Hundreds of 76104 families get meals after Star-Telegram series exposes food insecurities
Ten minutes after the Tarrant Area Food Bank began to hand out boxes filled with Christmas meals in Fort Worth’s Historic Southside neighborhood, hundreds of cars stretched down one lane of Rosedale Street filled with families waiting for their turn.
The line continued to stretch as the afternoon went on and, for two hours, hundreds of families who live in the 76104 ZIP code felt relieved from the stress of finding holiday meals.
“Some people, a lot of older people can’t get food,” said Thaddeus Hickman as he sat in his red truck. “It’s just really nice.”
“This is a blessing from God,” Kathy Anderson said from the passenger seat of a red van.
The Christmas meal distribution was held at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, 1063 E. Rosedale St.
The food bank and church put together about 3,000 H-E-B Feast of Sharing meals. Each family received four meals intended to feed a family of four. The food bank augmented that with extra produce and dry goods, which were given by donors, the USDA and the Texas Department of Agriculture, said food bank President and Chief Executive Officer Julie Butner.
The food bank partnered with TEAM 76104. The team is a group of pastors who came together to serve 76104 after they read the Star-Telegram series “Life & Death in 76104” published in September.
The series chronicled life in three neighborhoods south of downtown Fort Worth — Historic Southside, Morningside and Hillside. The series was sparked by a 2019 UT Southwestern study that found residents of the 76104 ZIP code have the lowest life expectancy rate in the state.
On average, people who live in the 76104 ZIP code won’t live to see their 67th birthday and will die 12 years younger than the national average, according to the study. Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death there, and the majority of early deaths were east of Interstate 35W, according to deaths the newspaper analyzed that were investigated by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner.
Residents described a lack of access to health care and healthy foods driven by a lack of transportation, insurance and awareness of programs available to help. The area is home to 11 corner stores that sell packaged foods high in calories and sugar but low in nutrition.
“When we saw the articles, it just really highlighted the need to come out here and do something special for this community,” Butner said on Monday.
The goal was to get holiday meals to 500 to 1,000 families.
Rhonda Branch Yearby, the chief executive officer of Tarrant Churches Together and member of TEAM 76104, said seeing the line of people meant they did the right thing.
“We decided we need to come together as faith leaders and take care of the people in 76104,” she said. “We felt we needed to come together throughout the whole Fort Worth to work with other faith leaders who are already in 76104 to look at all the needs — food insecurity, education, whatever is needed.”
Residents also received a flyer telling them about the new Zip Zone program that can take them to grocery stores and doctor’s appointments for $3 a ride. The flier also mapped out what food pantries are available. Residents can find those locations and what time they’re open by going to tafb.org/find-food/ and typing in “76104.”
This story was originally published December 21, 2020 at 3:23 PM.
