Feast of food drives: How metro Phoenix food banks are preparing for the holiday season

As the holiday season approaches, food banks in Phoenix have been making early preparations to ensure that many families will have enough food on their plates, especially in light of the rising cost of inflation.

These food banks anticipate meeting their goals through food drives, donations, and annual events.

St. Mary's Food Bank

St. Mary's Food Bank, one of the most well-known food banks, had a plan to distribute thousands of turkeys in the days leading up to Thanksgiving.

"Thanksgiving is kind of our Super Bowl," said Jerry Brown, spokesperson for St. Mary's. Brown said that the food bank anticipates they'll distribute more than 20,000 turkeys, food and produce boxes in the days leading up to the November holiday.

Between Nov. 20 through Nov. 22, an "army" of 500 volunteers and staff will be distributing turkeys from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at its Phoenix and Surprise locations. Brown said they anticipate thousands of people, where they have seen car lines up to two miles long in the past.

Brown mentioned that they have already begun distributing turkeys on the Hopi and Navajo reservations. They are on track to distribute nearly 10,000 turkeys in those areas within the next week or so. Following that, they will shift their focus to their valley locations in the week leading up to Thanksgiving to carry out the same distribution.

As of Tuesday, Brown stated that the food bank was facing a shortage of nearly 9,000 turkeys, which is a shortfall from their intended goal that they aim to distribute.

Brown said that other large organizations like the Phoenix Police Department, U-Haul, and some schools were also doing turkey drives for St. Mary's, which should hopefully help the food bank shrink its current deficit.

"We expect 10 to 12,000 people in the three days leading up to Thanksgiving. We just want to make sure that the last car, when it leaves on Wednesday morning, leaves with a turkey in the back." Brown said that if they happen to run out of turkeys, they'll switch to another protein like chicken or ham.

If people are unable to donate a turkey, they can go to stmarysfoodbank.org to make a donation, where a $25 donation provides a turkey for a family, according to the organization's website.

Brown mentioned that if they have extra turkeys, they intend to reserve them for Christmas. During that time, they also plan to distribute hams in the days leading up to the December holiday. However, Thanksgiving remains their primary focus for holiday distribution.

During this time, giving becomes increasingly crucial. Brown noted that St. Mary's Food Bank has witnessed a growing number of first-time visitors, including seniors, coming to the food bank, more so than at any other point in its history.

"Inflation has really hit families that have never had to ask for help before."

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St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank

St. Vincent de Paul is organizing a series of food drives throughout November, providing an opportunity for community members to assist the organization in feeding families for the upcoming holiday season.

"That's really the biggest need that we have: high-protein foods during the season and non-perishables," said Marisol Saldivar, spokesperson for St. Vincent de Paul.

The organization kicked off November with the start of the Feed the Valley drive, where people could make a monetary donation at the register of Albertsons or Safeway throughout the month. People could also make a donation by calling the organization at 602-266-GIVE and mentioning "Feed the Valley" or go to their website at stvincentdepaul.net/give/campaigns/feed-valley.

All donations would help the food bank get holiday meals and food to families in need, according to their website. The organization stated the drive was expected to feed over one million people in need.

But the biggest drive that Salidivar said connects with many people happens on Nov. 21 — Turkey Tuesday.

On Turkey Tuesday, individuals can purchase a turkey from Bashas', Food City, or AJ's Fine Foods and deposit it into the organization's designated bin inside the store. Volunteers from St. Vincent's food pantry are stationed at every store to collect the turkeys and transport them to the nearest pantry. Subsequently, the turkeys are quickly packed into food boxes and provided to families, ensuring that they have a holiday meal for that week.

In addition to monetary donations, individuals have the option to pick up "Gratitude Boxes" from St. Vincent's thrift stores or Living Spaces locations across the Valley. They can fill these boxes with non-perishable food items and return them to either of those locations at any time during November, as per the organization's website. Non-perishable items can also be donated at restaurants throughout November locations throughout November.

Saldivar explained that the organization heavily depends on the generosity of donations during this time of year, as it's when they receive the largest amount of food. This allows them to stockpile supplies to compensate for the slower donation periods at the beginning of the year and into the spring.

"People shouldn't just think about it as giving for Thanksgiving or Christmas. They should think about it lasting much longer than that for the food banks." Saldivar later added that every drive counts.

Saldivar said people could also host their own community drives where organizations pick up the donations collected.

Saldivar emphasized that what they truly require to prepare for not only the main holidays but also the days following them are volunteers. She mentioned that the days immediately after the holidays tend to be less supported. St. Vincent de Paul needs volunteers to assist in serving their daily average of 8,000 meals. Saldivar acknowledged that they are requesting people's time and resources during the holiday season but emphasized that their primary goal is to ensure they can continue to help others in need.

"We don't want anyone to miss out on the holiday traditions that we all enjoy and love," she said. "If the community is willing to come together and help support some of us, we would just be so grateful."

Salvation Army

The Salvation Army has established "great corporate partnerships," one of which being Fry's Food Stores, according to spokesperson Scott Johnson.

For years, the organization has received support from a holiday food drive in which Fry's customers can choose to donate $10 at the register. This donation is used to purchase turkeys for The Salvation Army, as explained by Johnson. Typically, thousands of turkeys are donated across the state to provide holiday meals for families in need.

Johnson mentioned that Fry's generously donates a variety of food items for the organization's holiday dinners. This includes vegetables, milk, stuffing, granola bars, potato chips, candy canes, and soda. In addition to these food items, they also contribute supplies that aid in meal preparation, such as vegetable oil, cooking spray, plastic wrap, and parchment paper.

Bashas also makes donations to the dinners, providing items such as fruit, vegetables, cranberry sauce, hundreds of pies, foil, hot chocolate, and other supplies, as mentioned by Johnson.

On Thanksgiving Day, the doors of the Phoenix Convention Center's South Building, located near 3rd and Washington Streets, would open at 9:30 a.m. to offer free, sit-down community meals, according to the organization's website. The event would include entertainment and is open to the public without the need for registration or sign-up. The meal service would be open from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. There were to be no drive-through options this year.

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On Christmas Day, at the same location and time, another free sit-down meal was scheduled to take place for the public, according to the organization's website. Additionally, the organization planned to offer free haircuts, a prayer room, music, games, and gifts while supplies last during the Christmas dinner. Meal service would begin at 11:30 a.m. and be served until food runs out, or until 1 p.m. There would be no drive-through options.

Johnson said that Kahlil Bottling Co. annually donates over 200 two-liter bottles of soda for the Christmas dinner, which are given to guests as they leave the event.

Volunteers were needed for both events. People can sign up to do so at volunteer.usawest.org.

Johnson said that the Arizona Marketing Alliance donates tens of thousands of dollars to The Salvation Army, which in turn goes to purchasing food "to feed our hungry neighbors during the holidays."

The Salvation Army has "fantastic community support," said Johnson, so they were fortunate to not need to put on large holiday drives. But, donations of money or goods were welcome at any time of the year. People could always make donations to the organization by mail or on their website and more information could be found at salvationarmyphoenix.org.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix-area food banks prepare for holidays, seek community help