Historic Texas Ice Storm Victims Receive Aid From New York Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez
By Allan Jamail
Houston, TX. – Saturday, February 20, 2021 – Houston’s Food Bank (HFB) President and CEO, Brian Greene welcomed and introduced Congresswomen Sylvia Garcia, New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), and Sheila Jackson Lee to the facility. He said the HFB is a non-profit organization and the nation’s largest food bank in the United States by size and distribution; providing access to 159 million nutritious meals in 18 counties in southeast Texas.
Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia told how New York’s 14th Congressional District Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) contacted her and said she’d like to help Texas’ ice storm victims. Garcia invited AOC to Houston so she could visit the HFB and see how they provide meals year-round to the needed. She said about one in four children in our area are at-risk of hunger. Kids must have consistent nutritious food for the body, mind, and spirit in order to be successful. Garcia told of how AOC began raising funds to aid the ice storm victims. The first day, AOC quickly raised over a million dollars, so she then decided to continue raising donations. On the second day, the day before her trip to Houston, AOC had raised over two million, and Saturday, on the day she arrived here, AOC had raised 3.2 million dollars. After leaving the HFB, Garcia’s took AOC out to some Houston communities to visit and see first-hand how devastating the brutal storm struck millions of people.
Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez said, “Many Texas families and those across the country are already on the brink of financial collapse because of the COVID 19 pandemic that’s preventing them from working. They can’t afford another emergency like these ice storms. This can set people back for years, not just days.”
She said the funds raised will go to nonprofit organizations to help the elderly, homeless and hunger victims.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee said so many of the ice storm victims are essential workers, living on a low income budget; this places them in danger more so than others. These folks went without power and or water for days; we know they suffered and are still suffering. They’re our brothers and sisters, let us not let them go hungry or without decent shelter.