Dear Friends of the Food Bank,

The month of April, when spring comes in earnest to southeast Arizona, is a time when we usually see an uptick in demand for food from our clients. The trend continued this spring.

On April 11th, at our regular Saturday food distribution, we delivered 97 enhanced food bags, up substantially from the March distribution. Our volunteers again noticed an increase in new clients, indicating we are reaching more people in need.

We are happy to report continued close coordination with other not-for-profit agencies in the area, in support of their efforts to feed their clients and the community.

We have seen a steady 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 very good due to a bountiful harvest in Mexico. Some weeks we wish for a larger truck so we could offer more of the rescued produce. We invite everyone in the community to visit our weekly distribution and take home vegetables for their families.

For the second year in a row, Patagonia hosted the Destination Trails, Arizona Monster 300 Race. This event is a point to point 300.5-mile foot race through Southern Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, ending in Patagonia. This event usually results in a surplus of food that is donated to the food bank. This year was no different. The race organizers generously donated in excess of $3,000 worth of surplus food which will be distributed to our clients in the coming months.

Thank you very much for your ongoing support of the food bank as we continue our journey in care of our wonderful community.

Jim