The North Texas Food Bank was established in 1982 by Liz Minyard (prior owner of the Minyard's Food Stores chain), Kathryn Hall, Jo Curtis and Lorraine Griffin Kircher. Their goal was to address the critical issue of hunger in North Texas by securing donations of surplus unmarketable, but wholesome, foods and grocery products for distribution through a network of charitable organizations in 13 North Texas counties: Dallas, Denton, Collin, Fannin, Rockwall, Hunt, Grayson, Kaufman, Ellis, Navarro, Lamar, Delta and Hopkins. In the first year of operation, the Food Bank distributed 400,000 pounds of food.