
That translates into a loss of 2.5 million meals, food bank officials said.
Seniors are also suffering as rising food costs have eaten away at their limited monthly incomes, Butner said.
“The resilience of our neighbors inspires us every day,” she said.
During the conversation with Cobler, Butner said grant money will help the food bank with buying produce for clients, providing education about Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and distributing food through the SNAP program itself. SNAP now has work requirements for any household member over the age of 14; the effect of that requirement is unknown.
“Until it occurs, we don’t know what we’re dealing with,” Butner told Cobler.
Fort Worth-area community members and businesses have been generous with their giving to the agency, she said.
Supermarket giant H-E-B provided funding for a Community Resource Center that offers a community market, financial education and affordable child care with the YMCA of Metropolitan Fort Worth.
The Sid W. Richardson Foundation Agricultural Hub enables the Tarrant Area Food Bank to provide its clients with more fresh produce. (Alex Saucedo | Fort Worth Report)
So far this year, Tarrant Area Food Bank provided $66 million in nutritious meals, Butner said. About 40% of those meals were fresh produce distributed through the Sid W. Richardson Foundation Agricultural Hub at 205 N. Vacek St. in Fort Worth.
The hub was recently named one of eight in the country that will be a mixing center, where pallets of food are mixed and distributed. That program will increase the percentage of produce the food bank receives but also provide more protein to clients. Protein will come from Oklahoma and Arkansas, Butner said.
“Those are the two hardest things for our neighbors to acquire,” she said.
The increase in produce and protein will help in areas such as the 76104 ZIP code, an east Fort Worth neighborhood that has the state’s lowest life expectancy and one of the highest infant mortality rates in the nation. The ZIP code is considered a food desert with few grocery stores within a mile of resident homes.
Other food bank efforts helped the community recently, she noted. Summertime farmers markets and more than 100 Ready to Learn in-school markets were launched to aid with food insecurity.
“Access to proper nutrition is critical, especially for our growing children,” she said.
The in-school markets allow families to shop when they drop off children at campuses, providing dignity and convenience to parents, Butner said.
Through its partnerships with local hospitals, the food bank provided 30,000 medically tailored meals and nutritional education to community members. Butner said the agency intends to double that impact in 2026.
“Food is so much cheaper than medicine,” she said.
Tarrant Area Food Bank created a northern distribution center to provide food to residents in Denton, Cooke and Wise counties. In 2025, about 8.2 million meals in Denton County were distributed through 80 partners, surpassing what the two food banks once provided within a year, she said.
“The progress that we made this year proves what is possible when we all work together,” Butner told donors and community members.
Cobler asked Butner about the agency’s most unusual donations.
“We get the craziest things,” she said, noting that caviar and champagne were among the most interesting gifts. Toys, TVs and radios have also been donated.
Diaper donations led to a diaper bank program for clients, Butner added.
“What gives you hope?” Cobler asked.
Butner cited the community’s willingness to establish partnerships and experiment in new ways to help others.
She said continued public support is critical for the improvement of the region.
“Together, I know we can end hunger,” Butner said. “Together, I know we can improve health. And together, we can build stronger communities for everyone in this service area.”
Eric E. Garcia is a senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org.
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