Dear Friends of the Food Bank,

The month of March, when the holidays come early, is usually one of our three busiest months. And so it was this year.

On March 14th at our regular Saturday food distribution, we delivered 86 enhanced food bags that contained more food varieties than we had been offering recently. Our volunteers noticed a distinct increase in new clients, indicating we are reaching more people in need. We have completed our assessment of our food offerings, and added new items targeted to the tastes of our clients. Stay tuned as our food recipients enjoy more of their favorite foods.

We are happy to report our efforts to closely coordinate with other not-for-profit agencies in the area have borne fruit as we support their efforts to feed their clients and the community.

We have seen a substantial increase in the number of people visiting our Monday vegetable distributions outside the Patagonia Senior Center. The supply and quality of vegetables from Borderlands Produce Rescue has been consistent with quantities suited to our needs. Some weeks we wish for a larger truck to transport more of the rescued produce. We invite everyone in the community to visit our weekly distribution and take home vegetables for their families.

On March 28 we distributed 106 frozen hams to our partners and the community at our annual spring holiday distribution. This year we worked around the calendar when the holidays fell outside our normal March/April distribution days.

On a somewhat disconcerting note, one of our not-so-old commercial freezers failed this month. Luckily the failure was caught in a timely way and no frozen food was lost. After a review by our appliance repairman, the freezer company agreed to replace the freezer as a gesture of goodwill even though it was beyond their one-year warranty period. In the end the result was favorable, costing us only a small diagnostic fee and some inconvenience.

Thank you very much for your ongoing support of the food bank and our clients and those in the community facing food insecurity.

Jim