SAN ANTONIO – H-E-B announced Monday that it will give $3 million to provide food for the needy and fund a local research project to battle the spread of the coronavirus.

According to a news release, the Texas grocer will donate $1.2 million to support 18 food banks throughout the state, including the San Antonio Food Bank. The funds will provide more than 6 million meals. H-E-B plans to deliver 15 truckloads of food and household supplies to the food banks.

The relief comes at a time when senior citizens, children and low-income families are struggling to put food on the table. As schools are closed, events are canceled, and work hours curtailed, nonprofits that help the needy will start to see a rise in demand for resources, the news release said.

H-E-B also plans to provide $500,000 in financial assistance to organizations the provide mobile home feeding services for seniors and low-income families, such as Meals on Wheels.

“During these trying times, H-E-B is here for Texas,” said Winell Herron, H-E-B Group Vice President of Public Affairs, Diversity and Environmental Affairs. “Now, more than ever, H-E-B is keeping with our Spirit of Giving and Helping Here philosophies to do everything we can to support our fellow Texans.”

Another $1 million will support nonprofits that are providing “vital services” during this time.

H-E-B will donate $300,000 to help the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, a San Antonio-based organization that is conducting coronavirus research. According to the news release, Texas Biomed has launched a unique research project to be among the first in the nation to develop the laboratory model necessary for testing diagnostics, vaccines and treatments to combat coronavirus.

COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new virus, stands for coronavirus disease 2019. The disease first appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, but spread around the world in early 2020, causing the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic in March.

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