Agency Partner Council

The Agency Partner Council is a coalition of network partners who serve as advisors to North Texas Food Bank (NTFB). In addition, the Agency Partner Council provides practical input and feedback on NTFB plans to strengthen the network to better meet the hunger need in our community. This council will give voice to the entire agency partner network and guide NTFB in setting goals and developing solutions that benefit all agency partners.

Key Responsibilities of Agency Partner Council Members

Plays an active role in the development, revisions, and evaluations of NTFB policies and services
Provides NTFB better understanding of Agency challenges
Serves and acts as a representative group and on the behalf of their own agency as well as agencies within their assigned regions
Serves as agency peer-to-peer mentoring and support
Serve on a planning committee for Agency Summit and other potential special events

Agency Partner Council Members 2024 - 2026

Craig Belcher

Manna House Midlothian

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Craig Belcher

Manna House Midlothian

Craig Belcher grew up in the town of Lancaster. Working as a freight operator, Craig and his wife Norma moved to Midlothian in 1998. They quickly became faithful supporters and volunteers of Manna House.

Through his volunteer service, Craig discovered his passion for loving and serving others. Craig was hired as the Pantry Manager for Manna House in 2011. Since that time, the community and Manna have seen tremendous growth. Today, Craig is the Director of Operations and manages a nearly 5,000 sq. foot pantry in addition to the operations of Manna House and its sister food pantry in Italy.

Craig is passionate about the mission of Manna House and serves the clientele with extreme care. Referring to Manna’s clients as “neighbors,” Craig sees the face and heart of everyone who walks through the door.

Craig and his wife Norma serve the Midlothian community by working at Manna House. They have three children, an amazing son-in-law Donnie, and three precious grandbabies.

Jason Egan

JustServe

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Jason Egan is a dedicated family man residing in Ladonia, TX, with a strong commitment to service and community involvement. With 27 years of experience as a successful business owner, he holds a Bachelor's degree from BYU Idaho and actively serves on the boards of two North Texas Food Bank Partner facilities. Jason is also recognized as a JustServe specialist in eight counties. He thrives on helping and uplifting others, finding joy in giving his time and care to those in need, ultimately offering a "hand up" to overcome life's challenges.

Kim Groff

Lovepacs Little Elm & Frisco

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Kim Groff

Co-Leader of Lovepacs Little Elm and Lovepacs Frisco

Kim has been a community leader with Lovepacs since 2015. Lovepacs primarily serves students with food bags or boxes to help cover needs over school holidays. In the past few years, the Little Elm chapter has also expanded to include a broader community outreach through a monthly mobile pantry and a walk-in pantry. Professionally, Kim has worked in nonprofit accounting for over 30 years. She and her husband Tom have been married for over 28 years and have two grown sons.

Wally Jeffers

Hunt County Shared Ministries

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Wally Jeffers

Executive Director, Hunt County Shared Ministries

Walter (Wally) Jeffers has been the Executive Director at Hunt County Shared Ministries since January 2008. Prior to that, he was in served in ministry for over 35 years. During his tenure at Hunt County Shared Ministries, Wally has taken the organization from a small food pantry that served 10 families a week to a highly respected organization serving hundreds of families each week. In addition, he started the Meals for At Risk Kids (M.A.R.K.) program, providing weekend meals to students in 6 Hunt County School Districts who have been identified as at risk of not having enough to eat over the weekends. Hunt County Gives is another signature project of Wally’s, bringing together food pantries serving some of the smaller towns in Hunt County for combined distribution of Thanksgiving and Christmas food boxes to as many as 1,200 needy families in the area. Hunt County Gives provides a central application processing point, one recognized place for holiday donations of food and money, subsequent purchasing power for each dollar to go as far as 5 possible, and coordinated box packing and distribution before each holiday. Thanks to Wally’s leadership, Hunt County Shared Ministries is one of the most respected and trusted charitable organizations in Hunt County.

Tahvia Merrill

Miles of Freedom

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Tahvia Merrill

Director of Program of Miles of Freedom

Tahvia Merrill is a Licensed Master Social Worker currently working as the Director of Programs for the nonprofit Miles of Freedom, assisting individuals impacted by incarceration, their families, and populations affected by urban poverty. Mrs. Merrill has extensive knowledge of the complex issues associated with disenfranchised populations and has experience supporting at-risk families and communities living with the effects of violence, poverty, and trauma. Work skills include intern and staff supervision, program development and evaluation, partnership development, process implementation, grant writing, and curriculum development. She prides herself on being a strong leader that inspires teams with her drive, work ethic, encouragement, and reassurance. Prior to transitioning to the nonprofit sector as a social worker, Mrs. Merrill spent over 15 years in the software industry with experience in CRM management, system implementation, and process improvement.

Danny Myall

Heart of the City Lewisville

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Danny Myall

Director of Operations, Heart of the City Lewisville

Danny Myall has been the Director of Operations for Heart of the City (HOTC) since August of 2020. His primary responsibilities are the day-to-day operations of the Farmer’s Market Food Pantry and Thrive, HOTC’s Life Skills Coaching Prior to joining HOTC, Danny volunteered with the organization and through various ministries within his church. His for-profit experience includes management/ownership within the nursery, landscape, and tree world. Danny and his wife have been married 26 years and have one grown son.

Rejeana Reynolds

Hope to Go

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Rejeana Reynolds

Executive Director of Hope to Go

Rejeana began working with Hope to Go in mid-2020 when it was just starting up. The director and creator of the pantry passed away suddenly in Jan. 2023, and she became interim director. Since that time, they have created a management team that operates the pantry together. Her background is in Business Management, and she holds an MBA from LeTourneau University. She has spent 25 years working for the State of Texas in Juvenile Justice. Much of that time was spent as business manager at multiple facilities and finally at headquarters. Rejeana also served as the purchasing agent for the agency for several years. She has experience of writing specs, bid processing, and awarding contracts.

Melissa Schmitz

Grand Central Station

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Melisa Schmitz

Executive Director of Grand Central Station

A native of East Texas, Melissa is the Executive Director of Grand Central Station in Sherman, Texas. She has a master’s degree in social work from Texas A&M Commerce. Growing up in a small town, Melissa always seen the need to help others and find solutions for any issues that arose.

As a mother of five boys and a grandson, she is no stranger to coordinating and organizing schedules. After more than a decade in working with domestic violence and sexual assault, Melissa needed a change. She has now joined Grand Central Station as their new executive director. She looks forward to serving her community in a new capacity and the resources she can add to assist all those in need.

David Schulze

Vickery Meadow Neighborhood Alliance Food Pantry

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David Schulze

Vickery Meadow Neighborhood Alliance Food Pantry

David Schulze retired from his position as Chief of Staff to the President & Chief Executive Officer at Dallas Area Rapid Transit in 2021. While in this role, he provided oversight for the Office of the President, lead strategic, tactical and operational initiatives, oversaw external communications, and served as representative for and strategic advisor to the President & Chief Executive Officer.

During his 30-year career as a lawyer in public service, Mr. Schulze actively participated in many landmark projects including the reconstruction of Central Expressway in Dallas, DART's Light Rail system, Dallas City Council's 2000 redistricting, the Dallas ordinance that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and planning for expanded public transportation services across North Texas. He worked extensively with governing boards on policy development, and served as senior advisor on ethics and conflict of interest issues. Most recently, he led strategic initiatives and executive communications, coordinated activities and engagements for the President and other C-level executives, managed policy development, and provided analysis of critical issues for DART's executive team. Mr. Schulze also oversaw the creation of the DART Historical Archive.

Since his retirement Mr. Schulze has been an active volunteer leader at First Unitarian Church of Dallas where he served as president of the congregation, and leader of the hiring team tasked with selecting a Director of Music for the congregation. He is also active at the Vickery Meadow Neighborhood Alliance Food Pantry where he serves on the management team and as Pantry Stock Manager.

Art and creativity have always played an important role in Mr. Schulze’s life. He currently maintains an active painting practice and leads workshops that focus on creativity and building art skills.

David Schulze is married to Seldon Short. They live in the Lake highlands neighborhood of Dallas with their Australian Shepherd Rafkik.

Michael Schwerin

Community Lifeline

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Michael Schwerin

CFRE

Michael Schwerin has served as Executive Director of Community Lifeline Center (CLC) in McKinney since March of 2022. During his time at CLC, Michael has worked to remove any potential barriers that prevent neighbors from getting food by increasing hours and transitioning to a client-choice pantry from a pick-list model. CLC also provides additional Hope for Tomorrow services, including financial assistance through its One Month Away program and they are currently expanding to help neighbors who are unhoused by joining with Housing Forward. Prior to coming to Community Lifeline Center, Michael spent over 15 years working in the nonprofit sector in various fundraising, marketing, and executive roles. This has included serving as the Director of Development at the SPCA of Texas, Crossroads Community Services, We Teach Science, and the Greater Denton Arts Council. Michael lives in Wylie with his wife and teenage daughter.

Kyle Taylor

Irving Cares

Heather White

Community Chest

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Heather White

Executive Director of Community Chest

Heather White has been with Community Chest as the Executive Director since 2021 and was previously a volunteer/administrative associate. Heather from Saltillo in Hopkins County and has lived on a ranch most of her life. She has been in retail management for 17 years, currently an operations Supervisor for a distribution center alongside her roles with Community Chest. Heather has two wonderful kids 14 and 7 and they absolutely keep her life filled with the wonderful crazy that children bring. Heather hopes she can grow their outreach and make a difference in the community through multiple hope for tomorrow services and providing nutritious food resources.

Tyrone Coleman

Crossroads Community Services

James Wantland

Sharing Life

To reach the council you can send an email to APcouncil@ntfb.org.

Agency Partner Council Year 2022 - 2024

Angela Roberts, Commerce Food Pantry
Courtney Cuthbert, Brother Bills Helping Hand
Crystal Brooks, Masterkey Ministries of Grayson County
Izell Bennett, First Refuge Ministries
Jamie Espinoza, Storehouse Suppers
Korey McCrady, Helping Hands of Ennis
Shannon Reel, Compassion Corsicana
Sharon Newton, Cumby Food Pantry

back to agency zone

Agency Partner Council

Key Responsibilities of Agency Partner Council Members

Agency Partner Council Members 2024 - 2026

Craig Belcher

Jason Egan

Kim Groff

Wally Jeffers

Tahvia Merrill

Danny Myall

Rejeana Reynolds

Melissa Schmitz

David Schulze

Michael Schwerin

Kyle Taylor

Heather White

Tyrone Coleman

James Wantland

Agency Partner Council Year 2022 - 2024

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