United Food Bank

To end hunger in Arizona by providing access to nutritious food through community partnerships, food distribution and education in Eastern Maricopa County, Gila and Pinal County, and Southern Navajo and Apache Counties.

To increase the amount of quality food distributed through community partner agencies across Arizona; increase the number of donors (monthly, major, corporate and retail) to enable United Food Bank to shrink the meal gap, expand use of social media to educate, advocate and engage the region we serve; advocacy and education regarding hunger as it presents itself in our region with local, regional, state and national leaders; provide our community partners and clients with the best customer and food service possible. Distribute TEFAP and expand our Mobile Pantry Program to cover the holes in emergency food access experienced in rural communities; increase Retail Rescue Food donations; improve and expand trucking fleet to assure quality of food delivered, on time and in excellent condition to community partners; and implement the Link2Feed client tracking system to improve reporting and tracking to help us understand the needs of the communities we serve.

A well-qualified staff of 40+ and a volunteer force of 3,500+, United Food Bank is able to receive and distribute emergency and supplemental food. We are a member of Feeding America and the Association of Arizona Food Banks which elevates our ability to collaborate and coordinate our work. Our facilities meet our needs for both storage, handling and distribution capacity. A fleet of refrigerated tractor-trailers, refrigerated box trucks and other vehicles pick up and deliver needed food that goes out as meals through our 165+ community partners and programs. This system of warehouses and vehicles, in addition to our highly qualified staff, allows us to distribute about 2 million pounds of food to our community partners each month - 35% of which is fresh produce. UFB is recognized as fully compliant with all Feeding America member contract standards, as well as achieving all of the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance Standards.

In 2017/2018 fiscal year, the Food Bank distributed 20,787,754 pounds of food totaling 17,323,128 meals to hungry people, 13,285,784 of which was distributed in Maricopa County mostly the form of emergency food boxes. Arizona saw a 1% decrease in food insecurity, which we see as good news, especially to the 50,000 people who are no longer food insecure and have been lifted out of poverty and are living a more stable life. We expanded our refrigerated (cooler) space which will enable us to acquire and distribute double the amount of fresh food to hungry people. Some of the challenges we face are the growing needs in our areas, related to the deep pockets of poverty in rural and remote areas of our region that require more resources in terms of trucking product long distances. This year our goal is to continue to improve our warehouse and trucking fleet, and continue to reduce food insecurity across Arizona by raising awareness, increasing revenue, and shrinking the meal gap.