President Tonya introduced Monica Foos, Executive Director of the Flagstaff Family Food Center. FFFC has been supported by the Rotary Club for many years. Their organizational motto is Neighbors Feeding Neighbors Every Day. No questions are asked of those requesting food. There are no requirements in order to receive food.
Monica gave an update on what they learned during COVID which included the following:
- Mobile distributions: School principals called and asked for food help as many students here in town get food assistance during the year. She noted 1 in 4 children in Flagstaff have food insecurity. This program of mobile distribution of food will continue going forward past COVID.
-Home deliveries of food boxes were extended from seniors to also include the home-bound due to physical or mental illness, have a sick or high-risk member of your household, or are simply continuing to “shelter in place”. FFFC distributed 173K lbs of food to homes during the past fiscal year.
-To Go hot meal program was started since the dining room was closed. They received very positive feedback from the user community. This program will also continue post COVID.
The good news is that the dining room should be reopening in the Oct-Nov timeframe depending on the county's COVID activity.
FFFC donates their excess food to local farmers so that nothing goes to waste. They have received dozens of eggs back from the farmers. These eggs are cooked and go to the breakfast for homeless at shelters.
They are currently raising money for a new refrigerated truck. The estimated cost is $75K. The National Guard has provided one in the past year. The Guard contract is up in November and that truck needs to be replaced to continue programs.
Monica introduced Jason Kordosky, the FFFC Volunteer Coordinator. He noted there is a general need of 58 volunteers daily to support the programs. There is an online calendar to sign up individually. Group activity should be coordinated through him.
Their website https://hotfood.org has general information and statistics on food volumes and the numbers of Arizonans that have been helped during this past year.
Tonya closed the program by noting this month's book will be donated in Monica and Jason's names to the FFFC Reading Room.
