Houston Food Bank to Provide Mobile Market through HEB and Texas Capital Bank Partnership

Refrigerated trailer will bring client-choice pantry for dignified shopping experience directly into communities with great need

Thanks to a new mobile market trailer donated today by H-E-B and Texas Capital Bank, food insecure-neighbors will receive much-needed food assistance

More than 1.1 million people in the 18 southeast Texas counties served by Houston Food Bank are considered food insecure, meaning they can’t afford to buy enough nutritious food to fuel a healthy life.

This is the first mobile client choice pantry trailer in the food bank’s fleet, and the first vehicle to be co-sponsored by two companies.     

“Hunger relief has always been an important part of what we do here at H-E-B. That’s why H-E-B has a strong commitment to food banks in our communities,” said Winell Herron, H-E-B Group Vice President Public Affairs, Diversity and Environmental Affairs. “We are proud of our longstanding partnership with the Houston Food Bank and are excited about the new mobile food pantry. We know this mobile pantry will help the Houston Food Bank distribute healthy, nutritious products to our neighbors in need.”

The mobile trailer is refrigerated and has shelving just like a pantry. It will provide great customer service to families throughout the food bank’s service area.  

Houston Food Bank works to combat this by distributing food via community partners (such as food pantries and soup kitchens) and, in areas where these don’t exist, via mobile food distribution.  

“Several of the communities that we serve lack a client-choice pantry, meaning a pantry where they can select food items that they prefer as opposed to receiving a pre-packaged box or sack of food items,” said Reginald Young, director of Houston Food Bank’s Food For Change program.

This trailer model will allow Houston Food Bank to take a client-choice pantry to these communities and provide clients with a dignified shopping experience where they can select the items that best suit the needs of their family.

“At Texas Capital Bank, we exist to power prosperity in business and in life, and fundamental to a quality life is access to healthy food options,” says Effie Dennison, EVP, Director of Community Development and Corporate Social Responsibility at Texas Capital Bank. “We are thrilled to partner with H-E-B and the Houston Food Bank to provide these families and communities with healthy food options.”

The trailer will provide quality service to clients participating in life-changing programs such as Food For Change, which are run with program partners. Many are educational institutions, clinics and housing partners that might not have the ability to establish on-site client choice pantries at their location where clients can be served. 

The mobile market requires minimal set-up and volunteer capacity so it is easier for partners to operate upon arrival to a distribution location.

It will also be able to service individuals participating in food bank partner programs conveniently at their location; increases program participants access to nutritious foods, and provides additional monetary support for program participants while they complete their programs.

The Mobile Market can also be repurposed after disasters to meet the needs of communities throughout Houston Food Bank’s service area.

photos courtesy of Houston Food Bank