Food Bank delivery service in high demand, highlighting needs ahead of food drive
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – The 28th annual KBTX Food For Families Food Drive is right around the corner.
This will hopefully fill hunger needs across the Brazos Valley for the next year, as it’s the biggest yearly food drive for the Brazos Valley Food Bank.
One program associated with the Food Bank is called Project GotEM. This is a food delivery option for approved customers that was created during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the food bank, GotEM is a partnership between them and the cities of Bryan and College Station as a pilot program for residents of Bryan/College Station who have food access issues and have been impacted by COVID in some way. It is a way to ensure food is making it to those who need it most, but face barriers.
“It’s a kind of a variety of access issues that come down to transportation in one way or another or some kind of mobility limitation,” Brazos Valley Food Bank Program Director, Shannon Avila, said. “The average client we would say for GotEM tends to look like either a large family or seniors or folks with disabilities. Those tend to be the two kinds of bucketed populations that have seemed to have the most difficulty connecting to our Community Assistance Network.”
Currently, with the resources they have, Project GotEM cannot accept any more clients.
“We’ve gotten to a point where we have enrolled everybody we’re able to serve but we’re still seeing a need and we’re not able to meet that need. We’re not able to enroll new folks,” Avila said.
But, Food Banks across the Brazos Valley have implemented their own delivery programs to help serve those who can’t make it to specific locations. Donations made to the Food For Families food drive help support Project GotEM and other programs within the Brazos Valley Food Bank assistance network.
