The West Texas Food Bank has received $54,465 donation from Houston Ferrovial and its subsidiaries Ferrovial Construction, Cintra, and Webber, LLC amid increased demands because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For more than 35 years, West Texas Food Bank helps the Midland, Odessa, and other West Texas communities. According to Odessa American, the organization is the largest non-governmental and nonprofit hunger-relief organization in the Permian Basin.
President and CEO of Webber Jose Carlos Esteban said: "We are proud to be able to help during this time of need in communities where our employees and contractors live and work."
Esteban added that the donation would help give needed meals to the families of West Texas. The $54,465 donation was part of about $400,000 in food bank contributions being made in Texas by Ferrovial and its subsidiaries.
The West Texas Food Bank located in Odessa and Midland operates on-campus pantries and conducts mobile distributions in underserved areas in 19 counties, which the organization serves.
Children, families, and seniors will receive the donated and purchased foods the organization will distribute through a network of over 80 partner agencies around in these counties. Every donated dollar will help provide four meals to each hungry individual.
"As the COVID-19 crisis continues to unfold, donations like from the Ferrovial Together COVID-19 fund will help the West Texas Food Bank provide thousands of additional meals to hungry West Texans," West Texas Food Bank executive director, Libby Campbell said.
The fight against hunger continued, requiring increased efforts from the Food Bank, and the donations like Houston Ferrovial gave help sustain the organization's goal.
"This year has certainly been different, and I cannot thank Ferrovial and Webber enough for this much-needed donation," Campbell said.
Ferrovial has already contributed more than $400,000 to food assistance programs in Texas to help with the increased needs in the communities it serves - including the Houston Food Bank, Central Texas Food Bank, North Texas Food Bank, and Tarrant Area Food Bank.
Ferrovial has also donated $162,000 to the Baylor College of Medicine to assist with its COVID-19 research efforts.
Another $100,000 has been donated to the to the OneStar Foundation's Texas COVID Relief Fund to assist with recovery efforts in Texas. This contribution was part of the company's larger fundraising campaign, "Ferrovial Together COVID-19" to support vulnerable groups and those at risk of exclusion in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain due to the current health crisis.
Ferrovial has made an initial contribution of more than $5.6 million and will match donations up to an additional $5.8 million for a total of more than $11 million.
In the United States, the company commits $1.2 million to pandemic recovery efforts and medical research, as per Odessa American.
Senator John Cornyn earlier went to Midland, Texas to visit the West Texas Food Bank. The senator said he understood how the company utilized the donations to help struggling citizens.
According to Newswest9, the $61,132,495 of the federal COVID-19 relief funding went to Midland alone as part of the CARES Act. Those funds have been used to assistance to food banks such as the West Texas Food Bank.
For more information about "Ferrovial Together COVID-19" campaign, click here.
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