Thousands of dollars, pounds of food collected during KBTX Food for Families Food Drive

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – We want to send a sincere thank you to everyone who donated to the 2023 KBTX Food for Families Food Drive.

The day-long fundraiser is not only our chance to help the Brazos Valley Food Bank and its partners but also sheds light on a problem many of our neighbors face all year long.

The 28th annual KBTX Food for Families Food Drive is the Brazos Valley Food Bank’s largest collection event, raising thousands of dollars and pounds of food.

This year, we once again hosted donation sites not only in Bryan, but in Madisonville, Franklin, Herne Caldwell, Navasota, and Brenham, a reminder that hunger has no geographical boundaries. All food and money collected goes to the Food Bank and its partners all across the region.

During the holiday season, a time when most want to focus on the joy and festivities, many families face heightened stress as they struggle to make ends meet. And with higher prices and grocery stores, the need is greater than ever.

“Food is one of the things that people can say, ‘I can go without it. I want to keep the roof over my head.’ So, hey don’t want to not pay the rent, and have to have a car here in this area to get around, so there are people who have to make that difficult choice of going without food, but we know there’s going to be food for them and that’s fantastic. It’s a wonderful feeling for us at the food bank,” said Theresa Mangapora, Executive Director of the Brazos Valley Food Bank.

The last update at 7 p.m. Wednesday, more than $207,000 was donated across six counties served by the organization and 116,000 pounds of food was collected.