With a Rare Winter Harvest, North Texas Food Bank Celebrates 40 Years

Feeding hungry North Texans — could there be a more noble cause? I think not. And by the capacity crowd of black-tie attired guests at the recent North Texas Food Bank Harvest Gala, it seems many agree. This event, hosted at the Omni Hotel in downtown Dallas, commemorated 40 years of the organization’s work with nourishing our neighbors facing food insecurity, particularly during the past few challenging years of COVID lockdown.

This year’s event chairs were Kathryn and Craig Hall and the honorary chair was Liz Minyard. They, alongside their host committee, auction committee, NTFB board members, and a passionate crew of volunteers raised a staggering $1,154,000. In the post-event recap sent to all guests, they shared that this translates to “nearly 3.5 million nutritious meals for our neighbors facing hunger.”

Beautiful NBC-5’s Laura Harris welcomed the well-heeled guests from the podium and shared that NTFB pivoted like so many other organizations during COVID. She pointed out that, “this event looks a little different than it has in the past. Harvest is the process of gathering crops, which typically happens in the fall and is when this event has historically taken place.” She then thanked everyone (with a wink) for joining her in celebrating “winter harvest” instead.

I had initially been excited to see my dear friend, Katherine Perot, at North Texas Food Bank’s Harvest, but learned earlier when I was texting (of course to ask what she was wearing) that COVID had landed on her family’s doorstep and they were going to miss her cherished event due to quarantine. However, she did join the event via a video where she shared the story of “Lulu May’s Mark.” A statue at the Food Bank’s Perot Family Campus of an X with that title in honor of Katherine’s grandmother and her legacy or kindness and compassion. During the Great Depression, an X was placed on the curb of her grandmother’s home to alert hungry people that it was a place where they would be welcomed and fed. Generation upon generation of Perots have kept that spirit alive by their involvement with NTFB.

Katherine then shared details about the Nourish North Texas campaign which was created because “the hunger crisis today requires that we act with a renewed sense of purpose. It will provide programs like food pantries in hospitals so patients can support their health through convenient access to nutritious foods and food at job training programs or educational institutions.”

Got to leave it to Katherine to end on an upbeat note by raising a bottle of wine that she and her husband Eric were enjoying at home and being with us in spirit. By the way — in a later text I found that she still got dressed up that evening for the video — a favorite frock from designer Mary Katrantzou.

Spotted in the ballroom that evening were Sharon Lee Clark, Lisa and Joe Bob Shirley, Nancy Gopez, Roz and Robert Colombo, Rose and Tom Cole, Chase Morton, Lauren and Brian Garcia, and Colleen and Mike Jacoby.

Nourish North Texas has a goal of raising $500 million in both funds and donated food over the next three years.