Penny Pestle, President
The Sahuarita Food & Community Resource Center (SFB-CRC) is in the midst of a $2.2 million Nourishing our Community Capital Campaign for a new building to serve Sahuarita, Green Valley, and the surrounding rural areas. A surprising fact for many: one in four residents of our region lives below economic self-sufficiency and one in eight children lives in poverty. Many of these individuals and families regularly deal with hunger and struggle while trying to achieve economic security, often falling in and out of poverty despite their best efforts.
The Sahuarita Food Bank started in a small closet and now serves up to 200 families a week by providing healthy food. Because it’s been documented that hungry students do not learn well, during each week of the school year, the Food Bank provides 450 weekend food Back Packs to schoolchildren in eight area schools. We also are embarking on a variety of health/nutrition, family support, and workforce development programs.
We are bursting out of our current leased space, and the new building will enable us to efficiently and effectively serve more households with food and programs. We currently collaborate on food and programming with the Green Valley Resource Center and will be able to increase our collaboration with the new facility.
The SFB-CRC has raised more than $1,300,000 (60%) of our campaign goal. We will break ground no later than July 1, 2020, and will open in the summer of 2021. We will be the only fulltime food and service hub in the greater Sahuarita area, and project that the number of people using our services will increase substantially.
SFB-CRC is an Arizona Tax Credit Qualifying Charitable Organization for which, individuals can receive, up to their tax liability, an $800 tax credit if filing jointly, or $400 for single filers. The Food Bank is also an IRS 501(c)(3) tax-deductible charity.
For more information or to contribute to the Capital Campaign, please visit our website at: sahuaritafoodbank.org or call 520-668-0547 to arrange for a tour and/or presentation to one of the Quail Creek clubs.