July 2023

In July our volunteers put the shade tents to good use on supplemental food bag distribution day, Saturday July 8^th.  As is usual in the heat of summer demand for our services was slightly lower and our volunteers delivered 70 food bags which included hot dogs, a dozen eggs and tortillas.

Our partnership with Villa’s Market in Nogales has eased our supply burden each month because they deliver perishable food directly to Patagonia twice a week.  In addition, we have been purchasing non-perishable food from Amazon and Costco for delivery to the Food Bank. Formerly we had to travel to Tucson and back to pick up food pretty much each month

In July we also fulfilled a request for emergency food made through our web-based phone line.

One of the last remaining items on the remodeling list for the food bank was supplying the facility with fresh water.  As of now we have hot and cold running water and functioning bathrooms and sinks in the warehouse and office building.

We are looking forward to bringing our informational website online in August, if all goes well.  It will complement our Facebook page which has been very helpful promoting the Food Bank and getting the word out to the community about our services.

Volunteers gather at the food bank once a month (third Thursday at 9:00am) to create the next month’s distribution of food bags.  Lisa, our coordinator, makes sure we have the food we need and supervises the other volunteers.

With the monsoon rains coming now I hope the high temps will moderate a bit.  I am beyond grateful that our remodeled food bank features air conditioning!

As I do every month, I give thanks for the wonderful volunteers who keep the food bank serving the communities in East Santa Cruz County.

Jim