This Friday, the High Plains Food Bank, Hillside Christian Church, and the agricultural community are setting up a pop-up food pantry for those in need around the Amarillo region. With job layoffs and donation shortages due to Covid-19, there are many residents of the area who are having trouble putting food on the table. The pantry will be open to anyone in need on Friday, May 8, at Thompson Park in north Amarillo. The event will start at 1pm and stay open until supplies run out.

There are 2,000 food packs that will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis. With the demand expected to be high, there will only be one pack given per vehicle. However, due to generous donations, the packs will be well stocked. Each pack contains the following:

  • 1 dozen eggs – donated by Cal-Maine Foods
  • 1 lb. of cheese – donated by Hilmar Cheese Company, Inc.
  • 2 gals. of whole milk – donated by Nutra Blend, Sarah Farms and Southwest Dairy Farmers
  • 5 lbs. of ground beef – donated by Cactus Cares and Caviness Beef Packers
  • 5 lbs. of potatoes – donated by Larsen Farms

Residents that are looking to secure food, should enter Thompson Park off Hastings and Cholla. Recipients are asked to wear masks and practice social distancing guidelines. Volunteers from Hillside Christian Church will assemble packs as cars
move through the line. Volunteers will wear masks and follow sanitation and social distancing guidelines.

There will be no verification required to receive food. The High Plains Food Bank says that the requests for food assistance have increased nearly 20-fold throughout the Panhandle network since mid-March. In addition, the food bank's distribution has increased 34% since March, and in April distributed over 845,000 pounds of food, the highest amount for that month in the organization’s history.

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