Child Hunger

1 in 5 North Texas children face hunger

Through our Nourish the Future child programs, NTFB partners with North Texas schools, community organizations and social service programs to distribute more than 50 million nutritious meals to children experiencing food insecurity each year.

Our Programs

Food 4 Kids

Food 4 Kids serves up to 11,000 food-insecure children each week.

The NTFB works with educators to identify chronically hungry students and provide them with a bag full of nutritious, nonperishable, kid-friendly food each Friday afternoon. The Food 4 Kids program operates at more than 250 elementary and middle schools in North Texas, and ensures children have access to food when they’re at home during the weekend.

Qualifying schools that are interested can email ChildPrograms@ntfb.org. To participate, elementary schools must have at least 50% of their students qualifying for free/reduced lunch, and middle schools must have at least 40% qualifying for free/reduced meals.

Food 4 Kids Partners

“Families tell us how grateful they are … Some of them rely on the school for the majority of their meals. (After distributions), I feel they come to school happier, and they pay better attention and aren’t so worried about where their next meal will come from.”

–Catherine, Dallas ISD elementary school counselor

School Pantry Program

Providing non-perishable items and fresh produce to students

Through 40 School Pantry sites, NTFB works with campuses to distribute nutritious, non-perishable items plus produce. These operate at elementary, middle and high schools as well as on 15 college campuses, and they serve students, their families and staff. Some pantries operate as drive-through distributions while others have grab-and-go spaces set up inside the school.

Schools interested in participating, can email ChildPrograms@ntfb.org for more information. To participate, primary and secondary schools must have at least 90% of their students qualifying for free/reduced meals.

NTFB School Pantries provided more than 1.8 million nutritious meals across 40 sites during the 2022-2023 school year.

School Pantry Program Partners

“This is a great way to help your family, especially with everything being so expensive. I’m so grateful for the donors, not just for me, but for everyone who needs it.”

—Damian, a father of two and school pantry volunteer/recipient

Summer Programming

Providing students with access to nutritious meals during the summer.

NTFB’s Child Hunger programs operate in over 300 schools across our 13-country service area.

About half of NTFB’s school pantries continue operating during the summer, including several college pantries that are open to the greater community. NTFB also works with its partners, including distribution hub Sharing Life, to continue providing access to Food 4 Kids bags during the summer. NTFB continues to stay engaged with Summer Food Service Program providers, and it works to ensure its 500 partner pantries and community organizations are equipped to meet the increased need for food assistance that can occur during the summer months when school meals are not available.

“It helps a lot to have that extra food for the kids during their summer break.”—Judith, school pantry recipient and mom of three

Read Our Blog

North Texas Food Bank is working to ensure no child goes hungry this summer

The one in five children who face hunger in North Texas can struggle even more during summer break. Children are more likely to face hunger in the summer when they...