Drive-thru food drive pantry held to help feed Amarillo families

Posted: May 8, 2020 / 06:49 PM CDT / Updated: May 8, 2020 / 06:52 PM CDT

AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — 2,000 families were able to get some much-needed food today at Thompson Park.

It is all thanks to a partnership between local ag producers, Hillside Christian Church, and the High Plains Food Bank.

This afternoon, Thompson Park was full of volunteers from Hillside as they handed packs of food to whoever needed it first come, first serve, with no verification needed.

This was the scene today as people waited to get into Thompson Park to get much needed food packs. All 2,000 have been distributed.

Our local ag producers supplied beef, milk, eggs, cheese, and potatoes.

More than 50,000 pounds of food were handed out as people drove through the park to practice social distancing.

“Our goal is just to get wholesome food into the hands of the people that need it right now. So we’re just trying to make a little bit of a difference and we’re doing what we do every day. We feed the world every day and today we get to feed Amarillo,” said Dairy Farmer McKenzi Hettinga

The event came together in a little more than a week as the City of Amarillo, our local ag producers, and the High Plains Food Bank started planning this last Monday, showing how much the community wants to help our neighbors in need.

“How it started was saying look, we live here as well, just like everybody and we see the effects that is going on,” said High Plains Food Bank Executive Director, Zack Wilson. “This is a way that we can help, this is a way that we can step up. We live here, we produce and grow our products here, and this is the best way we know how to help.”

More than 2,000 cars went through the park to get food packs, and all of the packs were distributed.