West DFW News

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins believes a request made in March to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for $3 million to help feed local families during the COVID-19 shutdown may be approved soon.

The county made the State of Texas Assistance Request (STAR) last month as a way to help local food pantries with funding. With a recent change to the Stafford Act, FEMA funds may now be used for that purpose, according to WFAA.

Jenkins recently revealed to the county commissioners that approximately 70% of current food pantry clients in the county are new.

For the North Texas Food Bank – which covers 13 counties around North Texas with 250 locations – between 50% and 70% of the clients are new, CEO Trisha Cunningham said.

Cunningham joined Dallas County in lobbying FEMA to permit the use of federal funds for food pantry relief, she said.

“As we see unemployment rise, we're going to see our needs rise," Cunningham said. "There's no way any organization can be prepared for any of this." 

Yet, with food donations from groceries limited during the current crisis and restaurants that would regularly make donations not operating, Cunningham projected that the entire $3 million would only last area food banks for about a month. That amount of money would only pay for about 90 truckloads of food and 24 truckloads of supplies, she said.

"We're having to project how long those donations will sustain us because this is not going to be weeks before it's over – it could be months," Cunningham said. "It's also difficult for us to monitor the long term impact." 

In order to keep feeding the needs of local residents in North Texas, federal funds will not be enough, and private donations are still essential, she said.

As of April 23, Texas reported 21,944 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, including 561 deaths. Dallas County has 2,683 confirmed cases of COVID-19.