For families navigating serious illness, the challenges of treatment often extend far beyond the walls of a hospital. Many are also facing impossible choices between medical expenses, daily necessities, and putting nourishing food on the table.
To help meet that need, the Central Texas Food Bank (CTFB), Dell Children’s Medical Center, and H-E-B have partnered to launch an onsite food pantry inside Dell Children’s Blood and Cancer Center — the first program of its kind within a pediatric healthcare facility in Central Texas.
The pantry provides families receiving treatment with direct access to nutritious food, helping ease financial stress so they can focus more fully on care, healing, and recovery.
“This is a celebration, but it’s also a beginning,” said Deb Brown, Dell Children’s Medical Center Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. “Together we are redefining what it means to care for children and families in Central Texas.”
According to Brown, approximately 70% of the care Dell Children’s provides supports children who are under or uninsured. The need is significant. Within the Blood and Cancer Center alone, more than 400 families are simultaneously navigating a serious diagnosis and uncertainty around where their next meal will come from.
“This reality calls us to do more than treat a clinical diagnosis,” Brown said. “It calls us to care for the whole family.”
The embedded pantry helps meet that challenge head-on. Through referrals from social workers, dietitians, and medical care teams, families can access culturally appropriate and diet-sensitive groceries during visits to the facility. The pantry is designed to serve up to 600 families annually and also connects families to additional resources, including SNAP screening, community food programs, and continued support through CTFB.
For CTFB, this partnership represents the continued evolution of healthcare and hunger relief working hand in hand.
“We believe food plays an essential role in health and recovery,” said Central Texas Food Bank President and CEO Sari Vatske. “It truly is medicine and that is our daily mindset as we bring food in and out of our facility.”
This launch is also just the beginning. As the pilot program grows, Dell Children’s and CTFB are exploring opportunities to expand food pantries into additional clinics and inpatient facilities across the Dell Children’s ecosystem.
Through partnerships like this one, we are proud to help make tomorrow possible for children and families across Central Texas.
