As Holidays Near, How To Help Hungry Families In Tucson

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TUCSON, AZ – Believe it or not, the vacation is only two short months away. When your kids are making their Christmas lists and you start planning a lavish Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, this is also a perfect opportunity to look for ways to help and give back to your Tucson neighbors.

One way is to make sure everyone in Tucson has their own Christmas dinner and full bellies on Christmas Day.

A hearty vacation meal is simply not possible for millions of families in Tucson and other US cities.

Pima County is among those where residents sometimes struggle with food insecurity, according to Feeding America, the nation’s largest network of pantries and chalkboards.

Before the pandemic, 13.3 percent of Pima County’s people were considered food insecure, according to Feeding America. The ongoing economic fallout from the pandemic has raised that number to 15.7 percent, which could be on the verge of starvation.

Last Christmas season, 80 percent of Feeding America’s food banks said they were serving more people than at the same time last year.

This year could be similar. At the national level, Feeding America estimates that up to 42 million people – including 13 million children – could be food insecure by 2021. As a result, food banks across the country have seen their usage increase by nearly 55 percent.

There are many ways you can help before the holidays. Here are a few ideas:

Donate to a Tucson Food Pantry

Food pantries and tablets have seen use up 55 percent from the pandemic, according to the latest data from Feeding America, undoing a decade of progress in ending hunger in the United States.

Donating to a pantry is easy. Pantries accept any food that is “shelf stable” or non-perishable – that means you can keep it in your pantry and it won’t spoil. It’s also a good rule of thumb to only donate food that has not passed its expiration date.

See a list of what to donate to pantries and what to avoid.

Here are the closest pantries to the Tucson area:

Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona
3003 S. Country Club Road, Tucson
communityfoodbank.org

Interfaith Community Services
2820 W. Ina Road, Tucson
icstucson.org/what-we-do/emergency-assistance/food-bank/

Volunteering in a food bank or pantry

According to Feeding America, more than half of all food programs in the United States rely entirely on volunteers. While volunteering can look different depending on your location, here is a selection of the jobs you might do:

• Keep the shelves in stock in the pantry and put together grocery boxes for pickup.
• Help raise funds or raise awareness about pantry services.
• Deliver meals or boxes of groceries.
• Help distribute it in drive-thru or mobile pantries.

To volunteer in Tucson, please contact one of the pantries listed above.

Hold a fundraiser

You can tackle hunger in Tucson by hosting a fundraiser for Feeding America or any other local board or pantry. Not only is it a great way to tackle food insecurity, but it’s also fun to interact with others while making a difference in your community.

Here are a few ways you can fundraise for Feeding America:

If you’d prefer to raise funds for another local pantry or grocery bank, please contact them to see how you can help.

Influence your lawmaker

You can use your voice to speak up on behalf of those struggling with food insecurity. Federal nutrition programs are a necessity to end hunger – for every meal a pantry provides, state food programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) offer nine.

Organizations like Feeding America make it easy to reach your legislator through these contact forms.

Feeding America serves 200 member boards that serve and supply 60,000 pantries, kitchens, and meal programs across the country.

FIND FOOD
Find your local board

DONATE
Donate to Feeding America *

READ
“The effects of the coronavirus on food insecurity”

LAW
Take action against hunger

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