San Antonio Food Bank Facts Print E-mail

What is the San Antonio Food Bank?
The San Antonio Food Bank (SAFB) is a non-profit organization that serves as a clearinghouse by receiving and storing truckloads of donated food, produce, and other grocery products. SAFB distributes these items in manageable quantities to approximately 450 service agencies that help people in need.

Why is it needed?
Nearly one out of every three children and one out of every five adults in Southwest Texas lives in poverty and has difficulty meeting basic nutritional needs. Sixty-five percent of the people requesting emergency food have children. Senior citizens and those living on a fixed income often have limited funds for a consistent grocery budget. Meanwhile, enormous quantities of surplus food are available from the food industry, food manufacturers, and farmers.

Why is food donated? Who donates it?
Most of the food comes from the major brands of the food industry. Often, the reason is overproduction or inventory control. Other reasons include packaging errors, changes in product formulas, the expiration of coupons or approaching sell-by dates. The United States Department of Agriculture donates commodities, while Texas farmers supply fresh produce through the SAFB’s Fresh Produce Program. The public, through numerous community food drives, also donates food to the SAFB.

How does the San Antonio Food Bank confront hunger and food insecurity in our community?
In FY09, the SAFB received more than 36 million pounds of food, produce, and grocery products. These products are distributed to 440 human service agencies that help southwest Texans in 16 counties. By partnering with SAFB, these agencies save more than $56.8 million in food purchase costs. These values represent almost 2.3 million meals per month going to 40,000 poor and hungry families in the San Antonio area. In the coming year, additional partner agencies will be eligible to receive SAFB products.

Do people who are hungry go to SAFB for food?
No. Our partner agencies – including soup kitchens, church food pantries, neighborhood centers, rehabilitation facilities, family crisis shelters, hospice programs, orphanages, and low-income daycare facilities – provide SAFB food and grocery products to their clients. Partner agencies report that 20 to 100 percent of their food comes from the San Antonio Food Bank. Through our network of partner agencies, the SAFB served 28,125,000 meals to poor and hungry individuals and families this year.

How is the Food Bank funded?
Donations are received from local businesses, churches, foundations, corporations, government, civic groups and individuals. When you make a donation toward SAFB operating funds, your gift is used to acquire and distribute donated food, including the operation of our warehouse; utilities to run our huge freezers and coolers; and fuel and maintenance for our refrigerated trucks. A donation to the SAFB will ensure the stability of the Food Bank for years to come, at a time when the economy might not be strong and when the need for services is more in demand than ever before. 

Where does the food go

More Facts About the San Antonio Food Bank

  • Founded in 1980, the San Antonio Food Bank is the oldest of Texas’ 19 Feeding America Food Banks.
  • The SAFB is also one of the largest food banks in the Feeding America national network of 205 food banks. The San Antonio Food Bank is the 14th largest in the U.S.
  • The mission of the SAFB is “fight hunger in Southwest Texas through food distribution, programs, education, and advocacy.” The Food Bank serves the City of San Antonio, Bexar County and 15 surrounding counties reaching almost as far as Mexico.
  • The Food Bank partners with senior citizen centers, church pantry programs, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, orphanages, after school programs, day care centers, and rehabilitation facilities.
  • The SAFB’s 16-county area is affected by high rates of hunger, poor nutrition, and related health problems. Overcrowded, sub-standard housing is the norm, not the exception, and problems like broken families, homelessness, substance abuse, unemployment, crime, and adolescent pregnancies round out this picture of hopelessness. Finally, the SAFB’s target jurisdiction has disproportionately large percentages of impoverished senior citizens.
  • Every week, the Food Bank provides emergency food assistance to more than 25,000 people facing emergency or financial calamity.
  • The Food Bank’s most needed items include peanut butter, chili, canned stews, canned soups, canned meats, tuna, beans, rice, pasta, cereal, and macaroni and cheese.
  • For every dollar donated to the Food Bank, $13 worth of quality groceries can be assembled for needy families.
  • A $20 contribution to the Food Bank will provide 140 meals for hungry people. A $50 contribution equals 350 meals for hungry people. A $100 contribution will feed 700 people.

Now, because of the stagnant economy and area layoffs, the SA Food Bank is swamped with requests for emergency food. Even though the SAFB is salvaging and receiving more food than ever before (more than 36,000,000 pounds in FY09), census and poverty statistics clearly show the San Antonio Food Bank is a long way from meeting the need. Meeting the need in our area, using respected methodology, equates to recovering and distributing a little over 400,000,000 pounds of food to the area’s hungry and poor.

The San Antonio Food Bank service area reaches north to Kerrville, south to LaSalle County, west to Uvalde, and east to Seguin. This large territory includes the following 16 counties:

  • Atascosa
  • Bandera
  • Bexar
  • Comal
  • Edwards
  • Frio
  • Guadalupe
  • Karnes
  • Kendall
  • Kerr
  • La Salle
  • Medina
  • Real
  • Uvalde
  • Wilson
  • Zavala