The Sedona Community Food Bank will have its first distribution on Wednesday, Aug. 9, at its new location at 30 Inspirational Drive. An open house and ribboncutting ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 19, at 1 p.m.

The move will also allow the Sedona Seventh-day Adventist Church on Sunset Drive where the food bank has been operating for the last 50 years to use the space for fellowship.

“I’m hoping it’s going to be seamless,” food bank Executive Director Cathleen Healy-Baiza said of the transition. “ I’ve been telling everyone, we’ve been handing out letters. But as far as changes? No. [Clients] still walk in, be greeted, they still can pick up their produce and bread, they can still go shopping in our store.”

The food distribution schedule will remain the same: Wednesdays from 8:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. and from 3:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.

Beginning this week, the food bank will be taking reservations using on-site staff, with online and telephone options to be added soon.

“I’m also going to have a health truck [stop] at our new facility in October,” Healy-Baiza said. “I couldn’t have had that at our current location. Because where would they have parked? This is one of those services that I want to start incorporating, and now that we have our own space we can be more of a service to the community.”

Healy-Baiza explained that the new location is more convenient for the food bank’s clients and should remove several accessibility barriers.

“I often have heard from clients that would love to come here, but they can’t do the stairs [at the current site],” Healy-Baiza said. “It’s restrictive for a lot of my  clients that have mobility issues. The other thing is, it’s far off of 89A so if you’re traveling via foot, you’ve got to walk almost a mile up here.”

The food bank acquired its new building, which was formerly a law office, in October 2022 for $665,000. They have faced additional costs for roof repairs and mold remediation and are still awaiting several building renovations. Services and materials have been donated by local businesses and architect T. Michael Hadley.

“We’ve completely gutted it,” Healy-Baiza said of the building. “We had to bring it up to [Americans with Disabilities Act] standards because the building had not been renovated since the 1990s. We had to add an ADA bathroom, we had to add a ramp, we had to make sure all the doors are 36 inches in width … Where we can save, we did save, like the cabinets that were in the kitchen were lovely. I didn’t want them trashed. So we repurposed them.”

The city of Sedona also fully funded the food bank’s small grant request of $8,157 for a “security system, chairs, stainless steel work tables, outdoor storage shed, sun shade, outdoor benches, shopping carts, and a small washer/dryer combo,” Healy-Baiza said, adding that Sedona residents “filled 90% of our Amazon wish list for numerous kitchen items such as, bowls, knives, cutting boards, cups, glasses, serving dishes, strainers, drying rack and other items.” 

However, since July 2022, donations to the food bank have been decreasing while demand has been increasing, which is still the case.

“In May, [when] we had the mail carriers food collection, city-wide, we were down 29%,” Healy-Baiza said. “But we have to also remember our population has kind of dropped down long-term. But 29% is quite a bit. [The] overall average between monetary and food donations, it’sprobably down about 18 to 20%.”

The food bank has been serving around 160 people weekly during the summer, which Healy-Baiza said is unusual, as during the off season 120 clients is more typical.

“While I’m not seeing the individual donor walk so much in my door, our stores still remain very helpful,” Healy-Baiza said. “For example, Whole Foods just had a complete floor set. So they donated quite a bit of frozen foods to us. Our stores keep us afloat.”

For questions about the Sedona Community Food Bank’s new location, call (928) 204-2808 or visit sedonafoodbank.org.