AUSTIN (KXAN) — As thousands of Austin residents continue to experience power outages from last week’s ice storm, the Central Texas Food Bank will host a food distribution and resource fair Monday evening.
The drive will run from 6-8 p.m. at Delco Activity Center, located at 4601 Pecan Brook Drive in Austin. This comes after CTFB served more than 1,100 households during a similar distribution event Saturday.
Sari Vatske, CEO of the CTFB, told KXAN it expects to serve up to 500 households during Monday evening’s drive. She added CTFB has a network of more than 200 partner agencies also assisting in distribution efforts.
“We’re hoping that this is a time that works for families after, maybe, they’ve gotten off work, and is that additional resource during the critical time,” Vatske said.
Non-perishable food and water will be available via drive-thru distributions. Those without vehicles can still walk up to the distribution event to receive resources, CTFB officials said.
Vatske said many people were struggling with food access prior to the ice storm. Now, she said, that spoiled food and additional expenses incurred have made support all the more critical.
CTFB also navigated outages first hand, as the nonprofit’s facility did lose power for a few days. Still, they were able to navigate that power loss while hosting two distribution events over the weekend.
“We really want to make sure that no one goes without food,” she said. “But especially during this time, and sometimes folks just need a little extra to get by and make ends meet.”
Beyond Monday evening’s event, CTFB’s “Find Food Now” tool allows residents to locate groceries, hot meals, food pantries and other essential resources near them.
CTFB is asking for additional volunteer efforts and donations, citing extra demand from the ice storm “will put a strain on [CTFB’s] resources.” More information on donations and how to get involved with CTFB is available online.