Tarrant Area Food Bank Launches Holiday Gift Catalog

By Noelle Walker

On October 28, 2023

The Halloween pumpkins are still out, but the Tarrant Area Food Bank is thinking ahead to the holiday season.

On Friday, the TAFB launched its first-ever holiday gift catalog called “Holidays of Hope.”

“Inflation is biting hard,” TAFB Chief Development & External Affairs Officer Stephen Raeside said. “We’re distributing a million meals a week.”

The TAFB Holiday of Hope Gift Catalog lists items like “Fill a Fridge” and “Give Growth” to buy seeds for community gardens. The people pictured on the pages are not models.

“Those are pictures of actual clients,” Raeside said.

TAFB’s online catalog is a stark contrast to the more well-known Neiman Marcus holiday catalog, which offers over-the-top gifts like a Cartier diamond tiara and Barbie pink Maserati.

“What’s over the top right now is hunger,” Raeside said.

TAFB client need is back up to the level it was at the height of the pandemic. An estimated one in six families experienced hunger in the last year.

“It’s also affected us here at the food bank,” Raeside said. “There isn’t as much surplus in the food chain right now, and that means we’ve had to purchase food at unprecedented levels.”

TAFB is spending $1.3 million a month that wasn’t budgeted to keep shelves stocked.

“It’s not sustainable for many more months,” Raeside said. “So we’re asking all our supporters from Fort Worth and beyond to please step up…ensure that all our hungry families have a fantastic holiday.”

This piece was republished NBCDFW.