Three nonprofits receive $625,000 for hunger relief, animal welfare
Three local nonprofits dedicated to providing hunger relief and animal welfare will benefit from $625,000 in grants from the Coastal Bend Community Foundation.
Hunger and homelessness are pervasive and interconnected problems throughout South Texas. More than 627 people in Nueces County are homeless, according to the latest point-in-time count results.
While food banks and food pantries often serve homeless individuals, most food bank recipients are working people who have unexpected expenses or cannot afford groceries.
About 145,000 people living in Nueces County were served by food pantries last year, underscoring the need for funding to enable food pantries to obtain more food from banks to serve clients, said Karen Slim, president and CEO of CBCF.
“The food provided to the pantries is distributed almost immediately, and most of the pantries are run by volunteers, so it is very important that people are available in our area to provide services to those in need,” she noted. “This is a way to meet the need in those stores.”
For Coastal Bend Food Bank, which received $410,170 in cash awarded through the Food Pantry Special Grant, the funds build capacity to enable low-cost food distribution to more than 50 food pantries, including mobile food distribution services , located throughout the seven regions. CBFB’s district network.
Food banks receive credits applied to food pantry accounts based on the number of people served in the previous year. The grant also supports mobile food distribution in counties served by partner food banks.
The Golden Crescent Food Bank, which provides food assistance to more than 40,000 people in 11 counties each month, including the Refugio County Mobile Food Unit, received $14,830 in grant money in February.
This is the seventh year the foundation has funded local nonprofits and charities through the grant, and has disbursed more than $2 million in grant money, Slim said.
“The Coastal Bend Community Foundation is a godsend for us to help serve our neighbors in need in Refugio County,” said Robin Cadle, President and CEO of FBGC.
Last year, the grant helped provide food assistance to more than 368,543 individuals across the seven-county service area, and with an additional $50,000 awarded this year, the impact will hopefully be even greater, Slim said.
CBCF also awarded $200,000 to People Assisting Animal Control, a nonprofit organization that provides low-cost spay and neuter services to clients in 20 counties at its Corpus Christi clinic. PAAC received a grant last year to spay or neuter 2,152 animals. Some were pets, others were feral catch and release.
A total of $525,000 has been paid through the program since 2022, and the goal this year is the same — to support responsible pet ownership, Slim said.
“Our community benefits from having more manageable pets, as this reduces pressure on shelters and ensures more animals find loving forever homes,” she said. “Police and animal control can identify areas where the need is greatest, and people who help with animal control have a large outreach, but Nueces County is the only one that has an urban center.
“We have expanded our focus to provide assistance especially in rural areas to try to get ready high-volume spay and neuter services in certain areas and populations,” she said. “This organization has the capacity through its veterinary services, volunteers and staff to serve a large number of clients.”
