United Against Hunger in the Rio Grande Valley

It is no secret grocery prices continue to rise and pose real challenges to families living below poverty. Families struggling to meet their daily needs are making hard choices about their household finances.

United Way’s United Against Hunger has worked to ensure that emergency bags are available for individuals who need them. These bags are accessible at two locations in town and given without question or identification. This quarter we also worked to ensure that 27 families displaced by an apartment fire had resources needed for food, while we worked to help them find permanent housing. For the holidays, we know that a two-week break can be a hardship for families with children who get two meals a day at school.  Annually we partner with a variety of community organizations to provide 750 Snack Packs for children identified by their school nurses. The Snack Packs contain two weeks of calorie dense food items that children can easily serve themselves. At United Way we believe no one should go hungry.

This work does not happen without the generous support of our donors. Thank you for the privilege of serving our community.

This quarter United Way of Southern Cameron County's United Against Hunger served 3,845 households (over 7,000 individuals) who sought food assistance through two partner pantry programs. The need for emergency food assistance continues to grow as the cost of groceries and unemployment rates in our community continue to increase. The majority of the households served are elderly living on fixed incomes. With your help we have been able to provide a variety of fresh fruits, vegetables and meat to the emergency food assistance programs to ensure that what is available is a complete meal.

Due to shortages at our food bank there has been a limited amount of food available for community food pantries. At this time, we are dependent on community support to continue to make emergency food items available. Hunger is a difficult issue because it is not always obvious and often people try to “make do” with whatever they have available. Hunger can create more complex problems over time especially for vulnerable populations like elderly and folks with chronic medical conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure.

Our organization is committed to ensuring that people have the food they need to maintain their health and wellbeing. We appreciate your continued support.