By Councilmember Jan Dubauskas
We live in an incredibly generous community! Together, we raised $29,602 to upgrade the new Scottsdale Food Bank box truck! With generous donations from Scottsdale Fire Fighters Association, Honor Health, and Blue Zones Project Scottsdale, we will retro-fit our new box truck with a refrigerated box that will allow the Food Bank to collect and distribute even more fresh food!
AZ Family covered the story here: Scottsdale Food Bank
As you may remember, in the spring, I attended the ribbon cutting for the Scottsdale Food Bank’s new, expanded location on McKellips Rd. At the ribbon cutting, I was so impressed with their efficiencies and the high quality of the food, I began volunteering at the Scottsdale Food Bank.
As a volunteer, I have seen first-hand the incredible work our Human Services team provides to verified Scottsdale residents, who are in need. I have worked with these residents and have seen shame and despair transform into wonder and gratitude when we bring so much plentiful, healthy food.
We distribute 90% fresh food – fruit, vegetables, eggs, meat, bread – and more. The Food Bank provides an incredible ~150 lbs of food to each person – and serves nearly 500 households each month! Over the course of the last fiscal year, the Scottsdale Food Bank distributed 524,000 pounds of high-quality food. Learn more here.
As the team and I talked, the need for a refrigerated truck came up over and over. We could serve our residents better by going from grocery store to grocery store – instead of going to one grocery store and then back to home base. The concern – a new refrigerated truck costs over $100,000 – a huge sum!
And then the magic happened! Talking with Sasha Weller, President of the Scottsdale Fire Fighters Association, he became intrigued and started considering various idea to figure out how we could do this for a more economical price. Sasha worked with our Fleet department and they realized we could take our brand-new box truck and retro fit a refrigerated box for $27,000!
Scottsdale Fire Fighters Association generously offered to cover half of the cost. I called Honor Health and asked if they’d meet us half-way? They enthusiastically agreed and called Blue Zones Project Scottsdale to join us.
Our incredible donations:
Scottsdale Fire Fighters Association: $13,500
Blue Zones Project Scottsdale: $9,402
Honor Health: $6,750
My sincere thanks and gratitude to our community for coming together to develop a cost-effective solution! Because of you, the Scottsdale Food Bank will be able to deliver even more fresh food to our residents in need.
These are the projects that touch my heart and bring our community together. I am incredibly grateful for these individuals and their desire to serve those among us who are most in need.