Lovepacs Aubrey/Pilot Point remains dedicated to caring for food insecure children throughout the Ranch Cities area.
That dedication will be on display on July 27, when the nonprofit holds its open house from 3-5 p.m. at the new pantry location at 4940 U.S. 377, Ste. 7.
'The whole mission of Lovepacs is very simple,' said Kim Groff, the Lovepacs Aubrey/ Pilot Point coordinator. 'It's to engage the community to feed children in need as an expression of love. That's all we do.'
Although the local Lovepacs efforts were not started by Karen Mattson, it was her who really worked to build up and expand the program to fill a greater need.
Groff, who worked with Mattson before her death, wants to honor her memory with continuing the work.
'She had already had the school year ready to go,' Groff said of Mattson. 'She already made her contacts up here, which was her big dream, was to expand Aubrey north into Pilot Point, and so when we got here and stepped in and took over her notes and everything, I saw that she had done that.'
In the 2024-25 school year, Lovepacs packed 1,148 weekend bags and distributed 151 boxes for Pilot Point alone.
'[Texas] leads the nation in food insecurity,' Groff said. '… In this area, specifically our county, one in four households with children are food insecure. So, it's happening here. … I know Shepherd's Storehouse does an amazing job up here, but they can't do it alone. They're doing the best they can.'
Access to food from the Tarrant Area Food Bank have tapered off, so local need is increasing.
She, along with the help of volunteers including Glory Huerta, are working to keep up with the need.
'We just moved into a new space,' Groff said. '… It's the same rent, but bigger, and it's a warehouse office, so we have a big door and can use pallet jacks and we don't have to carry it all around.'
The only downside is the nonprofit will need additional off-site drop-off locations because there is no covered outdoor storage areas.
There are several ways area residents can help meet those needs, Groff said, including donating either the food items on the list of accepted items or monetary donations that allow the organization to fill the need.
For more details on how to help, visit lovepacs. org.
The teachers and counselors in the schools are the ones who identify the needs and share the number of kids who need boxes of food for long holidays and weekend bags to help them have enough to eat outside of school.
'Sometimes it looks like bad behavior, but it's really a hungry tummy,' Groff said. 'Sometimes it looks like illness, like you have a headache or a tummy ache, you really just didn't get dinner or breakfast.'
Patti Wilson, who is a new Rotarian and a seasoned Lovepacs volunteer, spoke, too, about the value of helping.
'This is going to be a year of need from a lot of nonprofits, so we need to get the word out, what was going on in the future and how we all could help,' she said.
'There's so many things we can't fix; we can't do one thing about, but if there's a child who's hungry in our community, we can do something about that,' Groff said. 'Nobody in our community should not have access to food.'
Attendees of the Pilot Point Health Fair, which will be from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday at Pilot Point Middle School, will have the opportunity to donate nonperishable food items to Lovepacs, Shepherd's Storehouse or HOPE Food and Clothing Ministry to help combat food insecurity.
