Food insecurity in the Dallas/Fort Worth area is on the rise. With so many people out of work, even families who have never needed help before are relying on donations to put food on the table. We’ve seen huge lines at food pantries all across the region; thousands of cars waited hours in line at North Texas Food Bank’s Thanksgiving drive giving 600,000 pounds of food including 7,280 turkeys to families in need. 

We compiled the following list of nonprofit organizations who, like Feeding America’s North Texas Food Bank and Tarrant Area Food Bank, are working diligently every day to feed our DFW neighbors. Check out their services, ongoing food drives, and ways to get involved or donate to their efforts. 

Where You Can Find Free Food in DFW

If you’re out of work due to the pandemic, or simply need a little help to feed yourself or your family, there are resources available. Here are a few of the DFW nonprofits seeking to address this problem. 

Dallas Area Food Drives & Services

• The Oak Cliff Veggie Project on Hampton Rd in West Dallas focuses on three points of service: education, cultivation, and preparation. During COVID they’ve been working to distribute fresh produce to the community through events and workshops at locations across the community. You can also follow their Instagram feed for more event details.

• The Harvest Project Food Rescue has served over a million people this year alone. Every week they sell wholesome wholesale baskets for families all over Dallas. The baskets contain delicious fresh produce and are delivered directly to your door. The proceeds from these sales go toward feeding members of the community who are struggling, allowing them to put healthy food on the table. Check out their Facebook or Instagram for more event information. 

• Hunger Busters on Sylvan Avenue in Dallas provides daily meals to Dallas ISD students through their afterschool program. In 2020, schools shut down and kids across the country lost access to this type of help. In response, Hunger Busters began distributing Healthy Food Boxes through drive-in events all across the area.

• Aunt Bette's Community Pantry at St. Philip’s School and Community Center on Pennsylvania Ave in Dallas has been feeding south Dallas for more than a decade. During COVID, they’ve moved to a low-touch assembly and distribution model, packaging and distributing boxes of food to those in need on Monday and Wednesday mornings. 

• OurCalling is a homeless mission that clothes, educates, and feeds those in need. They’re impacting lives across Dallas with the resources needed to solve problems long-term.

Other DFW Area Food Drives & Services

• McKinney Roots seeks to harvest and donate produce to families who are concerned about food insecurity. The need is great with over 7600 children in McKinney in free or reduced-cost meal programs.

• Open Door Church’s Food Bank offers twice-monthly events for anyone who needs help, no strings attached! They are located in Joshua, TX in case you can’t make the drive to Dallas or Fort Worth. Check out their Facebook for ongoing bi-monthly food drive details. 

• The My Possibilities School for job training for adults with special needs. They offer classes and a community for Hugely Important People, or HIPsters as they are known on their campus in Plano. 

• You can also check out North Texas Food Bank, Tarrant Area Food Bank or Crossroads in the West Dallas area for other food drives, hunger programs or donate and volunteer to support their amazing work.

Service Industry Food Options

There are also several options that focus specifically on those in the service industry who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic:

• The Heard That Foundation - Their emergency COVID relief fund is providing food and resources for those in the service industry or hospitality.

• Undocumented workers have hungry families too, but few resources are available to them. Project La Familia in Dallas is hoping to turn that around, one food donation event at a time.

• It’s easy to forget that farmers are struggling in this difficult time too, but The Seed Project Foundation is working to fund sustainable agriculture in the region. 

Partner with Eden Green Technology to Feed DFW

34,057 pounds donated so far!

We may have the word “technology” in our name, but at heart, Eden Green Technology is about people. We developed our hydroponic vertical farms to help provide the food needed to meet the demands of a swelling population. So when we hear that there are hungry and hurting people in our community, we feel a responsibility to help.

Beginning in March of 2020, Eden Green Technology has been partnering with local businesses and nonprofits to supply nutritious leafy greens to families and individuals in need. Our R&D facility and vertical farm in Cleburne Texas has donated over 34,057 pounds (that’s 108,982 servings) of nutritious greens like kale, spinach, chard, arugula and more to some of these nonprofit partners, and plan to continue working with these organizations through 2021. 

Sponsor a Row of Our Vertical Farm

Looking for a new way to give back to your community? The pandemic food insecurity problem is huge, but not insurmountable. Access to healthy, high quality and fresh produce for food donations can be difficult through normal avenues, so we’ve created a way where your business can donate from the top, rather than from the leftovers. We’re looking for like-minded corporations or organizations who are willing to help. Our corporate sponsors fund the food production of our R&D trials, where delicious and safe hydroponic leafy greens are packed in bulk to our existing nonprofit partners. Contact us today to learn how you can lend a helping hand and give back to our DFW neighbors.

Became a Nonprofit Partner

Like some of the organizations mentioned above, you can schedule weekly or monthly pick ups from our R&D greenhouse in Cleburne, TX. We can package our produce in bulk or donate seedlings to your community farm. Get in touch today to see if we can meet your food drive needs.

Add to our Resource List

If you’d like us to add your nonprofit to our resource list, please send the details to hello@edengreen.com.