By Victoria Brito
PHOTO GALLERY by David Pike
RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – SEPT. 30, 2020 – Officials from the United States Department of Agriculture and the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighboring Partnerships visited the UTRGV Baptist Student Ministry (BSM) on the Edinburg Campus on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020, to learn more about combating hunger during the COVID-19 pandemic.
After a tour of the BSM facility, the group attended a meeting led by Dr. Parwinder Grewal, executive vice president for Research, Graduate Studies and New Program Development, along with other UTRGV professors.
“The purpose of the visit is to highlight the partnerships and programs addressing food insecurity,” said Ruby S. De La Garza, UTRGV USDA-HSI regional director and USDA liaison for the university’s Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement.
“The pandemic has left many more in our community hungry, and the food boxes have helped during these times,” she said.
The visit concluded with a USDA Farmers to Family Food Box distribution from 1-3 p.m. at the BSM.
ABOUT UTRGV
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund – a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.
UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including in Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016.
