Yavapai County Food Bank among Tri-City area charities helping during the COVID-19 pandemic
Prescott Community Cupboard, Chino Valley Food Bank also providing food services

The Yavapai Food Bank is doing what it can to help those in need during the coronavirus threat. (Yavapai Food Bank/Courtesy)

The Yavapai Food Bank is doing what it can to help those in need during the coronavirus threat. (Yavapai Food Bank/Courtesy)

As the COVID-19 pandemic begins to wreak havoc on the small-business community in Arizona, it’s likely that more and more people in Prescott Valley and beyond will need help from local food banks.

What follows is a short rundown for how the Yavapai County Food Bank in Prescott Valley, the Prescott Community Cupboard Food Bank in Prescott and the Chino Valley Food Bank in Chino Valley are planning to handle an influx.

YAVAPAI COUNTY FOOD BANK

As of March 16, 2020, Yavapai County Food Bank, 8866 E. Long Mesa Drive, was continuing with its regular food-distribution days and times, including 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 1 to 3 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays.

For now, no one will be allowed on the food bank’s lots before serving times, according to the food bank’s website, yavapaifoodbank.org.

The food bank’s main office will be unavailable for walk-ins for at least the next two weeks, through the end of March, but it will not affect an individual’s ability to get a food box.

If you have a Yavapai County Food Bank card, you may use that to get food. If you do not have a Food Bank card, Yavapai County Food Bank will write you an emergency ticket.

Yavapai County Food Bank will continue to use best practices in cleaning and sanitizing its warehouse. All food handlers at the food bank’s produce station are using gloves. Volunteers have access to several hand-sanitizing dispensers, and they are given instructions to use them frequently.

The food bank is asking sick clients to stay at home, so send a friend or a family member to pick up food for you.

Someone will be answering the phones at Yavapai County Food Bank’s office, which checks messages and returns calls and inquiries. For more information, call 928-775-5255.

PRESCOTT CUPBOARD

Staff and volunteers at Prescott Community Cupboard, 313 Goodwin St., are all wearing gloves when distributing food, which will occur only outside from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Staff and volunteers are also the only ones recording the number of people who will be receiving food, as Catholic Charities’ office is currently closed. Fresh fruit is available on the porch, however.

During this time, those who need food may come back as often as they want, while supplies last.

Prescott Community Cupboard Board Chairperson Susan Ford said on March 20 that her organization will not be conducting its every-other-month food drive in April. Ford added that the seven Prescott-area churches that typically partner with Prescott Community Cupboard are also now closed, leaving those churches’ food for the food drive unavailable.

Ford said area grocery stores are currently struggling to donate food because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When Catholic Charities is open, we can fill orders,” Ford said. “But for right now we are just going with a bag of food.”

For the time-being, families in need will receive food bags of 11 pounds each. Those bags include protein-filled foods as well as vegetables, Ford added. Per trip, large families of more than six people receive three, 11-pound bags of food; medium-sized families of three to five people receive two, 11-pound bags of food; and small families up to two people receive one, 11-pound bag of food.

Community Cupboard donates food to those who don’t have other means to feed themselves and their families. For more information, call 928-778-2531.

CHINO VALLEY FOOD BANK

Chino Valley Food Bank, 840 E. Road 1 South, stated on its Facebook page March 20, 2020, that it is taking precautionary measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 and to support its volunteers.

To maintain its ability to serve customers for the long-term, effective March 23, 2020, the food bank has implemented the following:

• Hours and days of operation will remain the same;

• Produce, packaged bread, and baked goods (when available) will be packaged by volunteers and included in food boxes.

• Produce, bread, and baked goods will not be distributed separately, and only in the monthly box; and

• There will be no inside pickup of food boxes.

Volunteers are helping to distribute food to clients using “minimal contact” via the so-called outdoor-distribution model. Show your card at the door and a volunteer will bring you your food box outside. For more information, call 928-636-8478.

Web links and contact info for donating to Tri-City area food banks, Meals on Wheels and Salvation Army

Chino Valley Food Bank, Chino Valley: Visit https://www.facebook.com/ChinoValleyFoodBank/ to make donations. Call 928-636-8478 for more information.

Prescott Meals on Wheels, Prescott: Visit http://www.prescottmealsonwheels.com/donate_now1.aspx to make donations. Call 928-445-7630 for more information.

Prescott Community Cupboard Food Bank, Prescott: Visit http://www.prescottcommunitycupboard.com/donate/ to make donations. Call 928-778-2122 for more information.

Prescott Valley Food Bank, Prescott Valley: Visit http://www.azfoodbanks.org/index.php/foodbank/article/prescott_valley_food_bank_inc to make donations. Call 928-772-4490 for more information.

Salvation Army Prescott Corps, Prescott: Visit https://prescott.salvationarmy.org/prescott_corps/cure-hunger/ to make donations. Call 1-800-725-2769 for more information.

Yavapai County Food Bank, Prescott Valley: Visit https://secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=7946cb to make donations. Call 928-775-5255 for more information.


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