Wilshire and Oprah are about to make a famous duo like peanut butter and jelly.
Wilshire has been chosen by the North Texas Food Bank as one of 10 local congregations to participate in
Oprah’s Big Give, a national community service project to be broadcast nationwide on ABC-TV.
ABC-TV and Oprah’s Big Give are giving $10,000 to WFAA-TV to use as seed money for a local charity. They’re giving $10,000 to 100 local markets. The idea is to see how these local stations can leverage the seed money to do good in their communities. The results will
be broadcast on national TV April 20.
WFAA has chosen the North Texas Food Bank as its beneficiary, specifically the Food 4 Kids program. This program provides nutritious nonperishable food (that does not require utensils or heating) to elementary school children most at risk of going hungry over the weekend. Kid-friendly food items are provided to the child in a plain backpack every Friday afternoon during the school year and brought back empty every Monday morning. Currently serving more than 150 schools in 14 school districts, Food 4 Kids provides food to approximately 3,000 children in the greater Dallas area.
North Texas Food Bank, in turn, is enlisting 10 key sponsors to match the $10,000 gift to the Food 4 Kids program and to help gather 10,000 jars of peanut butter. Wilshire is one of those partners.
Wilshire congregants are asked to donate jars of peanut butter (18 oz. plastic containers or smaller) with one dollar bills attached. The peanut butter will be used for distribution through Food 4 Kids, and the cash will help North Texas Food Bank purchase additional food for the program.
Donations should be placed on the steps of the Sanctuary chancel, where they will serve as a visible reminder of this month-long project.
Wilshire members also are encouraged to spread the word to friends, neighbors and coworkers.
The event will culminate in a collection drop-off at the North Texas Food Bank on Sunday afternoon, April 20, the date of the national broadcast of Oprah’s Big Give.
The Food 4 Kids program helps children in Wilshire’s nearby schools as well as children across the region.
Maria Smith, a counselor at Stults Road Elementary School in Lake Highlands, gives this account of how the program helps children at her school: “I have three new kids on the program, and they are brothers. They were referred to me when the eldest was asked by his teacher one day where his homework was. It was uncharacteristic of him not to turn in his homework. He began crying, saying that his dad had no money and they had no food and no lights. So he could not see to do his homework, and they were very hungry. He was thin, pale, and his cheeks looked slightly sunken. When he was told that he would be getting a bag of food each Friday, he was so happy, so grateful and had tears of happiness.”
The need is further illustrated by Jan Lowe, counselor at Moss Haven Elementary: “A second grader got some dry cereal from an activity in math. He wanted to get his milk from the snack bag and pour it in the baggie. The teacher discouraged him from that but on the way out the school door she saw him tipping his baggie into his mouth with the milk added to the cereal.”
North Texas Food Bank was founded in 1982 by Liz Minyard, Kathryn Hall, Jo Curtis and Lorraine Griffin Kircher. Since then, it has distributed 362 million pounds of food across a 13-county service area.
Last year, 32 million pounds of food was distributed from the food bank warehouse. Many of Wilshire’s local mission partners are serviced by the food bank. Each month last year, member agency pantries distributed food to more than 43,000 families, and on-site meal programs served more than 410,000 meals and snacks.
(214) 452-3100