Utah Food Bank Southern Distribution Center receives over 54K pounds of food during annual drive

ST. GEORGE — During the Utah Food Banks’ annual sponsored Feed Utah food drive, the Southern Distribution Center, received over 54,000 pounds of donated food and counting on Saturday.

The Utah Food Bank Southern Distribution Center collected over 54,000 pounds of food, St. George, Utah, March 18, 2023 | Photo by Nick Yamashita, St. George News

“It was phenomenal,” Utah Food Bank Southern Distribution Center Director Jacob Miner said. “We had an outstanding response — even more than what we were expecting.”

The second statewide food drive was planned for over a year after a hiatus in 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Miner said. And they’ll be accepting food donations for another week as there is always someone who wants to “donate after the fact.”

Miner said the organization also supports other planned food drives.

“There’s multiple food drives all year long,” he said. “But this is one we host.”

Angela Torres, who serves as program manager, estimated there are about six major food drives they do throughout the year.

Marsha Watson, lead volunteer project coordinator, said 58 volunteers showed up and were split into two groups. And while many of the volunteers were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, volunteers also included people who are not members of the church, and anyone was invited to help.

Miner said volunteers arrived hours earlier than the scheduled start time at the facility located at 4416 River Road within one of the industrial areas.

“We have a very supportive community as volunteers go,” Torres said.

Local partners accepting donations in Washington County included Switchpoint Community Resource Center, Solomon’s Porch Foursquare Fellowship Pantry and Hurricane Valley Food Pantry, Torres said during a tour of the facility. The Iron County Care and Share Food Pantry in Iron County also accepted donations.

From macaroni and cheese to soups, stews, cereals and more — there were several rows of bins filled with food, ranging from about 600-1,200 pounds each.

People were able to leave bags and boxes of food on their porches or by their front doors, where they were picked up by volunteers at about 9 a.m. Additionally, donations were taken to community drop-off locations, including the post office and LDS churches, among others.

All donations received were for the benefit of the Utah Food Bank and Utahns who need help to feed themselves and their families.

Marsha Watson and Ron Sykes unload a delivery from Hurricane Valley Food Pantry, St. George, Utah, March 18, 2023 | Photo by Nick Yamashita, St. George News

The food drive’s primary partners were the LDS church, JustServe, and Macey’s Grocery, Miner said.

Additionally, Torres said the organization is a member of Feeding America.

According to their website, the Utah Food Bank started in 1904 as the Salt Lake Charity Association. The organization underwent five name changes throughout the years: the Charity Organization Society in 1912; the Community Welfare Council in 1924; the Community Services Council in 1961; and the Utah Food Bank Services in 2006.

Last year, the Southern Distribution Center distributed nearly 4.7 million pounds of food to Utah’s six southernmost counties: Beaver, Iron, Washington, Garfield, Kane and San Juan. They also serve the Kanosh Paiute food pantry and a few borderline communities in Arizona.

The last delivery truck, from the Hurricane Valley Food Pantry, arrived at the 41,000-square-foot facility around 2 p.m. These donations had not yet been counted at the time of this report.

Even after a long day of hard work, driver Ron Sykes, volunteer project coordinator Rebel Gibson, Torres and Watson unloaded the food and weighed it with smiles and laughter.

While closing down and locking up at about 3 p.m., people still were dropping off food donations.

The facility accepts donations Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

For more information about volunteering, contact the volunteer department at 435-275-4888 or via email.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

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