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Creative thought is going into feeding needy families by West Dallas nonprofit FEED 3 this holiday season. With the economic challenges putting a greater burden on food providers helping families in need, nonprofits are turning to creative solutions.

“We found that after two years of providing backpacks for children in need at local schools, that a more feasible and fiscal savvy approach are “emergency food pantries” at local schools” says Randy Skinner, FEED 3 executive director.

Skinner believes that weekend backpacks are a great fundraiser for nonprofits, however, they miss a key component to solving the hunger landscape: a personal touch with the family in need. “When companies show up at the local nonprofit and fill backpacks, it’s a ‘feel good’ approach to a problem, but it ends there.”

FEED 3 has partnered with local schools like Thomas Edison Middle School in West Dallas that serves 800 students, with 83% from families in need. “We help families with emergency hunger needs, and then direct them to two or more of our local nonprofits that help the total family in crisis” says Skinner. FEED 3 also provides additional incentives for families who parents will show up for parent-teacher conferences. Currently FEED 3 provides meals for teachers on parent-teacher conference days and meals and snacks for children being tutored on weekends.

More than 300 families received groceries for a week during thanksgiving and another 400 received groceries for a week during the month of November. As part of the FEED 3 program, sites are being chosen throughout high poverty areas to provide 100 families per week groceries. The first two sites are located in West Dallas, with additional sites to be added as funding permits. In addition to the Westmoreland Heights Neighborhood Association Center and the Greater Mount Hebron Baptist Church, FEED 3 began last semester providing families of students at Thomas Edison Middle School with emergency groceries. A food pantry will be built and supplied by FEED 3 at the middle school.

The FEED 3 project is the brainchild of a collaborative effort by Randy Skinner, a West Dallas resident and community leader, Heart of A Champion, Director Steve Riach, and creative consultant Russell Lake of Eterné Films. The project has three focuses: Body, Mind, and Soul.

 

The Feed 3 segment that focuses on hunger is entitled: Feed the Body. It consists of making sure the more than 280,000 children in the greater Dallas area that face hunger, have a meal. This is accomplished through the following:

• Making sure every needy family is signed up for government assistance to receive WIC or SNAP funds that are available, but not being utilized. In a new pilot project, the USDA, Health and Human Services have contracted with Baylor University Texas Hunger Initiative to work with local support organizations to train local volunteers in neighborhoods to fast track the registration process. This will began next year.
  
  
• While families may receive government assistance, there is still a gap among working class families and the poor to make up the gap to feed their families. This is where the FEED 3 sites have been helpful. The goal is to place a FEED 3 site in each community, where needy families can receive additional food, especially fresh fruit and vegetables. Additional sites will be added as food and funds become available.
  
  
• Providing summer meals with FEED 3 partner Strategic Justice Initiatives (SJI). This past summer more than 1000 children were fed daily through the SJI partnership with the Texas Agriculture Summer Feeding program at three churches in South Dallas, Concord Missionary Baptist Church, Antioch Baptist Church, and Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship.
  
  
• Providing after school meals for children in need. There are currently 13 feeding sites being developed through FEED 3/SJI partnership in South Dallas.
  
  
• Providing nutritional take-home meals for single moms, seniors, and working families in need. This pilot program is being tested in West Dallas and South Dallas in 2013.
  
  
• The development of school gardens, community gardens, and urban farms among low-income communities.

Please consider helping us expand our network of feeding sites in the DFW area. Make a generous donation this Christmas season. Please give generously by clicking here.