MIDLAND ConocoPhillips has announced a $227,000 donation to the West Texas Food Bank to ensure transportation for the senior nutrition program and expand the program to include the more than 600 seniors who were waiting for support.
According to a recent study, the average senior citizen spends nearly $5,000 a year on out-of-pocket healthcare costs. With fixed incomes and rising inflation, many seniors are forced to make tough decisions between food and medicine.
According to a new report from the AARP Foundation, 1 in 10 adults over the age of 50 are food insecure, meaning they don’t have reliable access to enough nutritious food, a news release said.
The West Texas Food Bank Senior Box Program is a step in the right direction to help combat seniors going hungry in the 19 counties they serve. There is a waiting list for the program and the food bank has been actively trying to figure out other ways to help feed the waitlisted individuals.
“We are so grateful to ConocoPhillips for their partnership in helping us to feed seniors in our community,” Libby Campbell, CEO of the West Texas Food Bank, said in the release. “This is a population that is often overlooked, and we are committed to making sure that no one goes hungry. Of course, we couldn’t meet the need without such strong corporate partners like ConocoPhillips who are dedicated to improving our community.”
After acquiring Concho Resources in 2021, ConocoPhillips has maintained support for Concho’s heritage initiatives, including a strong continued partnership with the West Texas Food Bank. That’s why it was an easy call to make when the food bank was faced with a gap in funding for several of its senior nutrition support programs. ConocoPhillips saw it as an opportunity to put even more support behind the food bank’s critical work.
“Food insecurity finds its way to the most vulnerable people in our community,” said ConocoPhillips Vice President Scott Kidwell. “We can’t let that happen, and thanks to the food bank, we’re getting closer to achieving a vision of a West Texas without hunger.”
Texas is ranked fifth in the nation for food insecurity, and food insecurity among seniors in Texas is 10.4%, according to the State of Senior Hunger published by Feeding America. The West Texas Food Bank’s Senior Nutrition Program provides supplemental food boxes for 2,000 low-income seniors across West Texas. Naturally, it takes time and resources to deliver food boxes to such a wide distribution area. ConocoPhillips’ donation will ensure fuel and maintenance costs for this program for four years. Additionally, the donation will remove over 600 seniors from the waiting list for this program, which will immediately increase the quality of life for these seniors by providing food security and improving their nutrition.
“As a company, we continue to support organizations that make our community stronger,” said ConocoPhillips Advisor to the CEO Tim Leach. “Thanks to strong partners like the West Texas Food Bank, we’re working together to take on tough issues to improve the quality of life for people in the Permian Basin.”
