Message From the President & CEO
I love living in Austin. In fact, I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t agree this is a great place to live. The area’s amenities, growth and prosperity put us on everyone’s lists of the Top 10 places to live, work and play.
Yet there’s one thing I don’t love, and that’s the growing number of Central Texans who struggle with something most of us take for granted—where their next meal will come from.
As Veronica’s story in this issue illustrates, the face of hunger is not what you might expect. It includes not just the poor and unemployed, but thousands of near-poor, seniors, veterans and hard working families who face the everyday challenge of how to feed their families.
Through your generosity, the Food Bank provided a record 26 million meals last year. Yet, we still fell short of meeting the need by about 30 percent. We know that Central Texas has the resources, but the hunger gap is widening, and we don’t have the capacity we need to take in and distribute the additional food that’s needed.
That’s why we launched the 10x10 Campaign for a Hunger-Free Community to raise $10 million in 10 months to complete the fundraising necessary for a new facility and expanded infrastructure that will help us close the gap.
In addition to doubling our warehouse space for shelf-stable foods, the new facility will have five times the refrigeration and freezer capacity for fresh, nutritious produce and frozen protein, and a commercial production kitchen (featured in this issue) that will allow us to cook meals and freeze produce, reducing food waste and offering more options to our clients. You can find out more about our plans at CAFB10x10.com
Our goal is to build a hunger-free community. With your help, that goal is within reach.
Hank Perret
President & CEO
