For December, we highlight another charity close to my heart: The San Antonio Food Bank.

In 2012, I was laid off from a job and once my SNAP benefits expired, the food bank was my next stop. Time to pay it forward.

It’s impossible to overstate how much this organization relies on donations. It’s also impossible to overstate how desperately it is needed in Southwest Texas. Food insecurity, or not knowing where your next meal is coming from, is a rampant problem in our wealthy state. Some statistics:

  • One in five adults in Southwest Texas struggles with hunger.
  • One in four children is at risk of food insecurity.
  • Texas ranks 8th nationally in rate of food insecurity.
  • Each week, the San Antonio Food Bank assists 58,000 individuals in sixteen counties through their various programs.
  • 98% of all donated resources go directly to hunger relief.

Some of the San Antonio Food Bank’s programs include:

  • Kid’s Cafe: Neighborhood children can go to one of 28 Kids Cafe sites in the San Antonio area after school for a hot meal and homework help. 1,000 children visit these sites each day.
  • Project HOPE: Provides a 50-lb. bag of shelf-stable, supplemental food items to fixed-income seniors. 7,500 seniors every month are served by Project HOPE.
  • Nutrition Education: The San Antonio Food Bank deploys nearly a dozen bilingual nutrition educators into the San Antonio community every day to teach people how to shop for and prepare healthier meals.
  • Distribution: Mobile Food Pantries and Food Fairs allow the San Antonio Food Bank to distribute 1 million pounds of food weekly to difficult-to-reach individuals in the 16-county area (17,559 square miles) the food bank serves.

The San Antonio Food Bank distributes 50 million pounds of food every year. We’re trying to make a very small scratch on the surface of that with our food drive. A single shopping cart = 100 lbs, and we’re trying to fill three.

So dig into your pockets, go through those cupboards. Find some of these “twelve most wanted” non-perishables and bring them by Magic Beans, or just click here to go to our virtual food drive and make a cash donation. Every $1.00 donated provides seven meals to a hungry Texan.

12 Most Wanted Items:

Peanut Butter
Cereal
Tuna
Beans
Rice
Mac & Cheese
Chili
Canned Stews
Canned Soups
Canned Luncheon Meats
Full Means Can/Box
Pop Top Food Items

Join us in supporting the San Antonio Food Bank in the month of December. Donate food at Magic Beans Gaming Cafe from December 4th – December 14th, or donate online here. Mark your calendar for DECEMBER NERD NIGHT on Friday, December 11th starting at 6:00 PM.