ROCKDALE, Texas — Rockdale Full Gospel and Valley of Hope Texas partnered for a second time Monday to giveaway free food to Rockdale residents.
- The partnership resulted after church and non-profit leaders saw an increase in food insecurity.
- The poverty rate is 13.9% in Rockdale, which is higher than the national rate.
- Pastor Hebert Jones says they've helped about 60 people in two weeks so far, but expect the number to triple.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Kendra Hancox has been lining up at Rockdale Full Gospel church for weeks.
She's there for the food pantry.
"It helped me out for when I don't have things I can go prepare a meal. I know I have a meal to prepare with these groceries," Hancox said.
A new program created after seeing an increased need for food.
The average family in Rockdale makes a little bit over $40,000 dollars a year.
But the poverty rate is 2% higher than the national rate.
"It's a program that we reach out to the community, being able to feed them, give them food every week, but also an opportunity to engage with them," Pastor Herbert Jones said.
There, residents are taking fresh foods like fruits and meat.
Mina Davis, CEO of the non-profit, Valley of Hope Texas, says this isn't often offered in normal food pantries, and the response to the program is only growing, running out of food in just 20 minutes.
"For the second week, we doubled — doubled. I would often times ask people, you know what is your average household income in the past 30 days, where do you live. We're seeing people travel 20, 30 minutes just to get here or they're just right down the street," Davis said.
Like Hancox who says the program is a blessing.
"There's a lot of hungry people out there that's not fortunate," she said.
