Hunger and food insecurity is a reality for thousands of Arizona families. That’s why Bashas’ teamed up with Hormel Foods to donate more than 3,000 hams to Arizona families in need on Wednesday, Dec. 18. Four organizations—St. Mary’s Food Bank, United Food Bank, the Navajo Nation Veterans Administration and Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona—came together at Bashas’ distribution center in Chandler to load their delivery trucks with pallets of hams to help families in need across the state.
Arizona ranks 10th in the nation for food insecurity and rural areas can be especially vulnerable.
As many as one in seven people in Arizona struggle with hunger.
About one in four Arizona children—nearly 435,000 youth—experience hunger or food insecurity.
Hormel’s “Hams for Hunger” campaign is in its 30th year. Together, with local grocers, Hormel has a goal of donating enough hams for 1 million meals this year, a step toward alleviating food insecurity across the United States.
United Food Bank serves nearly 225,000 people every year who face food insecurity in Maricopa, Pinal, Gila and Apache counties, as well as the Navajo Nation. Approximately, 84,000 of them are children.
Navajo Nation Veterans Administration provides services to approximately 11,000 Navajo veterans and their families each year.
St. Mary’s Food Bank serves nine out of 15 counties in Arizona. Yearly, the food bank provides 97 million meals to Arizonans in need.
Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona serves nearly 155,000 people every year in Cochise, Graham, Greenlee, Santa Cruz and Pima counties.
“This is such an amazing gift,” said Jim Zwierlein, executive director for the Navajo Nation Veterans Administration and a Marine Corps veteran. “On behalf of the Navajo veterans who will be receiving these hams, I would like to thank everyone at Bashas’ for reaching out to us, and for their generosity this holiday season.”
“The holidays can put a lot of pressure on families who are struggling to make ends meet,” said Michael McDonald, CEO of Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. “We appreciate Bashas’ and Hormel stepping forward at this time of year to set a wonderful example of how our community can make a difference to children, families and seniors in need.”
