Local citizens are, in fact, fighting for the Hunger Food Bank. This is because it will have to temporarily shut down the third site. It is due to a loss in Texas National Guard troops. It’s a challenging and difficult situation. People need to eat and feed their families. There are cross purposes and demands of these troops.
The Border and National Guard Presence
Governor Greg Abbott said recently he wants to implement more troops in the Southern State and city. It would help with the security there, such as arresting those who illegally cross the border and help construct border barriers.
Local Citizens are the Victims and Most Vulnerable
The food bank is very strongly reliant on the National Guard to help out volunteers, said EPFHFB CEO Susan Goodell.
Losing National Guard Support
The city of El Paso is the only food bank in Texas that is really at risk of losing all of its guard support. Moreover, Goodell did add that they at this time lost 20 National Guard members. By the end of August, they expected to lose a total of 90.
“The food bank, at this time, due to the loss in National Guard, we just don’t have the manpower to keep five mega distribution sites running,” Goodell said. “Moreover, we can find the food, then get that food into El Paso on the back of traffic trailers. Yet it would be without the manpower to distribute it, seriously this community is really in trouble.”
“In fact, we are now losing the National Guard. Moreover, we have a two-week period where we will not have them. Yet even when they come back to us in two weeks, they will, in reality, be half the size they’ve been in the past,” she said.
Goodell has said there has been a decrease in volunteers ever since the COVID-19 pandemic and thus encourages El Pasoans to volunteer.
Right now, the El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank is really the only food bank serving the El Paso area. Yet it the third-largest food bank in the world.
