In a quiet home in the 76119 ZIP code, four people struggle physically to get from one room to another, let alone to go get groceries.
George McFatridge, 72, one of the tenants in the Timberline Drive home, said he has to spend 1 ½ days in bed after he goes out to his appointments because he leaves 2 ½ hours early and gets home 2 ½ hours after they end.
Grocery runs are unrealistic for the household, an issue that is common within the disabled community. The tenants in the 76119 home order food online from Amazon, Wal-Mart and Aldi, sometimes, McFatridge said.
“We all pooled together and bought food for the house,” McFatridge said. “The motto here is, ‘You’re not going to starve here. Because we will provide.’ ”
Tarrant Area Food Bank Marketing Project Manager Michelle Johnson carries a box of food on Oct. 13. The Tarrant Area Food Bank has soft-launched its new food delivery program for the past nine months and has amassed 530 clients. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
A Tarrant Area Food Bank box is delivered to clients on Oct. 13. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
George McFatridge, left, and Dakota Frazier have a box of food delivered by the Tarrant Area Food Bank on Oct. 13. The new food delivery program has been soft-launched for nine months and eventually plans to deliver boxes of food catered to a client’s dietary needs. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
Food delivery program clients George McFatridge, 72, right, and Dakota Frazier, 32, open their box of food on Oct. 13. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report) 
George McFatridge, left, and Dakota Frazier look through a box of food delivered by the Tarrant Area Food Bank on Oct. 13. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report)
Last week, McFatridge and his roommates received a box of food from the Tarrant Area Food Bank. The food bank has been soft-launching a new food delivery program that brings boxes of food directly to people’s homes, something they had not done before, said Michael Polydoroff, the food bank’s director of marketing and communications.
The new program has already amassed about 530 clients, including McFatridge. The goal of the program is to ease the burden of leaving home for a disabled family — clients receive a box of food every two weeks.
The yet-to-be-named program offers a long-term solution to food insecurity for a particular group of people, something the Tarrant Area Food Bank has been working on.
What is food insecurity?
“The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines food insecurity as a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. It is important to know that though hunger and food insecurity are closely related, they are distinct concepts. Hunger refers to a personal, physical sensation of discomfort, while food insecurity refers to a lack of available financial resources for food at the household level.”
In rural areas, programs like the food bank bringing nutritious food to isolated families is important, said Bethany Wood, a University of Texas at Arlington social work professor.
“One of the problems that we see with food insecurity is not just that food is unaffordable, but that nutritious food is inaccessible,” she said.
Food insecurity is a symptom of poverty, Wood said. Being food insecure can trigger “scarcity mode.”
“When you are in that scarcity mindset, it’s really hard to think long term because our brains just want to survive,” Wood said. “If we reduce food insecurity, we’re really investing in the future.”
One of the biggest obstacles in battling food insecurity is finding a long-term solution, she said. It will require an intersectional effort between city governments, nonprofits and others to get affordable housing, higher wages, more education and stability.
Food banks are doing an amazing job at solving short-term food insecurity, but more can be done to solve food insecurity long-term, Wood said.
“Really, we aren’t seeing in Texas a lot of generational poverty and these are the families that continue to experience food insecurity. We’re seeing people that, you know, lose their jobs overnight or are dealing with things from the pandemic still or lose health insurance. It’s a problem that can really touch a lot of people quickly.”
Before McFatridge moved into a co-living space with his roommates, he worked for BNSF Railway as a driver. In 2016, he went to the hospital for congestive heart failure. In 2019, he was diagnosed with diabetes.
“I had a good life up until I was about 62 when I fell and dislocated my shoulder,” McFatridge said. “Then, mother and I both fell in 2015, and she ended up in a nursing home because I couldn’t take care of her. I was trying to put in some money to help pay for her gear.”
The food bank’s delivery program provided a much-needed blessing.
“We spent a good deal with food stamps to get some good meals,” he said. “Trying to make everything right for everybody is hard.”
Tarrant Area Food Bank CEO Julie Butner said the bank’s programming aims to solve social deterrents of food insecurity.
Its goal is to have clients return to a life where they’re not dependent on the food insecurity network. Programs like Fort Worx, SWAP, Cooking Matters!, the Junior Ambassador Program and now the delivery program help address the lack of food education, nutrition, education and employment.
“There’s no reason why people in this county should be food insecure. There is enough food here to feed everybody and especially in the Metroplex that we live in,” Butner said. “If we don’t do something, if we don’t have these interventions, it’s just going to get worse for the Tarrant area.”
Cristian ArguetaSoto is the community engagement journalist at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him by email or via Twitter. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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