AUSTIN, TEXAS — A new onsite food pantry inside Dell Children’s Blood and Cancer Center began serving patients and families after a May 2026 announcement event with the Central Texas Food Bank. The pilot is described as the first food pantry fully embedded within a pediatric facility in Central Texas, aiming to ease treatment-day strain.
The pantry is designed to fold groceries into care, rather than sending families to a separate pickup line after appointments. It is expected to serve up to 600 families a year, with visits capped at twice per month, and it operates Wednesday through Friday with limited earlier access for families who have appointments. Each visit provides about 40 pounds of culturally appropriate, diet-sensitive groceries, and referrals come from social workers and dietitians, according to Ascension.
Hospital leaders say the need is especially visible inside the Blood and Cancer Center, where hundreds of families are balancing serious diagnoses with meal uncertainty. "The launch of the food pantry is a testament to our vision and commitment to provide world class and holistic care," said Deb Brown, chief operating officer at Dell Children’s Medical Center. For many caregivers, the practical impact is time and bandwidth, since a grocery stop can happen in the same building as labs, infusions and follow-up visits.
The pantry arrives as food insecurity remains widespread across the region, especially for children. More than one in six Central Texans live in food-insecure households, and more than one in four children in the region face food insecurity, according to Central Texas Food Bank. In Travis County, the food insecurity rate is about 18.0% for residents and roughly 20.5% for children, according to Central Texas Food Bank.
Public health leaders have also been linking food access to other daily pressures that shape health, including housing and child care costs. "The needs of our community continue to evolve as we see rising issues with opioids, stress and just finding healthy food to eat," said Dr. Desmar Walkes, Austin-Travis County health authority. The city-county community health assessment places food insecurity among the area’s top challenges and notes that service gaps can be sharper in parts of East and Southeast Austin and among uninsured residents, according to Austin Texas Government.
Trends in Travis County also suggest the pantry model is meeting a growing problem, not a short-term spike. A local analysis estimated about 187,000 Travis County residents were food insecure, with projections rising to about 208,000, and described the increase as the highest rate since 2014, according to Austin Chronicle. That reporting also pointed to transit limits and displacement toward the urban edge as barriers that can make food access harder, even before money runs out, according to Austin Chronicle.
