The cold Arizona winter led to a shorter and less abundant growth season in Southern Arizona, severely impacting February and March donations made to St. Mary’s Food Bank. In some cases, donations were down by as much as 50%. That equates to nearly two million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables.
But less fortunate Arizonans continue to be in need of food. And that means St. Mary’s is always preparing food boxes to be gifted in the community. St. Mary’s produces 45,000 emergency food boxes each month.
To find out how you can give or get involved, visit https://www.firstfoodbank.org/.
Helping a Charity Partner
U-Haul, a longstanding partner of St. Mary’s, was there to help the nonprofit on April 13 with two dozen volunteers to pack food boxes at “Hope Central” in the Knight Transportation Community Services Center at 3131 W. Thomas Road in Phoenix.
Team U-Haul volunteers, families and friends packed 15 pallets and 1,080 emergency food boxes. The assembly line entails volunteers putting together cardboard boxes and adding rice, tomatoes, beans and fruit before taping the boxes and stacking them. These particular boxes went to feed hungry senior citizens.
“I’m always glad to help,” Kate Fulkerson, a U-Haul project coordinator, noted of her volunteer experience. “I particularly enjoy volunteering at St. Mary’s Food Bank because it helps to fulfill one of the basic needs in our community – that no one goes hungry.
“Seeing teamwork in action, from the organizations that donate food, to the fast-paced assembly line of boxes, to the final tally of how many families we helped through our efforts, this is truly heartwarming. I appreciate U-Haul for providing opportunities like this to give back to the community.”
Thankful for Volunteers
Finally, thanks to those who recruited new volunteers for important work on a Saturday morning, assisting U-Haul in its primary community mission to help people meet their basic human needs.
Volunteers included: Kelie Budd-Hale, Amy Scott, Kate Fulkerson, Robert Hanks, Amber McCoy, Antonio Verela, Jacob Verela, Mia Cornado, Michael Cornado, Martha Gonzales, Luis Cornado, Jaden Rahman, Micah Eckert, Arianna Griffith, Elaun Taylor, Amari Taylor, George Robb, Steven Hedrick, Mike Shanko, Tonya Shanko, Kal-El Shanko, Monserrat Rodriguez-Florez, Athena Murray and Stephanie Newland.
