The Sedona Community Food Bank held an official ribbon cutting ceremony for its new location at 30 Inspirational Drive on the afternoon of Thursday, Oct. 19. The food bank has been operating out of the new location for the last two months, which has allowed it to serve more Verde Valley residents, although donations are down close to 20% from previous levels.
“Our numbers are up because it’s so easy to get to,” Board of Directors member Brian Dunn said at the opening. “Yesterday, we filled 176 orders, which is kind of crazy” when the average served is “more like 150. So almost 20% above, so the need is up. We’re feeling particularly appreciated these days and people are great.”
Over the summer the food bank had been serving around 160 people daily; a typical number is 120 clients.
“That’s a number I wouldn’t see until about November, when you get into the holiday season because now people are trying to figure out, ‘How am I going to feed my family?’” Executive Director Cathleen Healy-Baiza said. “That’s a lot of families this time of year. I will attribute that to the new location and the cost of food. It’s very expensive to go shopping and so people are really trying to scrimp and save and get by.”
Healy-Baiza pointed out the food bank’s blue barrels, which enable residents to drop off goods at several area locations, including Quicker Cleaner Car Wash at 1515 SR 89A, the Sedona Community Center at 2615 Melody Lane, Sedona Recycles at 2280 Shelby Drive and Clark’s Market and Pharmacy at 100 Verde Valley School Road.
“Our donations are a little less, unfortunately. It’s the sign of the times,” Healy-Baiza said. “Normally, when I come in on a Saturday, [this barrel] would be brimming full. It’s not brimming full. For example, we normally give out eight pounds of produce [to a client]. I had to bring it down to six pounds of produce … [But] we’ll make it work. That’s what I do.”
Accessibility is driving the increased demand. The food bank’s more centralized location is a short walk from public transportation and is located on a level area in West Sedona, as compared to the Sedona Seventh-day Adventist Church on Sunset Drive, where the food bank had been located for over 40 years, 3,357 feet from State Route 89A and up a steep hill.
The food bank purchased the new building in October 2022 for $665,000 and has to raise another $300,000 for needed renovations, including Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, mold removal, a new roof and parking lot improvements, as the building had not been upgraded since 1993.
The new building “is so user friendly,” Healy-Baiza said. “It is so good for my clients. They walk in the front door, they can go shopping in our store, they can go out to that last room there, they pick up their produce and bread and they exit out the back and they’re only a short walk away to their car. It’s so well-designed and we have to thank [board member] Mike Cook and Jim Lawler for that.”
“It’s amazing what you can do with 1,500 square feet when you have Mike and Jim,” Healy-Baiza said during the ribbon cutting. “We really do appreciate all the support from the community, from our volunteers, from our donors and from my clients and my board.”
To avoid future parking issues, the food bank has arrived at an agreement with its neighbor, the Los Rosales restaurant, to allow food bank clients to park at the restaurant when the food bank is open on Wednesdays. The food bank also has a separate agreement with Chocolatree for food bank volunteer parking.
Dunn said that one of his favorite parts of volunteering has been pulling one of the food bank’s four little red wagons to the Los Rosales parking lot to help Sedona residents load their food.
“It’s the sequential conversation that happens over weeks,” Dunn explained. “You get to show people that you’re just two people. They have a need I happen to be helping, but we’re just two people walking across the street and I love it.”
For questions about the Sedona Community Food Bank or its new location, visit sedonafoodbank.org or call (928) 204-2808.
