GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas — As the pandemic has carried on for nearly a year now, food banks and food pantries all over North Texas have seen a growing need for help.
However, one place is offering to help put food on the table in a new way: the library.
For the next couple of weeks, the Grand Prairie Library is offering a free, virtual meal prep program to help families plan dinner on a budget.
“This program is designed to meet the needs of a lot of people right now during the pandemic,” said library director of programs Caitlin Milligan.
Milligan said, because of COVID-19, it’s been hard for a lot of families to put food on the table.
Each Sunday through Feb. 7, folks can log on and learn ways to maximize the minimal ingredients inside their pantries.
The program is led by one of the library’s employees, Marie Matos.
“She is just trying to help people use the ingredients they have at their house and the things they like to eat,” Milligan said.
Librarians helping plan dinner sounds unusual, but this isn’t the first time the library has mixed it up.
Grand Prairie offers all sorts of novel programs, like sign language and citizenship classes, and even hired a social worker because Milligan says helping people goes far beyond a bookshelf.
“We also just really just try to meet the needs of the community at this time, really and any time,” Milligan said.
Whether a good meal or a good book, the best way to improve the lives of others is to give them a recipe for success.
For more information on this and other programs, click here.