BEAUMONT, Texas — Texas is one of the 10 most food insecure states in the country. It's a problem that is especially prevalent during the holidays.
And this year the need is especially urgent since so many across Southeast Texas have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
12News and the Southeast Texas Food Bank want to help decrease those numbers and change lives in our community.
That's why we're teaming up for the 26th Annual Share Your Christmas Food Drive — the SETX Food Bank's largest food drive of the year!
DONATE ONLINE | You can donate right now from here!
A $1 donation goes a long way! The SETX Food Bank can turn that $1 into four meals!
Beginning in 1996, 12News and the Southeast Texas Food Bank have worked together to help feed Southeast Texans during the holidays.
For more than 25 years, the Share Your Christmas Food Drive has brought in more than 1.1 million pounds of donated food and more than $500,000 in cash donations.
That’s enough to provide about 2.5 million meals!
In a typical year, approximately 1 in 5 Southeast Texans leans on the Southeast Texas Food Bank for hunger relief consistently or at some point in the year.
This year, in the wake of Tropical Storm Imelda’s impact on our area, the need is even greater because disasters create need even for families who might not ordinarily rely on the Food Bank for food assistance.
The Southeast Texas Food Bank distributes food throughout an eight-county territory covering approximately 6,000 square miles.
The food bank is trending towards distribution of enough food for about 6 million meals this year, most of which comes from donations from local retailers and USDA food distributions.
