A growing number of homeless and among those, elderly people, are experiencing hard times in the Valley.
Many are hoping for water in the summer heat and a meal—for decades, St. Mary’s Food Bank has found a way to help.
On Saturday on May 10th, St. Mary’s Food Bank is partnering with other food banks around Arizona area to participate in the 33rd annual NALC Food Drive, “Stamp Out Hunger”.
The United States Postal Service will once again use their letter carriers—as always, on the second Saturday in May to help those in need. The nationwide event is being supported by more than 230,000 letter carriers across the country and more than five thousand carriers in Arizona alone to collect donations from directly from homes.
By leaving a bag of nonperishable food by your mailbox, letter carriers will be collecting these food items and delivering them back to their stations. There, food bank volunteers will be waiting to collect the food and bring them back to local food banks across the state.
Jerry Brown, the Director of Public Relations at St. Mary’s Food Bank spoke to Northeast Valley News in an effort to help not only promote the food drive, but to emphasize who exactly they are trying to help in this cause.
Brown said the homeless men and women in Arizona are one of the larger demographics receiving these donations but there is a growing number of elderly people in need.
“Folks who were able to get by with their Social Security checks were able to get by with whatever assistance that they had in the past. When the rising cost of food, rent, gas, medicine, and everything else skyrocketed. All of a sudden, those people on fixed incomes were unable to cover it anymore,” Brown said.
By donating, St. Mary’s is able to arm themselves with enough supplies to not only help feed the homeless and elderly, but to help out children as well.
With children that are Title One—meaning children who receive free breakfast and lunch provided through their schools—many of their families during the summer months have a harder time with meal provision while parents are working.
St. Mary’s helps provide extra meals and snacks during the summer months as well.
Brown explains, “We try to fill that gap and provide those breakfasts and lunches to a lot of the summer recreation programs as well as go into apartment complexes in lower income areas to provide meals for the children so that everybody has something to eat during the day.”
Remember: This Saturday, May 10, donating could not be easier by leaving bagged nonperishable food right outside a home mailbox or consider donating online as well for “Stamp Out Hunger”
Donate or contact St. Mary’s Food Bank for more information.
