AUSTIN – The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) today announced it has received federal approval to allow Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients to apply for replacement benefits for food lost or destroyed due to recent severe winter weather by dialing 2-1-1.

“Prolonged localized power outages may have spoiled food for Texas families across our state during last week’s ice storm,” said Governor Greg Abbott. “I thank HHSC for ensuring Texans impacted by this winter weather are able to apply for replacement SNAP benefits so that they can keep fresh, healthy food on the table.”

“We hope that the replacement SNAP benefits will help Texas families who may have been impacted by the recent winter weather storm. These benefits will help Texans replace healthy and nutritious food that was lost due to power outages,” said Texas HHS Access and Eligibility Services Deputy Executive Commissioner Wayne Salter.

SNAP recipients who have had food lost or destroyed due to the winter storm last week need to apply for replacement food benefits for regular SNAP allotments and SNAP emergency allotments. SNAP recipients in the counties below have until Feb. 28, 2023, to request a benefit replacement:

Anderson, Austin, Bandera, Bastrop, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Brazoria, Brooks, Burleson, Burnet, Caldwell, Cameron, Cherokee, Coke, Collin, Comal, Concho, Coryell, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Erath, Falls, Fannin, Fort Bend, Franklin, Freestone, Gillespie, Harris, Hays, Henderson, Hidalgo, Hill, Hopkins, Hunt, Irion, Johnson, Kaufman, Kendall, Kerr, Kimble, Lamar, Lee, Leon, Limestone, Llano, Mason, McLennan, Milam, Montgomery, Navarro, Parker, Rains, Red River, Robertson, Rockwall, Smith, Sterling, Tarrant, Titus, Travis, Van Zandt, Waller, Wichita, Williamson, and Wood.

SNAP recipients not living in the listed counties above must request benefit replacement within 10 days of discovering their food was lost or destroyed due to the winter storm.

SNAP clients are encouraged to request their replacement food benefits by dialing 2-1-1 and selecting option 2. Recipients can also download Form H1855 on the HHSC website. Completed forms should be mailed to Texas Health and Human Services; P.O. Box 149027; Austin, TX; 78714-9027, or faxed to 1-877-447-2839. Replacement funds should be placed on Lone Star Cards within two business days of HHSC receiving the request.

SNAP is a federal program administered by HHSC that provides food assistance to approximately 1.6 million eligible, low-income families and individuals in Texas. More information is available at hhs.texas.gov. Texas residents can dial 2-1-1 to learn about programs and services.

The East Texas Food Bank will distribute emergency food boxes and meat on Thursday, February 9th, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Green Acres Baptist Church, located at 1607 Troup Highway in Tyler.

Last week’s winter storm caused widespread power outages and damage, with Smith County being part of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s disaster declaration.
“Many of our neighbors had to throw away all of their refrigerated food after being without power for days and with so many people struggling to make ends meet, we knew we wanted to help,” said Dennis Cullinane, CEO of the East Texas Food Bank. “We are also grateful for our partnership with Green Acres Baptist Church and allowing us to use their facility for our distributions.”

The boxes will contain shelf-stable food including cans of food and personal hygiene items. Meat will also be distributed.

This distribution is open to the public while supplies last. No ID or paperwork is required.

Please enter through the Troup Highway Side of GABC and do not arrive until after 8 a.m. as we will not have staff on site until then to set-up the distribution lines.

Volunteers are needed to help. Please visit our website, EastTexasFoodBank.org and click on Volunteers and mobile pantry and find this event to sign-up.

To find other distribution locations and food pantries throughout our 26-county service area, visit EastTexasFoodBank.org and click “Find Food”.

Lufkin, TX: The T.L.L. Temple Foundation (TLLTF) recently awarded grants totaling $1,069,788 to the East Texas Food Bank, Southeast Texas Food Bank and Trinity River Food Bank, to help people struggling with hunger. The East Texas Food Bank and Southeast Texas Food Bank received $255,312 each to help offset the higher costs of food due to inflation. Trinity River Food Bank received $559,164 to support operations of the food bank and their partner pantries, and to help with increased food costs.

“Our region has higher rates of food insecurity than the state and nation,” said Wynn Rosser, president and CEO of the T.L.L. Temple Foundation. “Alleviating food insecurity is one of the foundation’s highest priorities.”

The East Food Bank serves 11 counties within TLLTF’s 24-county service area: Bowie, Cass, Anderson, Cherokee, Rusk, Panola, Shelby, Houston, Nacogdoches, Angelina, and San Augustine.

“ETFB and the foundation have a history of working together to end hunger, and we are appreciative of their dedication to our service area,” said Dennis Cullinane, CEO of the East Texas Food Bank. “The costs of groceries is hurting so many of our neighbors and leaving many families with having to make decisions between paying utilities, rent and medicine or buying food. We are thankful for our partnership with the T.L.L. Temple Foundation and their goal of ensuring that hungry East Texans have access to healthy food.”

The Southeast Texas Food Bank serves 14,000 families a month in the foundation’s eight-county service areas of Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Newton, Orange, Polk, Sabine, and Tyler.

“More families are searching for nutritious foods that do not heavily burden an already challenging family budget and are turning to food pantries for support,” said Harvey Zernial, president and CEO of the Southeast Texas Food Bank. “This additional funding is allowing us to add variety to our offerings at no cost to the food pantries and the families. We are truly blessed with the partnership we have with the T.L.L. Temple Foundation and this support comes at a great time of need.”

“The T.L.L. Temple Foundation has provided Trinity River Food Bank with generous support to fight hunger in four rural East Texas counties over the next three years,” said Christine Shippey, president and CEO. “We are passionate about connecting East Texans with nutritious, affordable food to prevent the hunger epidemic from stunting bodies, minds, and dreams for the future. Foundation funding will help cover our core operating costs, expand the capacity of our partners, and extend our fleet of vehicles to serve remote parts of Liberty, San Jacinto, Trinity, and Walker counties.”

About T.L.L. Temple Foundation:  The T.L.L. Temple Foundation works alongside rural communities to build a thriving East Texas and to alleviate poverty, creating access and opportunities for all. Since its founding in 1962 by Mrs. Georgie Temple Munz, the T.L.L. Temple Foundation has invested more than $550 million primarily to strengthen communities in rural East Texas. For more information about the foundation, visit www.tlltemple.foundation.

The East Texas Food Bank will hold the 12th annual Charlie Brown Thanksgiving event on Friday, November 11 at 5:30 p.m. at Bergfeld Park in Tyler.

The free event is open to the public. Snack bags with jelly beans, juice, pretzels, and popcorn will be distributed to children, while supplies last, to symbolize the goodies the kids had for their Thanksgiving meal in the Charlie Brown classic holiday special. The cartoon will be shown in the amphitheater and attendees are encouraged to bring blankets, chairs or seat cushions to make it an enjoyable experience.

“The Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is a great way for families to kick-off the holiday season,” said Dennis Cullinane, CEO of the East Texas Food Bank. “This event reminds East Texans about the true spirit of the Thanksgiving season and the needs of so many families impacted by hunger in our area. We are asking for donations of plastic jars of peanut butter. Peanut butter is high in protein and just one regular-size jar can make 16 sandwiches for a hungry family.”

Snoopy will make an appearance and children are welcome to take photos with everyone’s favorite beagle after the movie. Children can also enter a drawing to win a bicycle donated by Simpson’s Fitness and Adventure Sports in Whitehouse. The event is sponsored by Air Cybernetics, Inc., Chick-fil-A, Texas Bank and Trust and Vasso & Associates.

The East Texas Food Bank (ETFB) honored four recipients today with the third annual Hunger Hero Awards as part of Hunger Action Month.

Hunger Hero Awards were given to Carroll Greenwaldt (Individual Supporter), Junior League of Tyler, Inc. (Community Partner Organization), American State Bank (Corporate Partner) and the CHRISTUS Good Shepherd Health System and CHRISTUS Community Impact Fund (Ministry Partner).

“This group of honorees exemplifies the commitment needed in the fight against hunger,” said Dennis Cullinane, CEO of the East Texas Food Bank. “Record numbers of East Texans are seeking help to feed their families because of inflation. ETFB gave out a 27 million meals to 117,300 households in our past fiscal year.”

Individual Supporter
Carroll Greenwaldt has been instrumental with the Longview Mobile Pantry Program with organizing volunteers for the monthly distribution.

Community Partner Organization
Junior League of Tyler, Inc. has supported ETFB for 32 years providing funds and volunteers.

Corporate Partner
American State Bank provided free office space to ETFB for eight months while the administration building has been undergoing renovations.

 Ministry Partner
CHRISTUS Good Shepherd Health System and CHRISTUS Community Impact Fund partnered with ETFB to support the new Longview Resource Center, scheduled to open in the spring of 2023.

ETFB presented the awards during Feeding America’s Hunger Action Day, held each year in September, to inspire the community to take action and bring attention to hunger in East Texas and the nation.

According to Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap study, 1 in 6 East Texans including 1 in 4 children are hungry. This amounts to 204,040 adults including 70,560 children.