Spend quality time with your family while helping those in need in our community this holiday season at the Houston Food Bank.
During this time year some of us are busy purchasing last minute gifts, lining up for Santa pictures, and planning the perfect holiday dinner menu. While we are busy in our world of twinkling Christmas lights and caroling music, there are other families who are lining up at the local food pantries hoping to pull together enough hot food for a holiday meal.
It’s beautiful time of year to spend a few hours volunteering with your family at the Houston Food Bank. Each year the HFB feeds about 865,000 people and about half of those are children. Through the Kids Cafe program, the food bank gives access to healthy snack and hot meals to kids who would otherwise go without. The food bank also provides a 25-pound box of food each month for seniors who need to supplement their diets and cannot afford to purchase enough food.
The food bank uses volunteers six days a week. You can volunteer as a family, large group, or an individual. Some business even have team building events at the Food Bank. The warehouse can use helpers as young as 6 years old but the Keegan Kitchen requires that all volunteers be at least 14. Registering to volunteer is simple and can be done completely online. The food bank does require volunteers to be registered in advance so they can provide instructions such as appropriate clothing for each volunteer.
If you like the idea of helping your community as a family or group but simply just don’t have the time, feel free to drop pantry goods into the red barrels near the exit of your local grocery store. These Houston food bank donations are collected and distributed by local food pantries. Last year about two million pounds of food were donated though the Red Barrel program. Now, that’s a lot of food!
If you are in need of food, the hotline for the Food Bank is 832-369-9390.
Houston Food Bank
- Register: Click here to register to volunteer online.
- Warehouse location: 535 Portwall Street Houston, TX 77029
- Keegan Kitchen location: 2445 North Freeway Houston, TX 77009
- Phone: 713-223-3700
