For Immediate Release
April 14, 2010

TCU coach selects Tarrant Area Food Bank for charitable gift

Donation caps TCU Hunger Week benefiting the food bank

    FORT WORTH (April 14, 2010) – As part of receiving the 2009 Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year Award, TCU’s Gary Patterson selected the Tarrant Area Food Bank in Fort Worth as his chosen charity to receive a donation of $10,000.

    Patterson made the announcement Saturday night in front of over 800 people at the Horned Frogs’ team banquet in the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. Representatives from the Bobby Dodd Foundation were on hand as Patterson presented the check to Tarrant Area Food Bank Director of Business Development Mary Kathryn Anderson.

    The donation will benefit Tarrant Area Food Bank’s BackPacks for Kids weekend feeding program for school-aged children.

    "We cannot express our gratitude enough for this extremely generous gift from Coach Gary Patterson and his wife Kelsey," said Bo Soderbergh, executive director of Tarrant Area Food Bank and TCU alum. "It is a wonderful way to cap off TCU’s 28th annual Hunger Week that has benefited the food bank."

    Patterson received the Bobby Dodd Award after leading TCU to the Mountain West Conference championship, a No. 6 national ranking and its first BCS appearance. The Horned Frogs posted their first undefeated regular season since 1938 and their first 12-win campaign since 1935.

BACKPACKS FOR KIDS
    This feeding program by Tarrant Area Food Bank supplies backpacks filled with nutritious child-friendly, non-perishable food to students and their siblings who are at high risk of hunger on the weekends. Currently, programs are in 19 schools in three counties serving an average of 1,600 children per week during the school year.

TARRANT AREA FOOD BANK and its network of 300-plus hunger-relief programs, each month, distribute emergency food to more than 40,000 families and serve more than 575,000 meals and snacks on agency sites. From July 2009 through March 2010, the amount of food distributed to partner charities has increased from 1.5 million pounds per month to 2 million pounds in March. One-third of the individuals served by this network are children. The network extends over the 13 counties of Tarrant, Denton, Wise, Cook, Parker, Johnson, Palo Pinto, Hood, Somervell, Bosque, Hamilton and Hill.

For information on how to fight local hunger, please visit www.tafb.org or call 817-332-9177.

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Andrea K. Helms, Director of Communications
Tarrant Area Food Bank – Fighting Hunger in 13 Counties
2600 Cullen Street, Fort Worth, TX 76107
www.tafb.org andrea.helms@tafb.org