Dallas Theater Center Partners with North Texas Food Bank for Fifth Consecutive Year

Dallas Theater Center and the North Texas Food Bank are teaming up for the fifth consecutive year to increase awareness about hunger in North Texas and to provide assistance to those in need. This partnership has become tradition for the two organizations, taking place during DTC's annual production of A Christmas Carol. So far, DTC patrons have donated over $175,000 to NTFB.

"Our annual partnership with the North Texas Food bank during A Christmas Carol allows Dallas Theater Center to address Dickens' themes of social justice and move a community to action," says Dallas Theater Center artistic director Kevin Moriarty. "DTC strives to be in the community, of the community and for the community. We are one step closer to accomplishing this by increasing awareness about hunger in North Texas and providing ways to help ease the need."

The partnership includes two days of volunteer work at the Food Bank facilities by DTC artists and staff and collecting monetary donations after each performance of A Christmas Carol. Every dollar collected from A Christmas Carol patrons goes directly to the Food Bank. Each dollar given to the Food Bank provides three meals to North Texans in need. DTC will also provide a place for nonperishable food items to be donated in the Kalita Humphreys Theater lobby.

Last week 14 DTC volunteers spent two days sorting, organizing and boxing food for distribution to NTFB programs. The first group packaged 3,750 pounds of food, the equivalent to 3,125 meals, for the Food 4 Kids program. Food 4 Kids provides backpacks full of nonperishable, kid-friendly food on Friday afternoons to elementary school children on the free and reduced-price meal program. On the second day, DTC volunteers sorted sweet potatoes for distribution through NTFB member agencies. In all, 360 boxes were prepared, which translates to 5,560 meals for hungry North Texans.

This year, the North Texas Food Bank celebrates its 30th anniversary. In the last three decades, the organization has grown from providing access to 333,000 meals a year to 47 million. The organization is ReThinking Hunger by providing healthier food, developing new ways to extend their reach and improving the lives of the people it serves.

"We are continually grateful for our partnership with the Dallas Theater Center, and for the generous support of their audience each year," said Jan Pruitt, president and CEO of the North Texas Food Bank. "The issue of hunger is a big one to tackle, which means we need the community at our table every step of the way. The Dallas Theater Center has set the example with their generosity and we thank them for their tireless support."

One of the leading regional theaters in the country, Dallas Theater Center (DTC) performs to an audience of more than 115,000 North Texas residents annually. Founded in 1959, DTC is now a resident company of the AT&T Performing Arts Center and presents its Mainstage season at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, designed by REX/OMA, Joshua Prince-Ramus and Rem Koolhaas and at its original home, the Kalita Humphreys Theater, the only freestanding theater designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty and Managing Director Heather M. Kitchen, DTC produces a seven-play subscription series of classics, musicals and new plays and an annual production of A Christmas Carol; extensive education programs, including Project Discovery, SummerStage and partnerships with Southern Methodist University's Meadows School of the Arts and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts; and community outreach efforts including leading the DFW Foote Festival and recent collaborations with the Dallas Public Library, Dallas Holocaust Museum, North Texas Food Bank, Dallas Opera, and Dallas Black Dance Theater. Throughout its history, DTC has produced many new works, including The Texas Trilogy by Preston Jones in 1978, Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men (directed by Adrian Hall) in 1986, and recent premieres of Giant by Michael John LaChiusa and Sybille Pearson, The Trinity River Plays by ReGina Taylor, the revised It's a Bird… It's a Plane… It's Superman by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, Give It Up! (now titled Lysistrata Jones and recently on Broadway) by Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn, Sarah, Plain and Tall by Julia Jordan, Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin and The Good Negro by Tracey Scott Wilson.

The North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) is a top-ranked nonprofit relief organization which leads the fight against hunger with knowledge-based strategies to distribute donated, purchased, and prepared foods through a network of feeding programs in 13 North Texas counties. NTFB supports the nutritional needs of children, families and seniors through research, education, advocacy and strategic partnerships. In FY 2012, NTFB provided access to more than 47 million nutritious meals, a 45% increase year-over-year. Founded in 1982, the year 2012 marks NTFB's 30th anniversary. NTFB is a member of Feeding America (feedingamerica.org).

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