By Megan Wehring

KYLE — The city of Kyle, partnered with the Central Texas Food Bank, served 1,038 households, or 4,505 individuals, through the final mass food distribution event of 2020 at Lehman High School on Saturday.

“I think that it’s great that the city of Kyle has taken a proactive approach to helping those in need by partnering with the Central Texas Food Bank to bring our mass food distribution events to the city,” said Paul Gaither, marketing and communications director for Central Texas Food Bank.

The pandemic has caused even more individuals and families to be at risk of hunger, Gaither explained.

“We’ve seen unprecedented demand for our services since the pandemic began,” Gaither told the Hays Free Press/News-Dispatch. “Feeding America estimates that 560,000 people in our 21-county service area face hunger, up from 400,000 pre-pandemic.”

Central Texas Food Bank has worked with the city of Kyle for months to provide mass food drives and will continue giving back once the new year comes, according to Gaither.

“It’s going to take a long time for all the businesses to reopen and the jobs to come back,” Gaither said. “We view this as a marathon, not a sprint, and we’re here to help as long as it takes.”

Members of the community can access food through the food bank’s network of local partner food pantries and Mobile Food Pantry distributions. There’s also a “Food Now” button online where an address or ZIP code can help locate the nearest food distribution.