PlainsCapital Bank

PlainsCapital Bank Helps to Provide Relief

Local food bank gets a helping hand during COVID-19 pandemic

By: HANNAH ALLTON

T

here are 22 food banks in Texas. Most of them could likely tell you stories of how 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted them. Coastal Bend Food Bank in Corpus Christi is one of them.

“We were two weeks from running out of food at the beginning of COVID,” said Bea Hanson, Executive Director of Coastal Bend Food Bank. “People lost their jobs and were coming to us. Food was going out of the warehouse as fast as it was coming in.”

Coastal Bend Food Bank distributes millions of pounds of food each year to food pantries across 11 counties. In return, those pantries serve the people who need food most. That need multiplied during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as the food bank was competing with grocery stores to purchase food from manufacturers, funding was drying up. With low supply and high demand, times were getting more difficult.

“We saw at least a 30 percent increase of demand during the pandemic,” said Hanson.

As funding continued to dwindle, Hanson received a call from her friends at PlainsCapital Bank.

“I hadn’t heard from the food bank, so I reached out to see if they were interested in applying for a PPP loan,” said Frank Hastings, Coastal Bend Region Chairman of PlainsCapital Bank, and the former Coastal Bend Food Bank board president.

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) provides forgivable loans to small businesses to help cover up to 24 weeks of payroll costs and qualifying non-payroll expenses. Hastings was able to guide the food bank through the application process.

“It’s one of those surprising miracles that happens in life when you least expect it,” Hanson said. “It carried us through a difficult time when we were struggling. There was a great demand. We were able to meet the demand, serve the people, and survive.”

Coastal Bend Food Bank received $396,400 during the first round of PPP funding. That money helped the organization pay its employees for 11 weeks. It also gave their partnering agencies a break, financially. Agencies usually pay 16 cents per pound for most of their food. During May and June, Coastal Bend was able to waive this cost, giving the agencies more than 2.6 million pounds of food for people in need, at no charge.

“Part of our culture has always been to give back to the communities we serve, and the food bank has certainly always been at the top of our list,” said Hastings.

“Frank knew our needs and knew it would help us,” Hanson said. “He made sure we were recipients of this gift. He saved us in this crisis.”

Thanks to PlainsCapital Bank, the food bank was able to pay its employees and distribute 13.3 million pounds of food in 2020.