Bixby doesn’t seem like a community experiencing a surge of food-insecure families. The suburb south of Tulsa is full of restaurants and grocery stores that aren’t on the menu in lower-income parts of the county.
Its median household income is 60% higher than the state’s, and the poverty rate sits at 5.6% — compared to 14.9% for the state. But Oklahoma’s top ranking in childhood hunger doesn’t stop at a city’s limits.
Affluent communities have always had pockets of low-income residents who work and live in its neighborhoods but don’t earn as much.
“But then you have another population that’s still on the margins who don’t qualify for benefits, and their earning power is dropping dramatically,” said Chris Bernard, CEO of the Tulsa-based nonprofit Hunger Free Oklahoma.
“So, those folks are leaning on the food pantries more. That’s why we have to leverage every dollar of federal benefits because there’s this new category of people who are relying more and more on charity.”
‘Can’t afford things’
When Transformation Church member Candia Boney-Overton suggested the congregation make meal boxes for families at the Bixby Outreach Center, the church added that to its annual Service Day July 25. That day, more than 500 “break bags” were filled for local children along with 202,176 shelf-stable meal kits for global mission distribution.
The idea came from personal experience. Boney-Overton, a single mother of three children, moved to Bixby four years ago from New York to be part of the church. She had a rough start financially and went to the outreach center after receiving a flyer on food resources.
“I was going through a divorce and this was really an opportunity to restart our lives, and we made the move in faith. We believed God was doing something here, and we wanted to be part of that,” she said.
There are families who are in need of just “a little something” to make ends meet, Boney-Overton said. That’s what she loves about the outreach center.
“They allowed me to move in faith, obey God and help as I was raising my kids and restarting our lives here,” she added. “That really touched my heart.”
Since January, the Bixby Outreach Center has averaged 20 to 25 new families each month for its food pantry, said executive director Julie Prox. The center serves about 400 families a month with food assistance and reaches into nearby communities of Mounds, Liberty and Haskell.
Prox said the church’s donation made it possible for every child they serve to get food through the end of summer.
“People can’t afford things they used to afford,” Prox said. “People are under the assumption there’s not a need here, but there’s definitely a need here. We are one of the only food pantries in Bixby and are serving the entire community. We are grateful for this partnership, and it will help us a lot.”
Transformation Church moved into the former Spirit Bank Event Center in Bixby in February 2020. In 2025, Transformation Church donated about $2.4 million to local causes and individual families facing devastating circumstances. Executive Pastor Amberly Bell said the church gives just to give — not to get.
“Bixby’s one of those communities that sometimes gets overlooked because it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s south Tulsa — they’re good, they’re well taken care,’” Bell said. “We’ve been looking for an opportunity to work here in Bixby, and this aligns with our vision.”
Every county hungry
The Bixby Outreach Center is one of 700-plus community-based pantries and meal programs across 24 counties served by the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma headquartered in Tulsa.
Those organizations are experiencing a 12% increase in demand year-over-year, says Jeff Marlow, the food bank’s president and CEO. The organization distributed nearly 34 million pounds of food in the past year, surpassing the highest levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This has been the trend since coming out of COVID, as Oklahomans face increased costs of living and fewer available resources,” Marlow said. “Our partners consistently tell us they are seeing new faces, including many people visiting a food pantry for the first time.
“Hunger exists in every community across the state, including communities considered more affluent.”
Every Oklahoma county exceeds 15% of food-insecure households, ranging from 15.2% in McClain County to 25.9% in Jefferson County, according to the national food bank network Feeding America. Tulsa County is at 19%, and Oklahoma County is at 19.5%, according to the most recent data available in 2024.
The U.S. food insecurity average is 14.4%, according to Feeding America.
The data mirrors other indicators of increasing financial struggles among Oklahomans. Last October, the ALICE (Asset limited, income constrained, employed) report showed 45% of Oklahomans cannot afford basic needs.
“I do not want Oklahoma to be known as the state with the highest food insecurity rates,” Marlow said. “I want Oklahoma to be known for how we responded to this news. Oklahomans know how to take care of each other. We have seen it time and again, whether responding to tornadoes, floods or a government shutdown.
“Addressing this challenge will take all of us, from government and business leaders to organizations and individuals throughout our communities, pulling in the same direction.”
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