A non-profit in Dallas handed out 1,000 turkeys Monday ahead of Thanksgiving. Jewish Family Service has been working with North Texas Food Bank for almost 20 years and has been collaborating with the food bank and other non-profits for the past 18 months in response to the pandemic.
Monday, the organization handed out turkeys along with other Thanksgiving staples outside its office near Arapaho and the Dallas North Tollway. The event was open to anyone regardless of race or religion.
"Hunger and food insecurity is really about us. It's about everyone together," says Robin Raxlin-Gormley, Jewish Family Service's senior director of special programs, hunger relief.
Since the organization started working with the food bank in May 2020, Raxlin-Gormley says they have served 2.2 million pounds of food to more than 20,000 people.
"I think the pandemic really shed light on two things: it shed light on our medical system, and it shed light on hunger," she says. "All the images you saw were either COVID, or they were food lines."
Raxlin-Gormley says the issue of food insecurity gained attention during the pandemic, but the issue has existed long-term. Over the past 18 months, Jewish Family Service has held 75 drive-thru food distribution events, but the event Monday is scheduled to be its last.
In December, the organization plans to open a walk-in food pantry at its office near Arapaho and the Dallas North Tollway.
"That is the best way to fight hunger and food insecurity, that dignity in choosing the items you want, just like in a grocery store," Raxlin-Gormley says.
She says the walk-in pantry can also help people sign up for "wrap around" services that will ultimately help them become self-sufficient. Those services might include mental health, career and financial services, family violence intervention and child care.
"They're not only leaving with food, they're leaving with those tools to address the root causes of hunger and to get them back onto that path of self-sufficiency," Raxlin-Gormley says. "That is the key to fighting hunger, and JFS has been doing that for years."
People can learn more at jfsdallas.org.
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow NewsRadio 1080 KRLD