The Daily Platter

More than $108,000 was collected during the first annual Pay It Forward: FEED OUR CHILDREN campaign hosted by CBS 5, benefiting St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance.  Enough donations were raised to provide over 764,000 meals to families in need.

During the summertime, food demands are among the highest at the Food Bank.  1 in 4 children in Arizona are food insecure and often rely on school lunches for their only meals. When school is out for the summer, their families have to find other ways to provide for their children.  CBS 5, the Valley’s first news station, joined with the world’s first food bank to stock the shelves and help feed those children.

The campaign consisted of a CBS 5 hosted phone bank, donations at area Safeway stores, and a six day event at Arrowhead Towne Center in Glendale. During the phone bank on May 23, viewers called in to donate nearly $8000. Southwest Gas Corporation matched those gifts, and added another $2000 by donating a check for $10,000. Wells Fargo also presented a $10,000 check on air during the phone bank. Safeway participated in the campaign by not only providing the cans of food used to build the Make Hunger Disappear wall, but also by presenting a $10,000 check.

The Make Hunger Disappear wall was located at Arrowhead Towne Center in Glendale from May 28 to June 2. 5,000 cans were used to build the word Hunger and the public donated $5 to pull a can off the wall, making ‘hunger’ disappear.

“We know our viewers want to help,” said CBS 5 Vice President and General Manager Ed Munson.  “All we did was to serve as the conduit to let them do what was in their hearts to do.  I continue to be amazed at their capacity to Pay It Forward.”

St. Mary’s would like to thank CBS 5 viewers, Southwest Gas Corporation, Wells Fargo, Safeway, and Cox Communications (who also donated $10,000 during the campaign) for their generous donations, and Arrowhead Towne Center for being a gracious host of the Hunger wall. A special thank you to the team at CBS 5 for all their hard work to Pay It Forward.

As the school season winds down, so do the subsidized breakfast and lunch programs. This places an extra burden on families during the summer months, and they often have to turn to our emergency food boxes. Two local North Phoenix kids decided to dedicate this past Saturday collecting food to help St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance feed those families this summer.

Michael and Tommy set up the food drive as a community service program at their school, Sonoran Trails Middle School. The seventh graders came up with the project on their own and handed out flyers in the neighborhoods, and in the end collected 130 lbs of food for the hungry!

Thanks Michael and Tommy!