Sahuarita Food Bank is organizing a new way for Rancho Sahuarita residents to make a difference in their community.
The Food Neighbors Project is a brand new effort to support the Food Bank that’s unlike any food drive you’ve done before. Instead of asking for one-time donations of food, the Food Neighbors Project is recruiting people to become long-term food donors.
The program enlists people who want to give small amounts of food to the Food Bank every two months. With enough people on board, this will create a regular supply of food all year round.
According to Alice Roy, volunteer chairman of the Food Finding Committee, 60 million Americans are “food insecure.”
“This means that there are about 250 million Americans who are not food insecure,” Alice says. “There are plenty of people who can afford to offer a little help. Not everyone, of course, but more than enough to make a huge difference. And that’s what the Sahuarita Neighborhood Food Project is all about.”
The key to the Food Neighbors Project is the Neighborhood Coordinator, a volunteer in every neighborhood who is the glue between neighbors who want to give and the Food Bank.
The Neighborhood Coordinator recruits their neighbors to become Sahuarita Food Bank food donors, and then delivers a bag straight to the neighbor’s house. Every two months, your Neighborhood Coordinator will swing by your home to pick up the bag, and will leave an empty bag in its place.
Food is delivered to the Sahuarita Food Bank and Rancho Sahuarita residents are able to donate in a way that saves you time and energy. Just pick up an extra nonperishable item each time you go to the supermarket, drop it in your Food Neighbors Project bag, and wait for your Neighborhood Coordinator to swing by to pick it up!
The Neighborhood Coordinators are critical to the success of the Food Neighbors Project. The Food Bank estimates that each volunteer will spend about three hours every two months recruiting, dropping off and collecting bags.
For more information about the Food Neighbors Project, and especially if you are interested in becoming a Neighborhood Coordinator, contact Alice Roy at (805) 233-1592 or alicemroy82@yahoo.com.