Family

Schools, community tackle ‘Feed Our Families’ campaign

Jan 1, 1970

There are 35.5 million people, including 12.6 million children, living in households that experience hunger, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture study. That’s one in 10 households in the United States. Fact is, it’s an issue in Maricopa as well.

It’s time to help. Maricopa United School District schools are participating in a Maricopa “Feed Our Families” contest to create awareness of food shortages in the community, Nov. 16-20. The goal of the campaign is to raise 4,875 pounds of food for the F.O.R. Maricopa food bank.

The nine schools will be competing to see which school can collect the most amount of food, per student capita. The winning school, which will be announced on ABC15-TV’s “Sonoran Living” on Nov. 23, will be awarded $1,000.

The contest is the brainchild of Dr. Duane Clouse of Treasured Smiles Children’s Dentistry. “Our goal is to create awareness of our community need, to fill our pantry shelves so that there will be no hunger at least for the holiday season,” Clouse said. “This is something we can do to make a difference in the community, to come forth as a community to solve this problem together.”

“We serve a lot of families here, and it’s on the increase,” said Wendy Webb, executive director of F.O.R. Maricopa. “We’re feeding more than 500 people every week. And it’s not just food: it’s clothing, furniture, job leads…anything we can do to help these people we’re going to try and do.”

Webb says that hunger in this community is not an isolated problem. “It’s your neighbor, the person you sit next to in church; it can happen to anyone,” Webb said.

The public can bring donations to:

Great Western Bank
19750 N. John Wayne Pkwy.
520-568-4230

Premier Orthodontics
21083 N. John Wayne Pkwy. #C105
520-568-5600

Teakwoods Tavern and Grill
21141 N. John Wayne Pkwy.
520-494-7080

Treasured Smiles Children’s Dentistry
21300 N. John Wayne Pkwy. #117
520-316-6111

Native New Yorker
21164 N. John Wayne Pkwy.
520-568-6077

All of the above drop-off sites will have special promotions or discounts for donators. Call for details.

For more information or to find out how you can help by donating money to this cause, contact Kristine Brisk at 520-316-6111 or by e-mail at [email protected].

Photo by Joyce Hollis