Southern Arizona food bank to celebrate groundbreaking in Willcox

On Tuesday, Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona officials will kick off a noon groundbreaking ceremony for construction of the distribution center at the corner of North Bisbee Avenue and West Scott Street.

Willcox is about 80 miles southeast of Tucson.

The $1.3 million project includes the construction of the 8,000-square-foot building and the purchase of 5 acres, said Michael McDonald, chief executive officer of the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. Initially, the center will employ an operations manager and two drivers.

It will serve families and individuals in Cochise, Graham and Greenlee counties.

The remainder of the funding for construction of the center and purchase of the land came from government grants, private donors and the Cochise Community Foundation, McDonald said.

He said there will be more space for cooling and food storage at the new center, which is expected to be completed by mid-June. The food bank works with agencies and churches to provide food to clients.

One goal of the Willcox center is to have gardening projects with churches, schools and businesses to supplement emergency food boxes.

Buffett, who works in partnership with Feeding America — which serves 200 food banks across the country that serve more than 46 million people — has also worked closely with the food bank distributions in the Willcox area, McDonald said.

“His passion is farming and producing food,” McDonald said of Buffett, a businessman and chairman and chief executive officer of the foundation. He oversees research farm land in Willcox, McDonald said.

Buffett also oversees a 1,500-acre family farm in central Illinois and farms in Nebraska, along with three foundation operated research farms, which includes more than 3,100 acres in Arizona, according to the foundation website. He is the son of philanthropist and billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

The community food bank provides a total of 20,000 meals daily to needy families in Cochise, Graham and Greenlee counties, McDonald said. An additional 15,000 meals are needed to be served daily in the three counties, according to research, he said.

“Low-income families and individuals experience food insecurity — they do not know where their next meal is coming from. This is a hidden epidemic,” said McDonald, adding that families make food stretch and skip meals.

“People in these circumstances deal with tough coping strategies and trade-offs because they have to first pay rent, utilities, child care and then food,” McDonald said.

He said hunger in America research is funded by the Buffett foundation because Buffett supports assessing hunger in the country to find solutions.