CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — More than 30,000 have received meals from the Coastal Bend Food Bank's Mobile Pantry program in September alone.
"This year alone the Mobile Pantry has distributed over 5 million pounds of food," said Coastal Bend Food Bank Executive Director Bea Hanson.
"They help me a lot with all this stuff, and anything helps," said Camillo Garza, who benefits from the Mobile Pantry program.
The Mobile food Pantry distributes to 27 locations in an 11-county area here in the Coastal Bend.
"Most of the people that come out to the food bank are on fixed incomes," said Texas A&M-K Clinical Social Work Program Director Robert Villa said. "Most are disabled, so any food that they get, they really rely on it and they need it."
Without this little bit of food, Villa said, it would make their life a lot harder. Hanson has seen that anguish firsthand.
"There was a man who walked in," she said. "(He) didn't know where to go or who to talk to. He couldn't find a job; his unemployment had run out; and he said, 'I can't find a job, we're hungry, and he came to us just crying.' "
The goal of the Mobile Pantry program is to provide fresh and accessible meals to families in the rural areas of South Texas.
"We appreciate the hard work everyone does in the community and Nueces County does a very good job and we appreciate all y'all do," said Hector Rivero who, like Garza, also benefits from the Mobile Pantry program.
To find out more about the Coastal Bend Food Bank, click here.
