Event Submitted By Darin K. Dabney
On Tuesday, November 7, 2023, St. Philip’s School and Community Center, celebrated a special event to re-dedicate Aunt Bette’s Community Pantry, a newly acquired and renovated facility. This invitation-only ceremony honored the pantry’s profound impact on the South Dallas community and the remarkable individuals who have supported its mission. Photos and videos from the event can be viewed online.
St. Philip’s School and Community Center unveiled the recently acquired and newly renovated site of Aunt Bette’s Community Pantry, located at 3203 Holmes Street, Dallas, TX 75215. The ceremony honored the pantry’s extensive impact on the South Dallas community and those who have been empowered by it.
“Aunt Bette’s distributes more than 700,000 pounds of food to over 850 households and more than 1,750 individuals every year, which is incredible in our community,” said Trisha Cunningham, President and CEO of the North Texas Food Bank.
Local philanthropists and pantry supporters such as Nancy Perot, Ross Perot, Jr., Carolyn Rathjen and Suzanne McGhee of The Perot Family; Lydia and Bill Addy of the Addy Foundation; Alfreda B. Norman, SVP of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas; Trisha Cunningham, President and CEO of North Texas Food Bank; and Dr. Terry J. Flowers, The Perot Family Headmaster at St. Philip’s School and Community Center were all in attendance. All guests had a chance to tour the new facility, where they learned about the incredible accomplishments the food pantry staff and volunteers have achieved. They also heard inspiring testimonials of pantry clients and engaged with community members who are dedicated to hunger relief.
Nancy Perot, on behalf of The Perot Family, added, “While we do celebrate this day, and rejoice that we can provide greater services to those in need; we all hope and pray for the day, one day, when food insecurity will be alleviated all together. Until that time, we thank the leadership of individuals like Aunt Bette, joining hands with others like Terry Flowers, and inspiring each of us to carry on the legacy of helping those in need.”
Operating out of a small closet space, St. Philip’s established a food pantry on its campus in 1988 in an effort to expand the reach of its hunger programming to support more families and children. By 2013, the pantry, which shared space with the Meals on Wheels Depot, was serving up to 200 individuals a month.
As a direct result of the increased need, Our Community Pantry was established in 2015, through an unprecedented collaboration between city, corporate, and nonprofit entities, including St. Philip’s School and Community Center, North Texas Food Bank, In the City for Good, and the City of Dallas.
In 2019, the operation and management of Our Community Pantry fully transitioned to St. Philip’s School & Community Center and was later named for Margaret “Bette” Perot, a life-long ambassador in the fight against hunger. It was a tremendous privilege to have the Perot family honor Aunt Bette with a very special birthday gift in 2019, with a $2 million donation to St. Philip’s to support the We Believe Campaign to endow the community pantry and help sustain its future.
“The harvest is plentiful, and so is the labor. If we continue to work, we can eradicate food deficits in the households of many, many people,” said Dr. Terry J. Flowers, The Perot Family Headmaster at St. Philip’s School and Community Center. Aunt Bette’s Community Pantry currently operates a client-choice food pantry in the heart of South Dallas, providing quality food items to hungry individuals and families. The program supplies critical nutrition annually to over 850 households experiencing food insecurity.
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