Food banks all over the country have had trouble dealing with the pandemic, and downtown Phoenix has been busy keeping their food banks afloat with new rules and ways to volunteer.
When the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic began to affect Phoenix, food banks everywhere were busier than ever. Many who lost their jobs had no other income in place and had to go to a food bank to help put dinner on the table for their families, leading to many of the banks being overrun, creating pressure to get as many meals out as possible.
On March 17, organizations like the Joshua Tree Feeding Program adapted and changed their way of work to keep their clients and volunteers safe.
Joseph Gaxiola, who has been a chairman at Joshua Tree for eight years, explained that their food bank put in place many new rules to help navigate their way through the store. Masks and gloves are to be worn and if a client doesn’t have them, Gaxiola said, they will be given some.
Appointments will have to be made every 30 minutes from 8:30 p.m. to noon. Before entering a client will wait outside and get their temperature checked then have their hands sanitized before picking and choosing what the client wants.
“Over 90% of our clients like this new system. We will keep this process going when the pandemic ends,” Gaxiola said.
During the two weeks of the lockdown back in March this year, Joshua Tree had 125 to 140 clients daily, more than their usual 80 to 100 clients. Since the pandemic, Joshua Tree has been running low on meat and have been receiving less donations.
Food banks everywhere helped save millions of families this past summer alone. Over 100,000 meals were served across the country, according to Feeding America. And although volunteering has been good at Joshua Tree, other food banks like St. Mary’s Food Bank, which has a community kitchen located at 3003 W. Thomas Rd., has had trouble keeping their volunteers.
“We lost most of our volunteer support and food drives when companies sent their staff home,” said President and CEO Tom Kertis in St. Mary’s update from Sept. 30, 2020.
Nicholas Proferes has volunteered for St. Mary’s multiple times, and just this last month has had to learn how to work with the new restrictions. Despite the new rules, Proferes said St. Mary’s is handling the changes “extremely well.”
“I know they are probably getting a much higher demand than before, like a lot of food banks, plus they’re having to modify their processes a bit in light of the pandemic,” he said. “I felt like they did a really good job of thinking through how to make the volunteer experience a safe one.”
St. Mary’s has made their volunteers wear gloves and masks while packing boxes of supplies. Volunteers also got their temperature checked before entering and has mandatory social distancing.
“It is only through the support of the community that we are able to provide 250,000 pounds of food to people in need throughout most of Arizona,” said Kertis.
Contact the reporter at bnsteel1@asu.edu
