Houston Food Bank
Houston Food Bank is a private non-profit organization founded in 1982 Houston, Texas and is a certified member of Feeding America, the nation’s food bank network. The Houston Food Bank is America’s largest food bank in distribution to its network of nearly 600 hunger relief charities in 18 southeast Texas counties. Named top charity in Texas by Charity Navigator for financial performance and accountability, the Food Bank provides 74 million nutritious meals to food pantries, soup kitchens, senior centers and other agencies, feeding 137,000 people each week. The organization plans to grow to provide 100 million nutritious meals annually by 2018.
Locations
Portwall
The main location of the Houston Food Bank is a 308,000 square-foot warehouse located just off 1-10 East at 535 Portwall St. The warehouse was acquired as the culmination of a capital campaign that generated $56 million in gifts from the generous community in 2011. From this building, volunteers and staff distribute fresh produce, meat and nonperishable items throughout the community. At any given time, the warehouse holds about 12 million pounds of perishable and non-perishable items. The Portwall facility houses most of the Food Bank staff offices, as well as additional community services ranging from nutrition education to assistance with food stamp applications and hands-on job training. Portwall can accommodate up to 1,000 volunteers during each of its volunteer shifts Monday through Saturday.