The East Texas Food Bank is opening a Longview facility that aims to tackle food insecurity and provide other services such as health screenings.
The Longview Resource Center will be inside the former Wesley-McCabe United Methodist Church at 1115 S. Mobberly Ave. The property is now owned by the First United Methodist Church of Longview.
The Christus Community Impact Fund and Christus Good Shepherd Health System recently awarded a $100,000 grant to the East Texas Food Bank to support the new center.
Dennis Cullinane, executive director of the food bank, said one initiative the Longview Resource Center will offer is the Health Food Pantry, in which clients will be able to choose what food they want rather than being given a box with pre-selected items.
That will allow clients to shop in a pantry and only take what they use, which will reduce food waste, Cullinane said.
According to a statement from Christus, the Health Food Pantry also will provide nutrition education classes and food demonstrations. The pantry will offer healthy food choices such as shelf-stable foods with low-sodium, fresh produce, products preserved in light syrup or water, whole grains and more, Cullinane said.
Another initiative that will be provided by the Longview center is a benefits assistance program in which staff members will help clients apply for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits, Cullinane said.
The center also will work in collaboration with the Texas Workforce Commission to provide utility assistance to clients who need it, he added.
Cullinane said he hopes the center can work with other local groups to provide health screenings and other health services for its clients.
“We’ll try to provide a one-stop shop that will provide not only food services but other services (clients) might need,” he said.
An important aspect of the center is that its hours and days of operation are meant to complement other assistance agencies in the area, such as the Longview Dream Center, Longview Community Ministries and Newgate Mission, Cullinane said.
He said the center will be open Saturdays and evenings to accommodate working families and ensure they have access to the pantry services.
The location for the center also was strategically chosen not to interfere with the services that other partner agencies provide, Cullinane said.
He said about 28,000 residents in Gregg County are considered food insecure. The center is at the intersection of half of those people, as Cullinane said the area near and surrounding Mobberly Avenue accounts for 14,000 of food-insecure residents.
Extensive renovations must be completed at the church building before the center can officially open, but it will be active through other means such as the food bank’s mobile pantry and food distributions at the Longview Fairgrounds, Cullinane said.
He estimates the renovations, which include making the building ADA compliant and asbestos testing, will take anywhere from a year to 18 months to complete. However, the food bank also is looking at an option to construct a new building on the property adjacent to the existing one, Cullinane said.
Although the $100,000 grant will not cover the entire cost of renovations, it will be used partially to cover the expenses for food, staff, transportation and more, he said.
The East Texas Food Bank covers 26 counties in Northeast Texas.
Visit www.easttexasfood bank.org for information.