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What is a food bank?
A food bank is a large warehouse that receives, sorts, stores, and distributes perishable and non-perishable food to other organizations, called agencies, who then distribute that food to citizens. Some food banks distribute food directly to people, but some only serve people through their agency partners. These agencies include food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and after school programs. They distribute food directly to families in need, so if you need help or know someone who does, visit our food bank directory to find one close to you. You might be surprised to find one in your neighborhood! Many times churches and neighborhood centers will have a food pantry.
Food banks get their food through donations, salvaged products, and purchases. Donations come from large and small donors alike – from individuals, small community food drives, farmers, and private companies. Often times food banks are given salvage food items that are only superficially damaged, meaning that the food is perfectly edible but the packages or cans may have some dings and dents. Food banks also receive surplus commodities from the federal government (USDA) and the Arizona Department of Economic Security. While we do receive help from these large organizations, our main support comes from thoughtful people who donate time, food, and money.
Food banks in Arizona distribute millions of pounds of food to people across the state each year.
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What we do:
The Arizona Food Bank Network helps food banks by:
- Coordinating large donations.
- Purchasing large quantities of food at bulk discount and distributing to the food banks.
- Transporting food directly to the food banks, to ensure donated food from fields and producers gets to all parts of the state.
- Providing education and networking to help them do even more good.
The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona responds to the root causes of hunger and seeks to restore dignity, health, opportunity and hope to people living in poverty. Our mission is to change lives in the communities we serve by feeding the hungry today, and building a healthy, hunger-free tomorrow. The Community Food Bank is a proud member of Feeding America, a nation-wide network of food banks and hunger relief organizations.
Founded in 1978 by a group of dedicated volunteers, the Yuma Community Food Bank focused on the need to feed hungry children within Yuma County. Thirty-nine years later, the Yuma Community Food Bank continues to create and enhance emergency and supplemental food programs that have an educational and a nutritional component for families throughout Yuma County.The Yuma Community Food Bank acts as a conduit in providing food to area nonprofits such as Crossroads Mission, Catholic Community Services, Amberly’s Place, Adventist and many other nonprofit agencies.
St. Mary’s Food Bank serves to alleviate hunger through the gathering and distribution of food while encouraging self-sufficiency, collaboration, advocacy and education.
Our mission is to stabilize the lives of hungry, low-income people within Eastern Maricopa, Gila and Pinal, and Southern Navajo and Apache Counties of Arizona by actively acquiring, storing and distributing large quantities of wholesome and nutritious foods to our network of community and strategic partners, combined with advocacy and educational initiatives that enhance lives.
The link between hunger and poor health is undeniable. Desert Mission is combatting hunger across the income spectrum by helping to bridge nutrition gaps that negatively affect the health and well-being of community residents and HonorHealth patients alike.
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