More than 100 residents volunteer on a regular basis at HonorHealth’s Desert Mission Food Bank, but as requests for services increase, so does the need for volunteers (photo courtesy of Desert Mission).
It is an astonishing number: 74,051. That is the number of people who were served through HonorHealth Desert Mission Food Bank’s various programs in 2023. Those programs include emergency food assistance, the infant emergency food box and senior food box programs, in addition to community outreach such as the school Snack Pack program, nutrition education and others.
Where the number becomes concerning, however, is with the Mission’s “front door” specific numbers — those residents who arrive outside the “market” warehouse weekdays to pick up a food box. For all of 2023, the food bank distributed 2,639,152 pounds of product out the front door. In 2024, as of July 31, they had already distributed 1,711,315 pounds of food. To put that into people terms, in the second quarter of 2023 they served 9,170 households; in the same time frame this year, they have served 13,498 households. That is a 47 percent increase in one year, and the food bank is stretching its staff and volunteers thin to keep up with the increased need.
In 2023, one to two volunteer groups per week were sufficient; in 2024, groups are now needed Monday through Friday to keep up with the daily demand. There are currently just over 100 regular, recurring volunteers who work three-hour shifts, and they handle a variety of tasks.
“Historically, the food bank has always given away fresh meat, fresh produce, dairy and stuff like that,” Mike Morgan, director of operations, said. “What we’ve lacked for quite a while was the shelf stable stuff. So, what we did, Ena [Ena DiVittorio, program engagement manager] came on board in December this last year and we started concentrating more on the idea of getting more pantry secure stuff for our clients. So, a client will come into the front door to check in, the staff that run the front counter will say, ‘OK, do you qualify for any federal commodities”,’ which is either the Emergency Food Assistance, or TEFAP, or depending on age it could be CSFP, the commodity supplemental program [senior food box].
“Then, staff and volunteers will go around the circle and they’ll pick up whatever [items are] marked based on need and what we have. The carts are filled up here in the market, they’ll be brought up here, [volunteers] will see a name, ‘John Smith in a yellow Ford,’ they’ll give the stuff to him and he drives away.”
But that is just the end result of the food bank’s efforts. It begins with a Grocery Rescue program in partnership with St. Mary’s Food Bank. In 2023 the food bank completed about 30 pick-ups per week from local stores such as Target, Walmart, Safeway, AJ’s, Costco and others. This year, the food bank is making more than 60 pick-ups per week to keep up with demand.
“We’ve got three drivers that are pretty much on the road five days a week going to these various stores,” Morgan said. And volunteer groups are needed every weekday to sort the goods that come in.
Non-food items such as pet food, clothing, etc., that come in are shared with seven other nonprofits across the Valley. If food items come in that are not usable, the food bank works with the city of Phoenix to compost them. In addition, anything that is plastic, metal or cardboard gets recycled.
Another area where volunteers are needed is putting together “meal bags” that help round out pantry items for clients in addition to the Snack Packs, about 1,000 of which are given out each month to food insecure grade-schoolers in the Washington Elementary School District.
“The biggest issue we have found through the schools is that the kids go hungry through the weekend,” Morgan said. “So, we provide these through the schools and they take it home with them.”
Every weekday, items come in, get sorted, go out, repeat. And with the recent increase in need, the food bank is asking for the support of the community — whether they be individual residents who are able to volunteer on a regular basis or organized groups that can come in for a scheduled day.
“As you see here, we only have a handful of volunteers here today. We are probably going to serve about 200 households,” said Krystina Toscas, corporate engagement manager for Desert Mission Food Bank.
Toscas adds that those recurring, every-day, scheduled volunteers are absolutely crucial to the operation but they also need those group volunteers.
“Those are the one time, come in and knock it out groups,” Toscas said. “We do a huge production activity, team building, make it really fun and rewarding for everybody.”
Morgan said, “You can see we’re really successful in what we’re doing, but volunteers are the heart and soul of keeping this place going.” He added, “This is probably one of the most rewarding jobs I’ve ever had in my entire life. I say that from the heart, because the impact you’re making on people, you can see that every single day.”
A brief tour on a particular Friday only scratches the surface of the food bank’s programs. They will serve about 200 families through their holiday adopt-a-family program and they are currently gearing up for their annual Thanksgiving turkey distribution.
Toscas added, “Because we’re nestled within the HonorHealth Network, that leads to great innovation in our back-of-house programs. We like to meet people where they are. We like being innovative and doing pilot programs like pantry programs, going to health clinics with produce bags for our patients who screen food insecure. We just got a refrigerated mobile farm stand so we can actually go to locations in need that don’t have a pantry or a food bank or people that might not have as much access to leave their homes.”
The food bank is asking residents to lend a hand. Sign up at www.desertmission.com/volunteer. Desert Mission Food Bank, located at 9229 N. 4th St., is open Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Friday, 9 a.m. to noon. Learn more at www.desertmission.com.
