One day in 2020, Chairman of the Deacon Board at New Harvest MBC, Deacon Artie Russell, was leaving the church when he noticed someone from The Freedom Shield Foundation pulling into the parking lot. The Freedom Shield Foundation is an anti-sex trafficking organization that wanted to work with a church in the 76105 zip code to provide food to these high needs community to help alleviate the food insecurity issues. Prior to this collaboration, New Harvest had been working with various food donation organizations to provide food during the COVID pandemic and each time provided enough food for approximately 50 families.

Deacon Russell called Pastor Dr. Clyde Downs and the Faith Community Nurse, Johnna Donald. Within 2 weeks New Harvest MBC and The Freedom Shield Foundation hosted their first Operation Zip Code Mobile Food Bank in front of New Harvest MBC at 5205 Carol Avenue. They had 2 large 18-wheeler tractor trailers full of food that was in the parking lot of the church in the middle of Stop 6. It was such a quick stand-up time that demographics were not captured, and advertising was pretty much just word of mouth.

Now as we enter into our 3rd year, the Mobile Food Bank has grown, and we are now distributing on average 200,000 pounds of food to the community on a quarterly basis. The Mobile Food Bank has also worked with the staff at J. Martin Jacquet Middle School to use their parking lot on Stalcup, which is a highly traveled street in Stop 6. Mrs. Peggy Saldivar, the school’s Student Liaison, shares the flyers about the Mobile Food Bank with other schools in the area, which allows the group to reach families in the targeted zip code. During these Mobile Food Banks, participants have been able to get free COVID shots and tests provided by Texas Health Resources, as well as toys, blankets, gloves, clothing, and children’s books collected through community donations. Community Partners are welcome to attend the Mobile Food Banks as this is an excellent opportunity to provide written information about how their organization can help improve the lives of those in our community and the surrounding communities.