LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – A Lubbockite through and through.
Dina Jeffries knows just how special west Texas is and says it built the foundation for her as a person.
“I love the people,” Jeffries said. “I love our spirit, our pioneering sprit. We are hands in the dirt and we say what we do and we do what we say.”
Jeffries has been able to do a lot with her life. She met her husband at Reese Air Force Base and believes his military career really shaped her leadership.
“It taught me you really have to care about people if you’re going to lead them and your people feel that,” Jeffries said. “They really do want to be cared for and want to work in a place that they spend most of their day at.”
Jeffries’ nonprofit journey actually began overseas, serving as a station manager at a Navy base for the American Red Cross. Her family would then have the opportunity to own businesses in Lubbock and it would eventually lead her to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Southwest. Serving as president and CEO from 2006 to 2020, Jeffries says it was an honor to help so many families through this platform.
“Incredible training I was exposed to, incredible people,” Jeffries said. “We have an incredible medical community, it was really the perfect, perfect place and still is.”
In August 2020, Jeffries officially became the third CEO in South Plains Food Bank history. Joining the nonprofit during a global pandemic brought its fair share of challenges, but Jeffries and her crew knew they had to step up.
“We were front line, we were first responders,” Jeffries said. “People were in need. To step into an organization that the community trusted so much, that had so much hope, that they knew if the South Plains Food Bank was involved, they were going to be okay.”
More than five years later, Jeffries is carrying on the mission of the South Plains Food Bank. She believes everyone should go to bed with a full belly and events such as the U Can Share drive look to help make that goal come true.
With March being women’s history month, Jeffries says west Texas builds women up in ways many other cities don’t, and is looking forward to continue leading the charge in providing food assistance to the residents of 35 cities and towns.
“I just think it’s really important that we not only know strong women,” Jeffries said, “that we become strong women and that we raise strong women, and I think there’s no better place to do that than right here in Lubbock.”
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