Dear St. Anne Parish Family,
As many of you know, St. Anne Friends of the Needy has grown tremendously this past year. By God’s grace, and through your generosity, we now partner with nine local grocery stores, rescuing and distributing thousands of pounds of food each week to families in need. In so many ways, this work has become a living expression of St. Mother Teresa’s call to “love until it hurts.” Every day, our volunteers pour out that kind of love in service to others. But now, we are truly hurting from the lack of help needed to continue this mission.
Our volunteers and staff are stretched thinner than ever. Our drivers are covering multiple shifts, often going above and beyond, and I simply can’t ask them to do more. As I write this, we had to forfeit our daily Bashas pickup due to an emergency with a scheduled driver this morning and no backup. The consequence of that is immediate - we can’t make up a fresh and nutritious food box for families and must turn them away, asking them to return on our next distribution day. These are the kinds of situations we face more and more often as our capacity is pushed to its limits.
On a typical week, we receive:
·2,000 lbs of food Monday - Friday
·3,000 lbs on Saturday
·4,000 lbs on Sunday
That’s nearly 17,000 pounds of food every week, an incredible amount of work handled by a small but faithful team. The scale we are now operating at is more comparable to a regional food distribution hub than a parish based ministry. If the lack of help continues, we may soon have to scale back on some of the resources and services we currently offer to families in crisis. We want to avoid that at all costs, but it will take more hands and hearts to sustain this level of outreach.
To meet this growing demand, we need more volunteers and drivers every day of the week. In addition to our regular food distribution days, which are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, I’ve also opened Sundays, Mondays and Fridays for sorting and preparing food for the week ahead. Whether you can help one day a week or a few hours a month, your presence would make a real difference.
This is a wonderful opportunity for anyone in our parish who feels called to serve: families, retirees, men and women of all ages. It can be especially fitting for homeschool families or teen boys (15 and older) who are available during weekday mornings (7:30am - 11:30am), when most adults are at work and students are in school. It’s a meaningful way to grow in faith, responsibility, and service while living out the corporal works of mercy and encountering Christ in those we serve.
Two young men, Michael and Blaise, are great examples of what this kind of service can do. Both began volunteering during high school, growing not only in responsibility but also in faith. One is now at our local seminary, and the other is discerning his vocation while continuing to serve as both an altar server and volunteer driver.
Blaise shares, "I started volunteering at Friends of the Needy to complete my service hours for school. As time went on, I began to truly love serving the people and seeing the smiles on their faces as we gave them their boxes. The food bank helped me find Christ in the mystery of His service and taught me what it means to live out His teachings in the Gospel. It gave me discipline and a love for servitude. Serving at the food bank has led me to see Christ in everyone, and to serve Him and His people for the Kingdom."
Their witness reminds us that the food bank is not just a place of work or service, it’s a place of formation.
Upcoming Projects
There are several exciting projects we’re currently working on:
·Renovation to widen the space in Building B for more food and baby item storage, meeting space, and staging areas for breaking down bulk bags of dry goods.
·Christmas Gifts for Clients: We will be selecting 40 families to receive Christmas gifts for their children. Look out for our SignUpGenius link soon if you’d like to participate.
·Holiday Turkey and Canned Food Drive: We’re preparing for both Thanksgiving and Christmas distributions, where we’ll provide meals for hundreds of families in need.
If you or your family would like to get involved, please visit our SignUpGenius or contact me directly at our volunteer line (480) 955-6867.
If you have a group of 8–15 individuals who would like to serve together, please reach out. We can schedule a special Saturday distribution for your group, a great opportunity for ministries, families, or friends to serve side by side and witness the impact of their efforts firsthand.
Together, we can continue to make St. Anne Friends of the Needy a living sign of Christ’s mercy to those most in need. Please keep our ministry and all involved, volunteers and clients, in your prayers. God bless you.
In Christ,
John Caballero, Director
St. Anne Friends of the Needy
Johnc@stanneaz.org
