Community Food Bank Inc., dba Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona

Provides a once a month food box to low income individuals and households. The box is comprised of surplus USDA commodities, donated food items from food drives, and local resources. We also purchase certain items that we do not get enough donated, such as peanut butter. We also supplement these boxes with fresh bread and produce as available. These boxes are meant to provide 2 to 3 days of assistance while they are seeking additional assistance. We are contracted with DES to serve Pima, Graham, Greenlee, Cochise, and Santa Cruz Counties.

We provide pre-made Food Boxes to 38 partner sites in Pima County who manage the distribution to clients, and we deliver and handle same day distribution of Food Boxes to 28 cities throughout Graham, Greenlee, Cochise, and Santa Cruz Counties. Our 4 Branch Banks all provide TEFAP Food Boxes plus they all offer a second additional Food Box containing non-USDA items such as excess bread, produce, or store donations.

CSFP is a partnership between the USDA and PCHD to provide a nutritionally balanced USDA commodities food package once a month to income eligible seniors. Our case load each month is approximately 5,000 seniors. They are eligible to pick up their box at our Country Club facility, numerous housing complexes in Tucson, partner agency locations, or any of our Resource Center locations. Through this program we serve individuals of Pima, Cochise and Santa Cruz counties.

The garden program is composed of three elements: home gardening program, Nuestra Tierra demonstration garden, and the home garden cooperative. As a community resource, anyone is eligible to sign-up for free, or by donation, to be a member of the home gardening program. Membership gives you access to vegetable seeds, seedlings, compost, garden materials, garden advice and a monthly e-newsletter. Members are encouraged to volunteer, help with installing other home gardens, attend workshops, and educate their local community. There are over 900 current Home Gardening Program members.

The Nuestra Tierra Demonstration Garden is open to the public during business hours, and offers a ¼ acre friendly space to showcase best practices for desert food production, such as sunken veggie beds, drip irrigation, rainwater harvesting, and composting. Approximately 150 people visit the garden each week, and the garden logs 7,000 volunteer hours each year. Workshops on various topics related to home food production are held at the Community Food Bank Nuestra Tierra Garden (as well as Las Milpitas farm) during the fall and spring seasons, and are free to the public (donations suggested). Additional gardening classes at community sites are also held throughout the year, and may be requested by an organization or school group. Vegetables harvested from Nuestra Tierra are sold at Community Food Bank farmers’ markets and sales go back into the program.

Income-qualifying individuals are eligible to be a home garden cooperative member. Members attend three basic gardening classes, complete three gardening workshops and support another home garden installation to become eligible for a "digging party” (garden installation) at their own home, plus one year of continued support. Eligibility follows the same income levels as WIC qualification. There are over 200 home vegetable gardens in Pima County that have been built through this program. Graduates of the Cooperative can become Garden Mentors. Mentors are paired with new cooperative members in their geographic area and provide advice and support through the new member’s first year of gardening.

The Farmers’ Market program provides a way for food-insecure communities to access fresh, locally-grown nutritious produce. By offering space and consignment sales to local vendors, the markets also provide support for local farmers and gardeners, strengthening our regional food system. We sell a variety of naturally-grown, seasonal fruits and vegetables, eggs, meat, herbs, coffee, honey, and baked goods. Our Farmers’ Markets are the only ones in Southern Arizona which accept WIC, SNAP, and AZFMNP, as well as cash and credit. Our 3 weekly markets are:
• El Pueblo Farm Stand: Monday 3-5pm at the El Pueblo Clinic parking lot, Irvington Rd. and S 6th Ave.
• Community Food Bank Market: Tues 8-12pm at CFB.
• Santa Cruz River Market: Thursday 3-6pm (Oct-Apr), and 4-7pm (May-Sept) at El Mercado San Augustin, 100 S Avenida del Convento

Gardeners and small farmers have an opportunity to sell any amount of unprocessed, naturally-grown produce and eggs at the farmers’ market on consignment. The Farmers’ Market sells their produce and returns 90% of profits to the grower. Any unsold items are considered a donation by the grower and are distributed to our clients as bonus items within the pantry.

CCK provides approximately 14,000 nutritious meals per month to those in need in Tucson. These nutritious meals are distributed to 11 meal sites in our community that have agreed to be public walk-in meal sites for the poor, low-income and homeless. The 14,000 meals are prepared by our Culinary Training Program Students under the guidance of our Executive Chef and Sous Chef. Our Culinary Training Program is an integral part of CCK. We enroll 8-10 students into our 10 week free training program, where they work full time 40 hours a week and learn knife skills, culinary math, menu planning, how to create the 5 Mother Sauces, and various cooking techniques. The students also receive instruction on Life Skills which encompasses: how to prepare a resume, job search, interview, budgeting, and more. Potentials students go through a rigorous interview process and must fit our criteria of being low-income, from an at risk population, looking to improve themselves as they may have been incarcerated, in a drug rehab program or unemployed. CCK partners with many local restaurants, resorts, hospitals, casinos, schools and corporations to help in the placement of our students.

The goal of this program is to help children and youth access fresh, locally grown food through their school gardens and cafeterias. Program staff accomplish this by working to reduce policy barriers and also build capacity with teachers, parents, and cafeteria staff. In 2013, we received a Farm-to-School grant from the USDA to partner with Tucson Unified School District, where we are helping a dozen schools maximize their garden production to serve the food in the cafeteria. We provide seasonal school garden trainings, seeds, and seedlings, among other things, to approximately 50 schools. While school gardening is the focus of the program, we also aim to support cafeterias in their efforts to acquire produce from local farmers on a larger scale.

The Community Food Bank partnered with City High School and Pima County in 2011 to create Las Milpitas de Cottonwood; an education-based, community-managed farm located on the west bank of the Santa Cruz River, on Cottonwood Ln, south of Silverlake Rd. The surrounding neighborhood residents play a key role in the visioning, planning, construction, and operation at the Farm. Involvement in this space is open to anyone.

The farm offers irrigated sunken-bed garden plots for neighbors to grow food. Each group who wishes to adopt a plot agrees to attend a monthly meeting and pay water costs (currently $6/month). Anyone is welcome to apply, but preference is given based on proximity to the farm and lack of access to home garden space. Las Milpitas also offers community facilities like a shade structures and an outdoor classroom for hosting classes and events (ours or other schools/groups' classes). These ramadas are always available and do not require reservation.

A committee comprised of those interested in the day-to-day operations and future direction of the farm meets regularly to discuss issues, plan events, and provide farm support. This committee is bilingual (English/Spanish) and open to anyone.

GGRC supports community members through SNAP application assistance and family advocacy, SNAP Outreach and training, and family literacy education opportunities.

GGRC has three work stations dedicated to one-on-one assistance on applications for SNAP, AHCCCS, and Cash Assistance as well as one work station dedicated to family advocacy. This provides a way to connect those in need with immediate food assistance, as well as educate the community about assistance programs and connect individuals in need with other programs and services available within the Food Bank and other partner organizations.

SNAP application staff performs outreach visits to pantries, schools, public libraries and events to educate the community about Community Food Bank food assistance resources in addition to processing SNAP applications at designated sites. The GGRC staff also aims to train partner organization staff and volunteers to establish permanent SNAP assistance locations, eventually operating without CFB staff.

GGRC also offers a SNAP Promotora training where committed individuals assist others with SNAP/AHCCCS applications and are educated on food systems and community organizing. Upon completion of the training, promotoras will be equipped to assist those in their community with applications, either from the GGRC office or another site.

The GGRC also teaches an Economic/Family Literacy curriculum to parents who wish to provide better opportunities for their children. Classes are available for groups upon request. Class topics include information about assistance programs and services that are available, nutrition and diet, cultural/family exercises, and community building activities.

School pantries are an emerging trend throughout the Feeding America nation-wide network of food banks. They are intended to alleviate child hunger by providing resources to families at convenient locations. Our goal is to make food assistance and other resources accessible to low-income children and families.

Our first school pantry opened in December 2014 at Wright Elementary School, when an unused office space was converted into a pantry. In April 2015, a client-choice mobile pantry was opened at Dietz Elementary School. In the fall of 2015, the program was expanded to three additional sites in the Tucson Unified School District. Currently, we operate 9 school pantries, including 3 mobile pantries and 2 family resource centers. The School Pantry Program incorporates nutrition education through classes, food demonstrations, and recipe handouts.

The After School Snack program partners with five Tucson Parks and Recreation sites through their KidCo and Inbetweeners Club programs—after-school recreation programs for children ages 5-14. Throughout the school year we provide healthy, after-school snacks five days a week to each site through the USDA at Risk after School Child and Adult Care Food Program, administered state-wide by the Arizona Department of Education. The program’s snack menu uses a four-week, rotational menu that meets ADE and USDA guidelines. Currently, there are 185 kids participating in the After School Snack Program at five Tucson Parks and Recreation sites. The program runs 38 weeks during the school year as well as throughout most school breaks through the Parks and Rec "Schoolzout” program.

In addition, we have partnered with five Boys and Girls Clubs and one Tucson Parks and Recreation Center (Roy Drachman Boys and Girls Club, Steve Daru Boys and Girls Club, Frank and Edith Morton Boys and Girls Club, Jim and Vicki Click Boys and Girls Club, Holmes Tuttle Boys and Girls Club, and Freedom Recreation Center) to provide full healthy meals to children who participate in their programs. Fresh meals are delivered to these sites every day around supper time and are served to the children free of charge by volunteers and program staff. This meal program was made possible through the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), which provides federal funding to help supply meals to children in need. Currently approximately 350 suppers per day are served each week day during the school year.