What Should I Donate?

If you plan on donating one grocery bag of food to your admission, you may be wondering what you should give. There are more details on the admission page, but here is how I filled my bag from last year:

• 1 Box of Cereal
• 1 Bag of Rice
• 1 Bag of Noodles
• 1 Peanut Butter
• 1 Baby Food
• 1 Can of Spaghetti Sauce
• 2 Cans of Black Beans
• 2 Cans of Green Beans
• 2 Cans of Pork and Beans
• 2 Cans of Mixed Vegetables
• 2 Cans of Tuna

This can be used as a guideline for what we're expecting, though feel free to contribute whatever non-perishable food items you want. The more you give, the more needy families you'll be helping out.

Grocery Bag of Food

It is getting close to the 25th, so I thought I would talk about what kind of food donations we are requesting for admission. The Capital Area Food Bank of Texas has some nice guidelines to go by, so here they are:

Types of Food to Donate:

• Healthy non-perishable food
• Items with intact, un-opened, consumer or commercial packaging
• Items with non-breakable packaging (no glass please)
• Food within the expiration date on the packaging

Most-Requested Items:

• Canned meats like tuna, stew and chili (pop-tops preferred)
• Canned vegetables
• Pasta & pasta sauce
• Beans
• Rice
• Healthy cereals
• Peanut butter
• Baby food
• Baby formula

So, with the most-requested list in mind, I went out and filled up my paper grocery bag (pictured above) with one or more of those most-requested items.



Here is how I filled my bag:

• 1 Box of Cereal
• 1 Bag of Rice
• 1 Bag of Noodles
• 1 Peanut Butter
• 1 Baby Food
• 1 Can of Spaghetti Sauce
• 2 Cans of Black Beans
• 2 Cans of Green Beans
  
• 2 Cans of Pork and Beans
• 2 Cans of Mixed Vegetables
• 2 Cans of Tuna
  

This can be used as a guideline for what we're expecting, though feel free to contribute whatever non-perishable food items you want.

Follow the Can

If you decide to donate food at Give To Game for the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas, where exactly will it go? Watch this video to follow the entire process from your pantry to those in need.



After being checked for safety and quality, the Food Bank distributes your food donation to one or more of the 355 Partner Agencies across 21 Central Texas counties. Partner Agencies including soup kitchens, pantries and shelters then provide food to hungry Central Texans.

Capital Area Food Bank of Texas Intro

So, what is the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas? Well according to their mission statement:

The mission of the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas is to nourish hungry people and lead the community in ending hunger.

The food bank provides weekly food distribution to more than 355 Partner Agencies and disaster relief, conducts several programs that serve hungry Central Texans. All programs are free of charge.

• The Partner Education program works to educate partner distribution agencies to ensure access to serviced by underserved people and areas.
• The Choices program offers education classed to help individuals and families make good food choices.
• The Food Stamp Outreach and Education program helps assist individuals and families to apply for food stamps.
• The Fresh Food for Families program helps to provide 3,600 families a month with over 10,000 lbs of fresh produce.
• The Kids Cafe program provides 35,000 meals a month to 2,800 children in need at their 31 Kid's Cafe locations.
• The Healthy Options program for the Elderly (HOPE) program provides seniors on a fixed income with a months supply of staple grocerys.
• The Regional Food Delivery program provides more than 150,000 lbs of perishable packaged foods to 121 partner agencies in outlying areas.
• The Central Texas Food Rescue program provides partner agencies with fresh foods from local retailers that would otherwise be thrown out.
• Wheels of Sharing Mobile Food Pantry program; which provides fresh foods to remote locations in Central Texas where no food pantry is available.
• The Food Bank also participates in two partner programs: Texas Fresh Approach and Texas Second Chance. Both of these programs work with inmates who learn to grow and distribute food.

They do a lot of good work and are needed even more in this current economy as many families are struggling. We hope that you are able to come out on April 25th and give to this worthy cause. See you there!