About
The Texas Food Bank Network |
Texas
Food Bank Network (TFBN) was founded in 1986 as an outgrowth
of an attempt by a food retailers trade association, mostly
convenience stores, to conduct a statewide food drive. Although
the food drive was far from successful, the food banks came
to realize what they could gain by working together to share
their collective accumulation of knowledge, experience, ideas
and resources.
The initial network project was a trade show exhibit booth
that could be used by any food bank for educational purposes
and fund raising. The updated exhibit remains in use by food
banks around the state. Also in the early years, before America’s
Second Harvest (A2H) began producing a yearly report, TFBN
conducted a state survey to determine the collective totals
of the number of pounds of food being distributed and the
number of agencies being served. This information was used
to produce presentations to the trucking industry, media and
potential donors.
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First
Training Conference |
The first Texas Food Bank
Staff Training Conference was held in 1989 and was attended
by 125 food bank staff and volunteers. It provided training
for those who had no other training opportunities, for networking
with counterparts to share experience and ideas and for honoring
corporate donors for their partnership in helping to feed
the hungry in Texas. The annual conference continues to be
a vital component in TFBN’s mission. |
Establishing
A Disaster Plan |
In the early 1990’s,
TASHFB developed a disaster plan for use within the state
using the experience of the Texas food bank representatives
sent by America’s Second Harvest to Florida and Louisiana
after Hurricane Andrew. TFBN will instantly be a part of the
disaster relief operation when a hurricane strikes the Gulf
Coast or there are floods or tornadoes in the state. TFBN
members and staff were in partnership with first responders
during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. |
Name
Change & Organizational Growth |
As the network became more
involved with entities outside of food banking, members recognized
the need to further formalize its structure. In July 1995,
Texas Association of Second Harvest Food Banks incorporated
as a Texas non-profit corporation. In 2006, TASHFB changed
its name to Texas Food Bank Network (TFBN) using the new logo. |
Realization that the president
of the Network could not be expected to manage the increasing
volume of activity and his/her food bank prompted the network
to hire its first executive director on July 1, 1996 on a
part time basis. One support staff person was hired on a part
time level, also. The office was located in loaned space at
the North Texas Food Bank in Dallas.
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By spring of 1997, TFBN recognized
the need for a full time office in order to accomplish its
objectives for the upcoming year and to increase its impact
on improving nutrition and eliminating hunger in our state.
TFBN members voted unanimously to increase dues in order to
make a full time office feasible. The Executive Director and
assistant began working full time in early May 1997. |
Major
activity for the 1996/97 fiscal year focused heavily
on working with state agencies to develop effective
and efficient ways to implement welfare reform legislation
particularly regarding distribution of USDA commodities
and on education of state agency representatives and
legislators regarding the effect this program has
on hunger issues; particularly those which Food Banks
impact. The most significant impact came from the
Texas Commodity Assistance Program (TexCAP) whereby
all USDA commodities in Texas are distributed by 15
food banks under contract with the Texas Department
of Agriculture (TDA). TFBN’s Executive Director,
Board President and others served as part of the HHSC
workgroup formed to develop the rules by which Texas
could distribute USDA commodities more efficiently
and effectively. This resulted in a model agreement
allowing Texas food banks to distribute these high
quality, nutritious foods to soup kitchens and food
pantries across the state of Texas, as well as to
share in the administrative funds. |
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Privacy
Policy |
Your privacy is important
to the Texas Food Bank Network (TFBN). This policy outlines
what information is collected by visitors to the Texas Food
Bank Network’s Web site and how that information is
used.
In general, you can visit the Texas Food Bank Network’s
Web site without revealing any information about yourself.
Our Web servers collect domain names but not individual
email addresses to compile data such as the number of visits
our site receives, the average time spent on the site, the
pages viewed, etc. We collect this anonymous data to measure
the use of our site and to help us improve the site.
There are some instances in which you may choose to provide
personal information to the Texas Food Bank Network such
as making a donation, online. In these instances, the Texas
Food Bank Network uses encryption software to help us keep
your personal information, including credit card numbers,
secure. The information provided over our secure data lines
is used to process your request. Online donors will be added
to the Texas Food Bank Network’s donor database and
may occasionally receive mailings from the Texas Food Bank
Network. We do not share any of this information with third
parties.
Any information you choose to provide in an email to us
may not be secure and is used only to respond to your request.
The Texas Food Bank Network Web site may include links
to other sites, such as our major donors and social service
agencies. While we strive to link only to sites that share
our high standards and respect for privacy, we are not responsible
for the content or the privacy policies of other sites.
Our privacy policy is subject to change without notice.
We recommend that you check this page periodically for revisions.
This policy is in effect as of the date below.
06/2016
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