The grants were unanimously approved by the Mayor s Disaster Relief Fund advisory committee.
The committee is chaired by former U.S. Ambassador and current Hunt Consolidated Senior Vice President Jeanne Phillips.
The other members of the committee are the Dallas Foundation President and CEO Matthew Randazzo, UT Southwestern Vice President for Community and Corporate Relations Ruben Esquivel, the Beck Group s Executive Chairman Peter Beck, Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax, and Mayor Eric Johnson s Chief of Staff Mary Elbanna.
“Last week’s brutal winter storms and catastrophic power outages tested our city’s resolve and our resilience, but our generous donors and the work of our grant recipients show the interminable strength of our communities,” Mayor Johnson said. “The people of Dallas are our city’s greatest asset, and I am thrilled that we will be able to help them recover and rebuild.”
Focus Daily News
The State Fair of Texas and Big Tex Urban Farms harvested and donated more than 26,000 pounds of food in 2020. This meant over 295,000 servings of fresh produce were donated to nine organizations in the Fair Park and South Dallas communities. Since starting the farms in 2016, the State Fair has donated more than 688,000 total servings.
Big Tex Urban Farms never stopped operating in 2020, despite the pandemic. In response to the crisis, the Farms adjusted harvest and donation procedures, adding safety protocols so the State Fair could continue to serve the community in their time of need. Safety protocols include workers wearing masks and gloves, socially distancing, updating contactless donation procedures, and shifting to virtual instead of in-person tours.
The State Fair of Texas said the Farms adjusted their harvest and donation procedures to include proper safety protocols in response to the pandemic.
The protocols included workers wearing masks and gloves, socially distancing at all times, updating donation procedures to be contactless, and shifting tours of the Farms to be virtual rather than in-person, the State Fair of Texas said. Even with the challenges from the pandemic, our team was able to harvest and donate even more food to the community - up 25% from prior year, Drew Demler, director of horticulture at the State Fair of Texas, said. Early on when the pandemic began and everyone was asked to stay at home, grocery stores and pantries were at a loss, so we knew our contributions were more important than ever.
An urban farm at the State Fair of Texas produced nearly 300,000 servings of fresh produce in 2020
The farm s produce was up 25% compared to 2019, according to the State Fair s director of horticulture. The fair donated the food to nine local organizations. Author: Jay Wallis (WFAA) Updated: 2:54 PM CST January 19, 2021
The State Fair of Texas announced Tuesday its urban greenhouse helped raise nearly 300,000 servings of fresh produce for people in need last year.
The State Fair s Big Tex Urban Farms harvested and donated more than 26,000 pounds of food, which comes out to about 295,000 servings of fresh produce.
The State Fair donated the food to nine organizations in the Fair Park and South Dallas communities.