South Texas Food Bank serves nearly 7,000 in flood relief efforts

The South Texas Food Bank said it has served nearly 7,000 neighbors across South Texas as flood relief continued to reach Val Verde County. In Del Rio, the food bank and Val Verde County hosted a special food distribution at the Val Verde County Fairgrounds, part of a response that has stretched beyond one city and into an eight-county network based in Laredo.

The food bank’s disaster and regional outreach materials say its service area includes Webb, Zapata, Jim Hogg, Val Verde, Maverick, Kinney, Dimmit and Starr counties. For households in and around Del Rio, that regional footprint matters because flood recovery has not ended with the first cleanup. Families still facing damaged homes, temporary outages and extra repair costs have needed food assistance while they sort through the slower work of getting back on their feet.

On July 19, the food bank said six of the eight counties it serves, Val Verde, Maverick, Kinney, Dimmit, Webb and Zapata, were reporting flood-related damage. It also said flooding had affected more than half of its service area at once for the first time in the organization’s history. In Val Verde County, Judge Lewis G. urged residents with storm damage to file with the state, a reminder that recovery now runs through both immediate aid and the paperwork that follows a disaster.

The nearly 7,000-person tally shows how much demand flood relief has created across South Texas, and why food distributions remain important in places like Del Rio and the rural communities around it. The South Texas Food Bank said its relief work was already delivering food and emergency assistance to communities hit by flooding across the region, with headquarters in Laredo coordinating outreach throughout the eight-county service area. For families still paying for cleanup, replacing spoiled groceries and dealing with damaged property, food aid is filling a need that remains immediate even after the water recedes.