AFTER COLD WEATHER LEADS TO SHORTENED GROWING SEASON IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA — ST. MARY’S IS CALLING FOR DONATIONS
The cold Arizona winter has led to a shorter and less abundant growing season in Southern Arizona, severely impacting donations made to St. Mary’s Food Bank in February and now March of 2019. In some cases the donations are down by as much as 50 percent. That equates to nearly TWO MILLION pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables.
St. Mary’s relies on these donations to provide our clients and partners with a well-balanced and nutritious balance of healthy foods. The food bank has been forced to purchase some of the foods that are normally donated in abundance this time of year to keep up with demand.
St. Mary’s is asking the public to please help the Food Bank through this challenging time in one of two ways.
- Donations of canned fruits and vegetables would be greatly appreciated. You can donate at the Food Bank locations in Phoenix 2831 N. 31st Avenue), Surprise (13050 West Elm Street) or at any Goodwill location – there are food donation boxes at the front of each store.
- If folks are still looking for a place to donate the oranges they still have on backyard trees, the Food Bank would gladly accept those donations at the Phoenix and Surprise locations. We have received a LOT of grapefruit in the past few weeks – so we are specifically looking for oranges at this time.