HOUSTON … One year ago, COVID-19 became a household term and changed daily life as we know it. The pandemic impacted everyone at varying levels, but for those who were already struggling with food-insecurity, it made a tough situation dire. It brought a new level of demand from those the Houston Food Bank already serves as well as from those who have never sought food assistance before. Loss of employment or lessening of hours, and business and school closures created demand from across all demographics.

“We have all been through an unimaginable year, one filled with challenges and uncertainty, but also with kindness and community,” says Brian Greene, president/CEO of Houston Food Bank. “More people have needed more help than ever, and we have seen Houstonians come together in amazing ways, and the support the community has given to Houston Food Bank has allowed us to provide food for better lives in a year of great difficulty.”

The people served by Houston Food Bank, almost by definition, do not have the ability or the means to have food reserves. Houston Food Bank’s efficient work and network of community partners means that they are uniquely prepared to respond to crises. Thanks to the generosity of donors, Houston Food Bank has a proud history of supporting its neighbors as they prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters of all types.

Demand for food assistance increased dramatically right from the start of lockdown orders in March 2020. Houston Food Bank’s daily distribution doubled from the previous year, to 800,000 pounds per day and going as high as 1 million pounds per day. The numbers – some still being tabulated – are staggering, but all told, in the first 11 months of the pandemic, from March 2020 through February 2021, the Houston Food Bank distributed an astounding 272,380,275 pounds of food.

“For food banks, the pandemic brought new challenges and has tested us in ways we’ve never been tested before,” says Greene. “We had to find ways to distribute more food with increased restrictions, how to do more with less volunteers, and how to do it all while adhering to strict health and safety protocols. The solution was to pivot and pull from our ‘disaster playbook’ to accomplish the same goals in new ways that met with our new as-contactless-as-possible world.”

Over the past year, Houston Food Bank adjusted daily to meet the needs of its Partners and the community, and adapted logistics and operations to help people in the safest and most effective ways possible. Houston Food Bank stepped up in several key ways to serve community need that has grown under the influence of COVID-19:

New ways to distribute.
Along with increased demand, food banks have been challenged with a drop in volunteers due to stay-at-home orders, social distancing and parents having to school children at home. Houston Food Bank developed new ways to distribute much-needed food.

Home Delivery Kits. As news of a new virus was being announced, Houston Food Bank began assembling home delivery kits to be ready if/when needed by those without the resources to comply. The kits provide 14 days’ worth of food for a family of four. In coordination with municipal health departments, these were delivered directly to medically directed quarantined or isolated individuals.

Drive-through model at partner sites and new distributions was implemented at all distributions, where food is loaded directly into vehicle by staff/volunteers.

Established Neighborhood Super Site distributions. In order to get large amounts of food into specific communities of need, weekly large-scale distributions were created, with a goal of serving from 2,500 to 10,000 per event. Participants received from 65-100 lbs. of food at distribution (produce, frozen meat, dairy). These were sometimes held in partnership with others such as City of Houston, NRG, HISD, etc. The model has been replicated by others due to its efficiency.

Produce Distributions. More than ever, it was important to incorporate healthy eating to keep immune systems strong during the COVID-19. Houston Food Bank partnered with YMCA of Greater Houston, Boys and Girls Club Greater Houston, and Brighter Bites to hold produce distributions throughout Houston.

Direct household distribution providing no-contact deliveries were started in partnership with CrowdSource Rescue, Amazon and Nuro (Nurobots to transport to our community with autonomous vehicles), HopSkipDrive, HUNGRY, Harris County Precinct One, volunteers from National Guard, and through a partnership with CARE, the food bank has utilized TaskRabbit and Lyft delivery services.

Partnerships
Partnerships, old and new, have helped to turn challenges into opportunities. The Houston Food Bank has a strong network of 1,500 Partners that have been dedicated, innovative and incredibly hardworking during this year. And leveraging creative partnerships helped Houston Food Bank to extend its reach, including retailers and distributors helping source food when the supply chain was stressed; businesses like United Airlines turning a baggage facility into a food sorting facility manned by their employees; United Way/Greater Houston Community Foundation for funding Get Shift Done; fellow non-profits finding ways to collaborate, like YMCA of Greater Houston providing furloughed employees to help in various capacities, and SPCA of Greater Houston providing pet food to be delivered to senior citizens along with food deliveries; Harris County providing funding to hire temporary labor; working with school districts to supplement their efforts to ensure children who rely on meals at school are still receiving access to nutritious food even if they are learning from home; and the National Guard providing dedicated labor that helped, among other ways, to establish their Neighborhood Super Site distributions; among others.

New workforce streams
Houston Food Bank relies upon volunteers to accomplish their mission, and COVID-19 impacted this crucial area more than just about any other. To get the massive job done, Houston Food Bank has been hiring temporary labor. In fact, the supplemental workforce has grown to be almost as large as the food bank’s original pre-COVID workforce.

Some of these groups include hospitality and restaurant workers, YMCA employees, and Harris County employees whose jobs or job functions are/were not currently in demand by their usual employer. These supplemental staff members perform functions vital to Houston Food Bank’s operations such as sorting, inspecting, and packing food, housekeeping and cleaning, data entry, and distributing food.

Food supply challenges
Food supply has been a great challenge during the pandemic. While the need more than doubled, due to supply chain constraints, donations dropped throughout the past year. Houston Food Bank has had to find alternative varieties and sources of food to meet the increased needs. In the early months of the pandemic, the food bank benefited from a surplus of produce in the fields. Over the summer, Houston Food Bank secured funding from the Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) and was able to procure much-needed shelf-stable items. Since August, food banks have relied on additional USDA commodities provided by stimulus packages to keep up with the need for assistance. The greatest challenge has come in the new year with a drop in USDA commodities, often referred to as the “commodity cliff.” This has left a gap in the variety of items clients depend on, specifically perishable items (produce, protein, dairy). Following winter storm Uri, donations of water and food came in from across the nation to provide immediate help post-storm, but it was also disastrous to much of Texas’ produce farms and supply, adding to an already strained supply chain.

“After a year of living in COVID, we are all still learning about — and from — this pandemic,” says Greene. “Food banks are doing everything possible to continue to meet the challenge, but we can’t do it alone. We thank the community, businesses and foundations for their continual support, we are grateful for the partnerships we have forged and strengthened, and we will continue to proudly serve the communities of the 18 counties in southeast Texas who rely on us.”