Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona braces for busy time

“We continue to see really high demand and an increase in the amount of people going to our Food Banks. It is most evident on Thursdays in Tucson when we extended our hours from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at our location at 3003 S. Club Rd. and found that we can serve as many people as we used to serve on the busiest day of the year — about 1,000 families,” said Norma Cable, a spokeswoman for the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.

Additionally, Cable said there is an increase in first-time recipients of services from the Community Food Bank and in those requesting emergency food boxes. Last year, 450,000 emergency food boxes were distributed throughout the region.

The latest statistics also indicate the prevalence of hunger across the age continuum: Cable said that the incidence of families utilizing local school food pantries was up 59 percent last year.

“We know this is an area that needs more attention. We have 34 food pantries in local schools and are trying to figure out how to best serve those families,” Cable said.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, statistics from Feeding America — a network comprised of 200 food banks nationwide including the Community Food Bank — rank Arizona 10th in the nation for food insecurity among seniors.

“We are at 9.4 percent for seniors who are food insecure and that number is continuing to rise. We are also very much still working on rural distributions where hunger and poverty can be prevalent,” Cable said.

Donations raised through HungerWalk 2024 — which is the signature fundraiser for the Community Food Bank — will benefit all these groups. Cable said the goal is raise $150,000 while also promoting the ongoing need for volunteers.

“It is almost fall, but not quite, so we are scrambling for volunteers. All emergency food boxes that go out in Southern Arizona are packed by volunteers at our Tucson warehouse, so the need for volunteers never goes away,” Cable said.