Beatriz B. Hanson Executive Director Food Bank of Corpus Christi

Del Mar Masonic Lodge 1350 Community Builder Award for 2015 was awarded to Beatriz Hanson, Executive Director of the Food Bank of Corpus Christi at an Special Called Open Meeting on April 14, 2015 for her tireless efforts leading the Food Bank of Corpus Christi  40 staff member and civic-minded citizens who contribute over 3,000 hours each month by sorting goods, working in the community garden, assisting with administrative functions, and more.

The Food Bank of Corpus Christi is committed to offer people in need more than just food. Good nutrition and education are at the core of better health and disease management. The Food Bank offers free of charge the following programs and services: nutrition education, public assistance outreach services, diabetes education, nutritious meals for students after school and during the weekends, and food distribution to rural areas that do not have established pantries.

The Food Bank of Corpus Christi serves eleven counties in South Texas: Aransas, Bee, Brooks, Duval, Jim Wells, Kenedy, Kleberg, Live Oak, McMullen, Nueces and San Patricio. 

The Food Bank of Corpus Christi provides food assistance, nutrition and diabetes educational support to 78,900 individuals annually; approximately 7,800 are served in any given week.  Programs include:

Nutrition
Coordinators teach clients how to prepare and eat healthy nutritious meals. Clients are taught to read labels and how to properly maintain temperatures for stored and cooked foods.

Outreach
The coordinator goes into the community and rural areas to educate and assist potential clients to complete the applications for Long Term Care for Seniors, Food Stamps, CHIPS, Medicaid, TANF, and Women's Health Programs.

Diabetes Education
In light of the diabetes and obesity epidemic in South Texas, the Food Bank of Corpus Christi offers the Diabetes Hands-On Program to individuals at risk or suffering from diabetes. This is an 8 week program that offers hands-on experience and education.

Kid’s Café
Several after school sites help low income children with their homework, tutoring, music, reading, and life skills. These children are provided with hot meals twice a week and snacks the rest of the week.

Back Pack Program
The Back Pack Program provides a bag of healthy and nutritious food each Friday during the school year for children on the free breakfast and lunch program to have to eat on the weekends.

Mobile Pantry
Mobile Pantry trucks deliver and distribute food to rural communities where residents have no access to donated food.  In four years, the Mobile Pantry Program has doubled the number of service locations. The amount of pounds served in year four has increased by 400 percent over the first year of service and the number of households served have increased by 170 percent.

Perishable Program
Food Bank trucks pickup perishable items such as milk, meats, eggs, produce, breads, pastries, and frozen items daily from local area food stores.  The Food Bank of Corpus Christi has well-established relationships with donor retail stores. In July 2013, the Food Bank received a grant from Walmart that funded the hiring of a Retail Donor Coordinator.

Teen Table
The Food Bank of Corpus Christi and the Corpus Christi Independent School District partnered together to aid teens who are homeless without adult supervision. These teens tend to be "couch surfers" temporarily staying at a variety of places.  All students were supplied with two-week’ worth of food and assisted in applying for SNAP benefits.