Fire ravages Eastside Ministries' kitchen, leaving community in search of food support alternatives

Assist deliver the local news Fort Worth should have

This Giving Season, think about supporting independent journalism that's freely available to everyone, regardless of their monetary ability to pay.

Contribute Now

Food pantry manager Porchia Barber arrived early to work at Eastside Ministries on Nov. 28. She prepared to put up a few balloons for a coworker's birthday.

She was greeted at the door by a red tag on the knob when she got here. The Fort Worth Fire Department had actually left it there.

Get to know your community better with our free newsletters. Sign up today so you do not miss out on a thing!

Barber immediately called and learned that a morning electrical fire would bring an unexpected stop to food distribution services at Eastside Ministries. The organization's food kitchen prepared to serve nearly 2,500 Fort Worth residents in December.

The fire, which began around 1:45 a.m. Nov. 28, triggered significant damage to the center, including its food storage capabilities..

See: The damage inside Eastside Ministries' food pantry (Matthew Sgroi|Fort Worth Report).

" It's more than simply a structure, it's a lifeline for lots of," stated Diane Moore, Eastside Ministries' acting executive director. The pantry's food provides the only meal of the day for lots of families, she said.

Now, the pantry should shift its focus, Moore said. She does not wish to let anybody who gets here looking for food to be turned away, as they were the day of the fire.

" Our main concern today is to discover alternative ways to continue our food circulation," Moore stated. The organization typically serves anywhere from 65 to 100 households a day Monday through Friday. On some Saturdays, the organization does mobile distributions.

In the meantime, that will all alter-- a minimum of for a few months, Moore said.

" Smoke and water damage messed up whatever," grants specialist Denise Bell-Blakely stated. The pantry held everything from dried goods to meats and fresh produce.

5 lots of food were damaged, Bell-Blakely said. An approximated $30,000 of food was lost in the fire. The company hasn't yet got an estimate for the remainder of the damages.

The structure itself stayed relatively intact, she said, however the freezers as well as the grocery store outside them were severely impacted.

The Fort Worth Fire Department arrived on the scene about 2 a.m, according to a spokesperson. They left around 5 a.m

. The Fort Worth Fire Department at first stated the fire accidental, according to a spokesperson.

Another examination will take location in the coming days to identify the fire's cause, according to the Fort Worth Fire Department.

Eastside Ministries is going to require all the help it can get throughout its restore, board member Dan Luby stated.

" It's more than just a food bank," Luby said. "So much is done here.".

He got in touch with the Fort Worth community to help reconstruct the important service, highlighting the company's area on East Lancaster Avenue. The location's only supermarket is a Family Dollar, about a mile away from Eastside Ministries.

In the meantime, the company is collecting enough food to give out sack lunches to individuals who come needing it. They anticipate anywhere from 50 to 75 people to come by in the next few days.

Moore and Bell-Blakely are encouraging donations of cash or nonperishable items to aid with providing lunches through the vacations.

" This will be a tough time for so many families, made more difficult," Bell-Blakely stated.

Eastside Ministries won't plan to continue full operations until 2024, Moore stated. It will be a difficult couple of months attempting to feed everybody they can, she said.

" I went home yesterday and totally broke down," Moore stated. "The hardest thing is the customers, they depend upon us.".

Matthew Sgroi is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news choices are made individually of our board members and financial advocates. Learn more about our editorial independence policy here. Find out more about our editorial self-reliance policy here.

Want more protection of our growing city?

We depend on our members to fund our Fort Worth and Tarrant County service reporting.

Contribute now.

Close window X

Republish this post

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This work is accredited under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Unless otherwise noted, noncommercial entities may republish the majority of Fort Worth Report stories free of charge under a Creative Commons license. For business licensing, please e-mail hello@fortworthreport.org.

For noncommercial digital publications:.

Look for the "Republish This Story" button below each story. To republish online, merely click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS). Do not copy stories straight from the front-end of our web-site. .
You are required to follow the guidelines and use the republication tool when you share our content. The republication tool produces the proper html code. .
You can't edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in location, time and editorial style. .
You can't sell or syndicate our stories. .
Any web site our stories appear on need to include a contact for your organization. .
If you utilize our stories in any other medium-- for instance, newsletters or other email campaigns-- you need to make it clear that the stories are from the Fort Worth Report. In all e-mails, link directly to the story at fortworthreport.org and not to your website. .
If you share our stories on social networks, please tag us in your posts using @FortWorthReport on Facebook and @FortWorthReport on Twitter. .
.
For noncommercial print publications:.

You have to credit Fort Worth Report. Please utilize "Author Name, Fort Worth Report" in the byline. If you're not able to add the byline, please consist of a line at the top of the story that reads: "This story was originally published by Fort Worth Report" and include our website, fortworthreport.org. .
You can't modify our stories, except to show relative changes in place, time and editorial design. .
Our stories might appear on pages with ads, but not advertisements specifically offered against our stories. .
You can't sell or syndicate our stories. .
You can only publish select stories separately-- not as a collection. .
Any website our stories appear on must include a contact for your company. .
If you share our stories on social networks, please tag us in your posts using @FortWorthReport on Facebook and @FortWorthReport on Twitter. .
.
The Fort Worth Report retains the copyright for all of its published content. If you have any other questions, contact Managing Editor Thomas Martinez.Fire ravages Eastside Ministries' pantry, leaving community looking for food support alternatives.
by Matthew Sgroi, Fort Worth Report.
< p>> Five lots of food were harmed, Bell-Blakely stated. < p > The Fort Worth Fire Department arrived on the scene about 2 a.m, according to a representative. < p > He called on the Fort Worth neighborhood to help restore the important service, highlighting the company's location on East Lancaster Avenue.

Copy to Clipboard.
1.