The Tarrant Area Food Bank covers the Fort Worth side of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro: Tarrant County and 12 more counties to the west. It distributes more than a million meals a week through about 500 community partners. Julie Butner has led it as President and CEO since January 2020. TAFB works in coordination with the Dallas-based North Texas Food Bank, so the two split the metro rather than competing over it.
TAFB sources food at scale and distributes it through about 500 community partners across 13 counties, plus its own mobile pantry distributions that bring food directly into neighborhoods without a fixed site. The mobile model matters in a service area that mixes a dense urban core in Fort Worth with rural counties to the west, where the nearest pantry can be far away.
The organization is also building a Community Resource Center to pair food with other support services, reflecting the wider shift in food banking toward addressing the causes of hunger, not only the symptom.
Julie Butner has been President and CEO since January 2020, which meant taking the helm just before the pandemic sent demand soaring. She came from executive roles in healthcare and hospitality focused on food and nutrition and on operations. She also serves in leadership within the national Feeding America network.
The 13-county service area is centered on Tarrant County, home to Fort Worth, which has one of the larger food-insecure populations in the country. Combined with the North Texas Food Bank’s Dallas-side coverage, the two food banks address a metro region with well over a million food-insecure residents.
Yes. The Tarrant Area Food Bank is a 501(c)(3) and a Feeding America member. Donors can review its financials through Charity Navigator and GuideStar. Like other food banks, it stretches gifts through bulk buying and donated product.
Giving and volunteering both run through tafb.org. Volunteers help sort and pack and staff mobile distributions, and cash gifts go furthest because of bulk purchasing power.
Within the Dallas-Fort Worth metro, TAFB covers the Fort Worth side and the North Texas Food Bank covers the Dallas side, by mutual arrangement. Statewide, the Houston Food Bank is the largest. For anyone in Fort Worth or the western metro counties, TAFB is the organization to support.
~500 community partners across 13 counties.
Distributions that bring food into neighborhoods without a fixed pantry.
New center pairing food with other support services.
Cooking and nutrition education alongside food distribution.
Sources: Tarrant Area Food Bank website (tafb.org), Feeding America leadership profile, GuideStar (EIN 75-1822473), and Fort Worth Report coverage of the Community Resource Center. We are not affiliated with Tarrant Area Food Bank and receive no compensation for this listing. Spotted an error? [email protected]
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