I am thrilled to report that Flagstaff Family Food Center is the recipient of an anonymous and very generous $1 million gift that will allow us to dramatically increase access to nutritious groceries to residents of rural and Tribal communities throughout northern Arizona.
It is the largest one-time donation FFFC has received in its 35-year history and it comes at a time when demand for food assistance has never been greater. Since 2020, FFFC food box distributions have increased by 181%, driven by inflation and compounded by a reduction in benefits for those in need, such as SNAP benefits.
In many cases, communities either don’t have a food pantry – or their existing services are stretched beyond capacity – and the people they serve don’t have the means to travel to FFFC’s Flagstaff warehouse.
This donation will allow us to bring the food to them.
The funding will be used for a three-year phased expansion that increases the frequency and reach of food distribution across northern Arizona, while establishing new, regularly scheduled distributions in underserved rural and Tribal communities with limited access to nutritious food.
Much of the money will go to the purchase of three new 26-foot trucks with refrigeration systems, essential for transporting produce, milk, and other perishables. The gift will also pay for pallet jacks, operational supplies, supplemental food purchases, and staffing of the expanded programs.
This is not the first time this anonymous donor has made a substantial gift to Flagstaff Family Food Center.
Last year, this same donor provided $650,000 to help FFFC create a dedicated space for agency partners so they could “shop” for items for their clients. The 2,837-square-foot Flagstaff Agency Market, located next to FFFC’s main warehouse on Huntington Drive, opened this spring.
These two gifts are transformative in how they are allowing us to scale up our mission and reduce barriers to getting nutritious food to the people who need it now and in the future.
We are profoundly grateful for this incredibly generous gift and to all of you who support our mission of neighbors feeding neighbors, every day.
Sincerely,
Ethan Amos
President & CEO
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