Left to right: Gary Boydstun, Carol Fielding, Ted Widerman, Gene Lawrence, Bud and Marilee Fairbanks, Mike Fielding, Pamela and Bob Wample and Bob Johnson
Nan Nasser
For the 17th year SaddleBrooke Community Outreach has sponsored a community food drive to benefit our neighbors in Pinal County. On Saturday, March 19, members of SBCO and area residents were involved in curbside pickups, bringing donations to the MountainView Country Club parking lot, sorting all food, checking for expiration dates and making certain no glass went into the vehicles. All donations went to the Tri- Community Food Bank in Mammoth (TCFB).
TB Contractors from Catalina supplied a large truck to transport the cases of food to the food bank. In addition, Oracle Ford had a pickup truck on site, the SBCO Kids’ Closet van was in service, and TCFB took all the paper and hygiene supplies to Mammoth in their truck. Rotary was active, wheeling the loaded boxes on dollies to the trucks, teens from Sycamore Canyon Academy greeted the arriving cars and helped to unload the bags and boxes. And residents of SaddleBrooke Ranch, overseen by Steve Groth, brought six vehicles from the Ranch with 310 bags of food, and $1,200 in cash donations.
Cynthia Chevalley, chairperson of TCFB, gave a brief description of the need for this food in the Tri-Community area of San Manuel, Mammoth, Oracle and as far north as Aravaipa. About 12,000 food boxes are prepared each calendar year for needy families. What we collect in this annual food drive could last two and a half months.
Bob Evans and Joan Roberts chaired the event. Each unit in SB had a team captain to pick up and deliver their neighbors’ contributions, many volunteers were on hand in the parking lot to accept and sort the goods. Once all was delivered to the Mammoth site the teens from Sycamore plus a few other young people were treated to lunch before returning to their homes. This enormous project provides food, smiles and a strong sense of community participation in supporting our neighbors to the north of us in Pinal County.