BEC Donates $6,000 to Local Food Banks

Food-Pantry_DSC0962_croptimized2-(1).jpgPhoto: Silver Sage CEO Art Crawford discusses food pantry staples.

Bandera Electric Cooperative recently made a $1,500 contribution to each of the four local food pantries spread throughout its service territory to assist with increased demand on food supplies during the coronavirus crisis.
Food pantry recipients include Comfort Table and Food Pantry, Hill Country Family Services, Silver Sage and Utopia Food Pantry. Collectively the food pantries serve the counties of Bandera, Kendall and Uvalde.

Demand across the area has more than doubled, and food donations to the pantries has dropped drastically as more people become affected by the economic impacts of the COVID-19.

“We were previously spending 300 to 400 dollars a week on food, and now we are spending 1,200 dollars a week as we are supporting more members of the community,” said Silver Sage CEO Art Crawford. “Monetary donations like this one are amazing and make all of this possible,” said Crawford.

Food pantries have an enormous responsibility to provide nutritionally balanced meals and other social services to the most vulnerable members of the community.

“Everyone has been impacted by this virus to some degree, and our community has come together. Those who have not been as affected, are helping, and the ones who have been directly impacted are still concerned for their neighbors,” said Hill Country Family Services CEO Staci Almager.

“We had many people worried about whether the families behind them in line would have enough food over themselves. It is a real testament to the nature of the community. Without organizations like BEC, we would have a major financial gap and would not be able to serve the volume of people we serve. We are fortunate beyond measure to live in this community,” said Almager.

BEC continually strives to uphold its cooperative principle Concern for Community with a maintained focus on member needs for the sustainable development of its communities.

For a list of local assistance resources in the area, please visit BanderaElectric.com/Assistance.
 
Posted Friday, April 24, 2020