Tarrant Area Food Bank to aid thousands of families at Dickies Arena

The Tarrant Area Food Bank is set to help thousands of families.

The food bank has four truckloads of food, about 40,000 pounds, ready to be distributed to about 4,000 families from 8 a.m. to noon Wednesday at Dickies Arena on 1911 Montgomery Street.

To receive food, people will have to drive to the arena and turn on Trail Drive into the yellow lots. Because of the pandemic, families and individuals will only be asked for their annual income to receive 25 pounds of food.

Members of the 136th Airlift Wing of the Texas Air National Guard have been assigned to assist Tarrant Area Food Bank as staff until mid-July and will help out with food distribution efforts on Wednesday.

Julie Butner, president and chief executive of Tarrant Area Food Bank, says that food distribution rates have gone up by 60% since the pandemic began ravaging the economy, causing people to lose their jobs.

She says that the federal government’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program played a key role in helping the food bank be able to pull off this large distribution event, along with help from grocery stores like Kroger, Walmart, and Albertsons.

“We’re a safety net,” Butner said. “Families and individuals who’ve experienced a job loss or downturn in family income need that safety net to use their resources to pay rent, utilities or put gas in their car.”

She says that the food bank operates on a “feed the line, shorten the line” philosophy, which provides food to families and individuals while trying to support them with programs to help them get back on their feet.

“Some people have a disability that will never allow them to work again, or maybe they’re 80 years old and can’t work, so some people stay on food bank support for longer,” Butner said. “But for most folks, we’re trying to help them through this crisis so they can eventually sustain themselves.”