With the school closures rolling into a second week and food crisis for hundreds of thousands of Arizona reaching emergency levels, St. Mary’s Food Bank will move to first-responder status beginning on Tuesday, May 1 and take food outreach to the streets with “Operation Meal Kit.”
In addition to ramping up our kids meal program by 25 percent to more than 9,000 and offering emergency food boxes at hundreds of locations for all, St. Mary’s will attack the crisis head-on and fan out across Phoenix and the north and west Valley to hand out specially designed meal kits at locations selected to reach as many at-risk kids and families as possible.
“St. Mary’s has been a first-responder to fire and flood disasters in northern Arizona and hurricane and tornado disasters across the country,” Food Bank President and CEO Tom Kertis said. “But with a situation in our own backyard reaching disaster level, it’s time to aggressively step up our response and reach as many kids and families who continue to struggle as possible.”
Kits featuring peanut butter, jelly, breads and cereals will be handed out from 2-6 p.m. – specially designed to give working parents an opportunity to stop by on the way home from work – at these locations. Look for the St. Mary’s Food Bank truck and the smiling volunteers ready to hand out this meal kits at the following locations with more to be announced on Monday:
Church of God Prophecy – 5141 N. 23rd Avenue, Phoenix AZ 85015
Avondale Resource Center – 328 W. Western Avenue, Avondale AZ 85323
Epworth United Methodist Church – 4802 N. 59th Avenue, Phoenix AZ 85003
Santo Nino Community Center – 3206 West Melvin Street, Phoenix AZ 85009
Peoria Community Center – 8335 W, Jefferson Street, Peoria AZ 85345
Pure Heart Church – 14240 N. 43rd Avenue, Glendale AZ 85306