Unify Sedona announced on Nov. 5 that it donated $8,000 for emergency food relief to several local organizations in response to uncertainty surrounding the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during the federal government shutdown.
“We want to help anybody who’s in need,” Unify Sedona Executive Director Tracey McConnell said. “That’s the premise of our donation. We know that there are so many; 855,000 people receive SNAP in Arizona. But we knew that this crisis was absolutely critical for us to do something about.”
Unify Sedona split its $8,000 emergency food donation among four groups: Manzanita Outreach, which provides food assistance across the Verde Valley, received $5,000, and $1,000 each went to the Sedona Community Food Bank, the Sedona Community Center and Hope House of Sedona. To read the full donation announcement see Page 5B in this edition of the NEWS.
An $8,000 donation may sound small in the face of a national crisis — but here in Sedona and the Verde Valley, it translates into thousands of meals, full pantries, and hope restored,” McConnell wrote. “It’s proof that when we act locally, we can meet urgent needs immediately.”
Manzanita Outreach
“With the government shutdown, almost as soon as they started saying that there would be an impact to SNAP, we were seeing sometimes almost double attendance to our food shares, and we’re seeing about 30 to 40 new households registering for our services at each event,” Manzanita Outreach Executive Director Kate Morrill said. “In 2025, before the government shutdown, we were already at a 30% increase from about 20,000 to 21,000 clients every month to almost 25,000 every month that we’re serving. With the SNAPS shutdowns and the uncertainty it’s just increased that demand even further.”
Financial donations to Manzanita Outreach have not kept pace with the surge in demand according to Morrill, which makes the $5,000 from Unify Sedona critical.
“What has kept pace and has really exceeded our expectations is the volunteer outreach and the volunteer base that we have, they’ve really stepped up,” Morrill said. “We’ve had lots of groups come to volunteer or set up volunteering individuals that are getting involved for the first time. That’s been really helpful. Because obviously, you know, some of these events going from just a few 100 to multiple hundreds of people, or even our Saturday events, going from about 900 cars to 1,400 cars. Takes a lot more hands to get the work done.”
Sedona Community Food Bank
“It’s $1,000 I can buy food with that, which is really a good thing, especially now with our numbers that have increased over 20%” in demand since Oct. 29, food bank Executive Director Cathleen Healy-Baiza said, adding that the food bank went from serving about 185 households to 220 households during that span.
“Just being able to keep our shelves stocked fast enough,” has been one of the largest practical operation challenges, she said, along with needing more space for produce storage.
Fortunately, monetary and in-kind donations to the food bank have kept pace with the surge in demand Healy-Baiza said.
One way to support the food bank as it approaches the holiday and its season of the most demand is also by indulging your sweet tooth since the food banks’s See’s Candy Wagon has setup in the Bashas’ parking lot on Coffee Pot Drive.
The “Candy Wagon is filled with delicious chocolates, peanut brittle, lollipops, truffles and other goodies,” food bank members wrote on social media. “Stop in soon. We’re open Monday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. through Wednesday, Nov. 26, or whenever the candy runs out.”
After Thanksgiving, the wagon will be open Friday, Dec. 5, through Wednesday, Dec. 24.
Thanksgiving at Coffee Pot Restaurant
The Coffee Pot Restaurant at 2050 SR 89A is also hosting their free community Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday, Nov. 26, from 3 to 6 p.m., while the traditional turkey dinner with all the fixings monetary donations for the food bank are collected — the dinner will be covered in the Nov. 19 edition of the NEWS.
The food bank is also currently looking for additional donations of health care, common household products, snacks, socks and more for its senior gift bags for clients.
“We want every child to receive toys, but a forgotten population is our seniors, and without our seniors, we wouldn’t have the history we have,” Healy-Baiza said, “So we put together every year, 50 Senior Gift bags.”
Sedona Toys For Tots
Sedona Toys for Tots is also in full swing for the holiday season and the food bank is among its signup locations for working families in need.
“I probably have at least 35 children signed up for Toys for Tots and I’ve only been signing up for two days,” Healy-Baiza said on Monday, Nov. 10. She estimates that the food bank signed up “around 60 children” for the entire program in 2024.
Drop off donations at 30 Inspirational Drive, Monday through Thursday, from 7:30 a.m. to noon. Contact Healy-Baiza at (928) 204-2808.
Residents also have an opportunity to support Unify Sedona on Wednesday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m. with a screening of the documentary “Texas Strong” in commemoration the Transgender Day of Remembrance taking place at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre at 2030 89A. Details are on Page 5 of this week’s edition of The Scene, and online at sedonafilmfestival.com.
