The Volunteer Center Mural

The other day in my BLOG, I posted an article about the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony held recently at the Phoenix Central Volunteer Center. What I didn’t mention in this article was the creative mural that we had made specifically for the Volunteer Center. We wanted to have something to display in this area that was dedicated to our volunteers and that captures the true spirit of their generosity.


The mural is made up of three panels with the panel to the far left being a drawing of John van Hengel, our founder who first started as a volunteer. John is recognized nationally and internationally as the “Father of Food Banking” and dedicated his life to helping the hungry.

In the center panel are drawings of some of our volunteers and the programs they volunteer in. The gentleman pictured on the lower left represents someone from one of the many corporations that volunteer here on a regular basis. Corporate volunteers sort food, pack boxes and hold food drives to help keep our shelves stocked. Many corporations hold staff meetings here at the Food Bank and use their time volunteering as a teambuilding event.

The teenager shown on the left is a high school student who is completing his volunteer hours for a school project. He’s been volunteering here since he was a boy scout. Other group volunteers come from churches, service clubs, and local community organizations.

We have several retirees and senior groups represented by the smiling woman in the middle area of the mural. These individuals prepare meals for our Kids Cafe program, pack food boxes and work in our thrift shop. We also have a group of dedicated volunteers who work in our offices, help answer phones, sort and prepare mail.

The little girl in our mural is a recipient of groceries through our school distribution program. Children in this program attend schools where the majority of the students receive free breakfast and lunch, often their only meals of the day. And the gentleman next to this little girl is helping sort and distribute that food.

The woman on the far right side of the mural is shown delivering a box of food to an elderly or disabled person through our B.R.E.A.D. program, or could be delivering an Emergency Food Box to a family in crisis. We have no idea who the child is shown eating a sandwich but his smiling face is a reminder of why the food bank exists.
This mural represents our beginning, with John van Hengel, our Founder, and our future – made possible through the generosity of our volunteers and community members that support St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance! We welcome the community to come to the food bank for a tour and to see this beautiful mural close and upfront!

Volunteer Center Ribbon Cutting

On Wednesday evening, March 7th, we held the official ribbon cutting ceremony for our Volunteer Center at the Phoenix Central location. The Volunteer Center had been in the planning stages for almost 5 years. The concept of the Volunteer Center was the creation of a meeting room that could accommodate large corporate groups in a comfortable setting and atmosphere, with the offer to conduct a business meeting and then volunteer for a few hours at the food bank in food sorting or box assembly - creating a wonderful partnership opportunity between our corporate donors and the food bank! The creation of the Volunteer Center has also enabled us to build out additional office space within our primary administration area. The additional office space was designed to meet the future growth needs including additions to our staff and to create comfortable work space for administrative volunteer support. The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony was attended by over 50 community members, giving us the opportunity to recognize some of our key financial and in-kind donors who have helped bring the project from the discussion stages to completion. The organizations and community members recognized were:

Del E. Webb Foundation
Form5 Architecture Studio, Inc.
Kieckhefer Foundation
Logos Builders
Metro Mechanical
Modern Modular
Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust
RGV Renovation
Robertson Painting
Sonoran Woodworks
Spencers TV & Appliance
SunCor Development
Triple J
Wilkinson Floor Covering, Inc.
Mary & Dennis Wise

Thank you to all who participated in the event and helped us bring the idea of the Volunteer Center to reality!

CANSTRUCTION

I had the opportunity on Monday, March 5th, to be a judge in the 1st ever “CANSTRUCTION” event held here in Phoenix. This event is a nationwide effort that has finally come to our community. It involves engineering and architectural firms who design and build displays – you guessed it, made out of canned goods. Once the displays are created, a judging process occurs. Then after about a week, the food bank picks up all of the canned goods and transports them back to the food bank for distribution through our programs. This year’s event will yield nearly 60,000 cans of fruit, vegetables, canned meat, tuna and other assorted canned items.

We will be posting on our website various pictures of some of the very creative displays. It never ceases to amaze me how the community helps support the food bank. And this effort is an extremely unique example of that support! Thank you!

Non-Profit Community Partnership

On March 8th, I had the pleasure of attending the Valley of the Sun School & Habilitation Center 3rd Annual Volunteer and Sponsor Recognition Celebration. It was a wonderful event recognizing the many different community organizations and individuals who support the Valley of the Sun School & Habilitation Center and their efforts. St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance was recognized with an award for Non-Profit Community Partnership. This award highlighted the relationship we have with the school and center in supplying food to many of their locations on an on-going basis, as well as providing a volunteer opportunity at our food bank on a regular basis for many of their disabled clients. The school and center bring their clients to the food bank, where they work in the produce bagging area to help prepare items for our food box program.

This is an incredible example of how we work very closely with our partner agencies in the community and support each other.

We are very grateful for the recognition from Valley of the Sun School & Habilitation Center of our efforts by presenting us with their Non-Profit Community Partnership Award for 2007.