The non-profit has been serving the Mid-Cities since 2009. Leney says they’ve seen a major uptick since the onset of the pandemic.
EULESS, Texas — 6 Stones’ Home for Hope in Euless has only been up and running for a few weeks, but in that short time it’s become extremely clear there’s a big need for their resources.
“We started serving 10 people an hour, then went to 20, and now we’re doing 3 hours and seeing over 80 people during that time,” said 6 Stones Executive Director Jennifer Leney.
They’re all taking advantage of the grocery store-style food bank because they’re dealing with food insecurity.
“There’s more month than there is money. People can’t keep up with inflation. They aren’t getting raises fast enough,” Leney said.
The non-profit has been serving the Mid-Cities since 2009. Leney says they’ve seen a major uptick since the onset of the pandemic.
“The needs have increased so much. HEBISD has 62% of their kids are at risk,” Leney said. “We have people coming to us that have never needed to come to a food pantry ever before.”
Feeding America’s Map The Meal Gap study found food insecurity in Texas is now the worst in the country and put the rate of food insecurity in Tarrant County at 14.2%.
“This new big beautiful building will help us serve even more but our desire is to not just give them food, we want to give them hope. We want to give them better skills,” Leney said.
Because 6 Stones isn’t just a food bank. They offer services like mentorship, educational resources, and home repairs and the new building puts everything under the same roof.
“They can come here and take classes, 6 Stones University is up and running. We’ve got 350 classes donated we can help you get a certificate,” Leney said.
Partner cities like Hurst see the impact.
“From the folks that are in their early twenties and, and just starting out and like, wow, everything’s really expensive uh to our senior adults who are on fixed incomes and, and they’re not seeing the same cost of living adjustments as, as inflation,” Jon Mckenzie, Hurst City Councilman said. “Every little bit helps.”
And 6 Stones volunteers say the satisfaction comes in the feedback they get from those in need.
“They’re so thankful and they, they tell us that they say thank you for doing this for us,” Volunteer Nancy Grounds said.