NORTH TEXAS FOOD BANK REACHES HISTORIC MILESTONE, RAISES $55 MILLION FOR “STOP HUNGER BUILD HOPE” CAPITAL CAMPAIGN

Dallas, Jan. 23, 2018 -- Making North Texas history with the largest capital campaign for a social service agency, the North Texas Food Bank’s (NTFB) “Stop Hunger Build Hope” capital campaign has reached the $55 million goal, campaign co-chairs Pam and John Beckert announced today. The campaign funds various means of strengthening the local food assistance infrastructure, including building the Food Bank’s Perot Family Campus in Plano.

Construction as of December 2017 for NTFB's new Perot Family Campus in Plano. Rendering of NTFB's Perot Family Campus in Plano, set to open in Fall of 2018.

Currently, more than 800,000 people in NTFB’s 13-county service area don’t have reliable access to affordable, nutritious food. One in four children and one in six seniors in North Texas suffers from chronic hunger.

“Hunger is that invisible crisis that affects the child sitting next to yours in school, an elderly neighbor, someone we know at work, or walk by in a parking lot,” said Pam Beckert. “The face of hunger looks just like us. Our community cannot grow and thrive when so many of our residents go to bed hungry. A nutritious diet will also have untold ripple effects on education and healthcare.”

While the Food Bank provides access to 70 million meals annually through a network of more than 200 partnering food pantries and 1,000 program sites in a 13-county service area, the actual need in North Texas is for approximately 92 million nutritious meals annually.

“Our support of the Food Bank and this campaign has always centered around ensuring that hungry people have food on the table,” said John Beckert, also former NTFB Board Chair. “This campaign is the critical foundation to the Food Bank’s plan to distribute 92 million nutritious meals annually by 2025.”

NTFB Board Chair, Anurag Jain, further explained, “The capital campaign was launched in 2015 by NTFB’s CEO of 20 years, Jan Pruitt, before we lost her in 2017. Jan knew this initiative was a major undertaking, but she saw the need to bridge the hunger gap for the future as well as the present and knew that our community could make this happen. We are extremely fortunate to now have Trisha Cunningham as our President and CEO.”

Ms. Cunningham, who took the helm at the Food Bank in July 2017, said, “It is a privilege for me, together with our dedicated staff and extraordinary community of supporters, to build upon Jan’s legacy taking our organization into the future and accomplishing our vital mission in North Texas.”

Stop Hunger Build Hope

The Stop Hunger Build Hope campaign was created to fuel future growth for the Food Bank and their feeding network, and will further cement NTFB as a top-ranked Feeding America Food Bank. In addition to a new Plano facility, capital campaign funds will be used to upgrade infrastructure at local partnering food pantries– specifically targeting underserved communities – in the effort to close the hunger gap. The campaign will also help to fund a technology solution to better understand client health needs in partnership with the Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation.

The historic fundraising effort for the campaign was met with enthusiasm by more than 500 generous donors including:

• Perot Family, Lead Donors

• • Ross and Margot Perot
  • Ross and Sarah Perot
  • Nancy Perot and Sons
  • Suzanne and Patrick McGee
  • Carolyn and Karl Rathjen
  • Katherine and Eric Reeves

• Moody Foundation
• Anonymous Donors (3)
• Alliance Data
• Enrico Family Foundation
• Lyda Hill Foundation
• H-E-B/Central Market
• J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation
• Eugene McDermott Foundation
• Simmons Family Foundation
• Susie and Steve Simon
• Mary and Rich Templeton
• Toyota North America

A full list of leadership donors can be found on ntfb.org/stophunger.

The Perot Family Campus in Plano and the Moody Center

NTFB’s new distribution center – which will include the state-of-the-art Alliance Data Volunteer Center – will open in Plano later this year enabling a broader support base to meet the growing need for food assistance in the North Texas region. The facility will be named the Perot Family Campus in honor of Lulu May and Bette Perot by Perot Family lead donors: Ross and Margot Perot, Ross and Sarah Perot, Nancy Perot and Sons, Suzanne and Patrick McGee, Carolyn and Karl Rathjen, and Katherine and Eric Reeves. The Perot family has supported the Food Bank since its founding and has a multi-generational commitment to hunger relief, with Bette Perot serving as a founding board member and providing NTFB’s first facility located in southwest Dallas.

“Our family’s passion for hunger relief began generations ago with my grandmother Lulu May Perot,” said Katherine Perot Reeves, capital campaign lead donor and committee member, and current NTFB Board Member. “We have been so proud to support the Food Bank since its inception more than 35 years ago, and it will be a true honor to see their new facility bear the Perot name, recognizing the efforts of my grandmother and my Aunt Bette.”

As part of the 10-year plan, the organization’s administrative offices were moved to the Dallas Farmers Market in spring 2015. As a result of the visionary support of the Moody Foundation, significant structural improvements will be made to the facility – to be named the Moody Center – and are expected to begin in 2019.

“The Moody Foundation is excited to be a part of the Stop Hunger Build Hope capital campaign because the Food Bank plays such a critical role in food security for vulnerable people in the region, especially children”, said Frances Moody-Dahlberg, chairperson and executive director of the Moody Foundation.

A Bright Future

Although the capital campaign has successfully concluded, the Food Bank will continue to look to the community for support of their annual operations which provides access to 190,000 meals every day to children, seniors and families in need.

“We know that each of the capital campaign gifts that made up the $55 million goal were powered by people who care about making North Texas a better place to live and work,” said Ms. Cunningham. “While completing this capital campaign was a milestone for NTFB, we must now work to ensure that dollars raised will be put to good use: creating a hunger-free, healthy North Texas. That will take continued work from each of us, but having a hunger-free community will undoubtedly be worth it.”

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6ab45bfc-5751-4374-b837-02f14167c398

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/46c0497f-5cc2-43fa-ada9-34f34856e94e

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4e83d4d9-e192-413c-bc3a-a1409ef0a101

Diana Carranza
North Texas Food Bank 
214-470-8653
[email protected]