{"id":59616,"date":"2025-11-21T18:42:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T18:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/59616\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T18:42:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T18:42:12","slug":"helping-hands-first-responders-team-with-nonprofit-for-toy-and-food-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/59616\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping hands: First responders team with nonprofit for toy and food drive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Randy Barkley worries about families stressed by inflationary high costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re hungry and can\u2019t provide for your family, that\u2019s an emergency,\u201d the Watauga fire chief said.<\/p>\n

Barkley helped organize a toy and food drive involving four northeast Tarrant County fire and police departments to put food on the table for families in need and make children smile this Christmas.<\/p>\n

The first responders teamed up with the Community Enrichment Center<\/a>, a North Richland Hills nonprofit at 6250 NE Loop 820 that provides food, low-income housing and other services to those in need. Their ongoing collection of toys and food will benefit the center\u2019s growing client base as well as children in the Birdville ISD.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen local cities come together for a common cause, it\u2019s powerful,\u201d said Bryan Downer, CEO of the enrichment center. \u201cThis partnership with our local first responders truly shows the heart of our community \u2014 neighbors helping neighbors and making sure every child experiences the joy of Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The effort involves first responders from North Richland Hills, Haltom City, Richland Hills and Watauga.<\/p>\n

Gifts will also be provided to Birdville ISD students who are enrolled in the reduced lunch program, Downer said.<\/p>\n

Firefighters committed to collect food to help restock the Community Enrichment Center\u2019s food pantry, which is experiencing increased demand because of inflation and the recent 43-day government shutdown. More than 3,500 families from Tarrant and 13 other counties depend<\/a> on the nonprofit for food.<\/p>\n

Downer said the nonprofit\u2019s staff sees about 10% more clients each day.<\/p>\n

Barkley called the Community Enrichment Center \u201ca great organization that helps families.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it was natural that the four cities coordinated their efforts since they already share a dispatch center and jail.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work seamlessly together,\u201d Barkley said.<\/p>\n

The collection effort \u201cis open and active right now,\u201d Barkley said. Donations can be dropped off at any fire station in the four cities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community is really being impacted by inflation and the recent government shutdown,\u201d Barkley said. \u201cThis is our part to make a difference and help out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eric E. Garcia is a senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

News decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n

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Republishing is free for noncommercial entities. Commercial entities are prohibited without a licensing agreement. Contact us for details. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Randy Barkley worries about families stressed by inflationary high costs. \u201cWhen you\u2019re hungry and can\u2019t provide for your…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[32046,116,118,117,15383,10144,32047,32048],"class_list":["post-59616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-community-enrichment-center","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news","tag-haltom-city","tag-north-richland-hills","tag-richland-hills","tag-toy-and-food-drive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}