Additionally, data released in October 2023 shows that more than half of food-insecure households have family members with full or part-time employment.
Executive Director for the Wichita Falls Area Food Bank, David O’Neil, said these stats are for the 12-county area the food bank services , with a 17.6 percent food insecurity rate, which means more than 39,000 families are insecure right here in Texoma, and O’Neil is aiming to change that.
“It’s unsettling. It’s challenging,” O’Neil said.
But with the rise in the cost of just about everything nowadays, O’Neil said an increase in food insecurity isn’t surprising.
“We’re number 14th highest out of 197 food banks in the country. So we have a more severe food insecurity or hunger issue than almost anybody else in the country,” O’Neil said.
But O’Neil said there are ways to help bring those numbers down.
“Strengthening the communities that we serve in order to raise awareness and hopefully raise donations, whether they be food donations or donations of dollars that we can go out and purchase food to help feed those in need,” O’Neil said.
Something the food bank heavily relies on is the community.
“Just continue to be partners with us if you’ve been a partner or provider and provided food to us before,” O’Neil said. “It’s critical now and continuing that we get that food so that we can distribute it.”
Ensuring that, as a community, we all eat at the same table.
If you would like to help the Wichita Falls Area Food Bank, whether it’s through donations or volunteering, click here .
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