Washington, DC (March 15, 2007) – Congressman Rubén Hinojosa (TX-15) announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded a $247,500 Economic Development Initiative (EDI) grant to the Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley. The grant will go toward the purchase and renovation of the Valley Fruit and Vegetable Company facility in Pharr, TX, which will soon house the new headquarters of the Food Bank RGV.

“For more than two decades, the Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley has done a commendable job of making sure that thousands of needy families throughout the Valley have enough to eat,” said Hinojosa. “In this day and age, no American should have to go to bed hungry. This grant will ensure that this admirable organization has the best facility from which to serve South Texas’ most destitute residents.”

The Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley was founded in 1983 by Rev. Ted and Martha Knies in Pharr, TX.  The Valley had just been hit with a devastating freeze and Rev. and Mrs. Knies wanted to help the families affected by this event. From its small beginnings, the Food Bank RGV has grown to become the nation’s 23rd largest food bank in terms of distribution and the fourth largest in the state of Texas.

EDI provides grants to local governments to improve the feasibility of the economic development and revitalization projects they finance. This flexible grant helps make projects more viable by paying some of the project costs or by reducing the interest rate to be paid from a revolving loan fund. Increasing access to capital for entrepreneurs and small business has emerged as a key component of the job growth strategy powered by the EDI grant program.