CityScape has teamed up with St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance in an effort to raise enough money and nonperishable food donations to feed 300,000 Arizonans in need. A donation drive will shut down a stretch of Central Avenue on Thursday.
Volunteers will be lined up, ready to grab donations directly from drivers so people don’t have to get out of their vehicles. The donation drive will help St. Mary’s replenish its warehouse, which is especially important during the summer when donations drop because people leave town, said Jerry Brown, media relations director for St. Mary’s. The severe storms earlier this month also affected the supply, he said.
“The power outage hit our coolers pretty hard,” he said. “We lost 60,000 pounds of food … so we are down even a little more than we would normally be at this time.”
Brown said the donations from the 300,000 Meals Challenge will go to St. Mary’s distribution center, where those in need can get food. St. Mary’s also has a network of agency partners, including soup kitchens and churches, that get food from its warehouse to distribute in their communities throughout Arizona, he said.
“These donations will help us feed the folks that come to us on a daily basis and build up a reserve for people we know we will see during the holidays,” he said. “It’s not just something that we do during Thanksgiving and Christmas, it’s something that we do 365 days a year.”
The 300,000 Meals Challenge is part of nationwide Hunger Action month, which aims to raise awareness on the issue of hunger, especially child hunger, which is a concern in Arizona.
“Across the country, 1 in 5 kids go to bed hungry. But in Arizona, almost 1 in 3 children have the danger of going to bed hungry each night,” Brown said. “It’s one of the worst childhood hunger rates in the nation, so that’s a battle that we fight everyday at St. Mary’s and other food banks around Arizona.”
St. Mary’s has a calendar for the month of September with different sponsors and businesses each day offering incentives for donations, including Pei Wei, Arby’s and Snooze.
“It’s been by far the most successful hunger action month since I’ve been here in five years,” Brown said. “And the CityScape drive is a big part of that. Whenever you can shut down a city block in one of the biggest cities in the country, that’s a pretty big deal.“
Central Avenue between Washington and Jefferson streets will be closed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday for the donation drive. In anticipation of the event, Chase Tower and the CityScape office tower will be lit up orange, the color of Hunger Action month, on Wednesday night.
Richard Ortega, the general manager of Fractured Prune’s downtown location, said the company will have incentives for people who donate.
On Thursday, people can score a free doughnut by dropping off three cans inside the doughnut shop. Those who donate six cans will get two doughnuts, and people who use the curbside drop-off will receive coupon cards for 15% off at Fractured Prune.
“I was … just trying to get involved with the community here. We are new downtown so we are trying to see how we can make that happen,” Ortega said. “I’d really like to make an impact.”
Preparing for the event has been a team effort between the retail and office tenants of CityScape and the downtown Phoenix community as a whole.
“We’ve worked to get the word out, and, more importantly, a lot of the community organizations in downtown Phoenix have gotten behind the event,” said Matt Bowman, CityScape marketing director. “We’ve seen a lot of interest just in community partners who want to be part of the event, whether it’s through donations or promotions.”
Bowman is confident about raising enough in donations to feed 300,000 Arizonans by the end of the drive Thursday.
“I’m very optimistic, just because of the outpouring of support that we’ve seen from all our downtown neighbors,” he said.
Contact the reporter at rbouley@asu.edu
