In the past few months, donations at the Sedona Community Food Bank dropped dramatically as they continue to serve more and more families around the city.
“Our donations in general for the last couple months are down by about 20% between donation intake and cash,” Executive Director of the Sedona Community Food Bank Cathleen Healy-Baiza said. “And our numbers [of people served] have not decreased. Normally during this time of year, it’s slower for the number of people coming in.”
Typically, the Sedona Community Food Bank sees around 140 families in a week between their morning and afternoon pick-up sessions every Wednesday. But recently, the food bank has been seeing increased numbers of up to 100 families in just one of the pick-up sessions.
“We’ve lost about 1,000 pounds per month recently,” volunteer Dennis Fulton said.
According to Fulton, the food bank is down 3,600 pounds of food donations in the past six months with the losses growing more in the past month. And this loss in food is valued at around $10,000 for the food bank.
And this is not just from individual donations. Some of the Sedona Community Food Bank’s partners, like the local grocery stores and restaurants, have decreased their donation amounts due to inflation and supply and demand issues.
“I think we’re getting less product from the store and even though our visitors have been down in the past few weeks, there’s still a lot of people out there shopping,” Healy-Baiza said. “And we’re not seeing them from the general public like we usually do.”
The food bank, located in the lower level of the Sedona Seventh-day Adventist Church, has been in the city for years. The large storage area houses many different items in the back, as well as a full shop for families in the front.
Volunteers unload donations of dry food, frozen food and even certain vetted produce and meat donations. All donations can be dropped off between 6 a.m. and noon Monday through Thursday.
Any perishable produce or goods that will not last the weekend is donated to other food banks in Sedona and Cottonwood.
More information on the backpack program, home-bound program, food assistance and weekend snack program can be found on the Sedona Community Food Bank website. Information on monetary donations for the food bank.
