Our Story

In the spring of 2008, three friends saw a need to provide food for the lower-income folks in Childress County. After much conversation and prayer, it was decided that more people needed to be involved, so they asked friends and neighbors to participate and advertised in the local media for interested parties to come to a meeting in June.

People from across the community came to that first meeting and many ideas were offered for discussion. The greatest obstacle to success was, of course, funding; there had to be a continuous fund-raising effort to provide free food for Food Pantry members, so the Thrift Store was born. The store opened in August of 2008 and, after only two months of public operation, along with many monetary donations from local families, there was enough funding for the Food Pantry to begin signing up members and giving away food.

It started small: just canned goods given out once a month at first, but it grew over the years. In addition to canned goods, the Pantry monthly distribution now includes meats, fresh produce, eggs and dairy products, breads, drinks, and snack and dessert items. In addition to the monthly distribution, the Pantry now distributes surplus food from the High Plains Food Bank and donated food from local businesses every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The Food Pantry celebrated ten years of operation in October of 2018.

We thank our Board of Directors and the staff and employees of the New4U Thrift Store and the Food4U Food Pantry. We especially thank our volunteers, dozens of dedicated individuals who give hours upon hours of their time doing whatever job needs to be done on that particular day, some who have been with us since that very first meeting. But, most of all, we thank the community of Childress, Texas for your years of continued support.

Thank you all so very much!

What started as the dream of three ladies could not have been possible without everyone’s continued hard work and dedication in the fight to end hunger.