We strive to provide mostly nutritious food. Last fiscal year, nearly a third of our total distribution was made of fresh produce.
The Houston Food Bank focuses on filling gaps on the plate, rather than trying to distribute all food and nutrition needed for each meal (sometimes referred to as “whole plate”). Our goal is to provide ongoing supplemental food assistance with products that will have the greatest nutritional impact and reduce food purchasing costs for the recipient.
We aim to use the resources donated to us to distribute the highest nutritional and dollar value food (and non-food) we can for people receiving food assistance, in order to reduce the financial burden of needing to purchase all of these items for their families. This method of providing supplemental food is made even more impactful because most people who require food assistance do not simply need three full meals for today and tomorrow, but rather, they will need help making ends meet for a longer period of time.