Food delivered to the MountainView Clubhouse parking lot is received by an army of volunteers that check the expiration date and then sort, box and load it on trucks for delivery to Tri-Community Food Bank in the Mammoth.

 Steve Weiss Photography

The 27th annual SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) Food Drive will gather donations of food and money to support the Tri-Community Food Bank (TCFB) based in Mammoth. TCFB serves needy families living in Mammoth, San Manuel, Oracle and the Dudleyville/Aravaipa area. Donations from SaddleBrooke and SaddleBrooke Ranch helped to provide bi-monthly emergency food boxes to an unduplicated count of 537 households (1,588 people) for the past calendar year. This means 4,702 food boxes were given out to 14,145 individuals. TCFB meets a real need in the Tri-Community area, where 20 percent of households live below the poverty level and 10 percent are below 50 percent of the poverty level. Recent increases in the cost of gasoline, food and utilities have a significant impact on families already struggling to make ends meet.

SBCO will be collecting monetary contributions online or with checks from Monday, March 3 to Saturday, March 15. Online donations can be made at the SBCO website at community-outreach.org.

Checks should be made payable to SaddleBrooke Community Outreach with your unit number and either SaddleBrooke or SaddleBrooke Ranch on the memo line. Checks can be delivered to Food Drive Unit Captains or mailed/hand delivered to the SBCO office at 63675 E. SaddleBrooke Boulevard, Suite L., Tucson, AZ 85739 (in the SaddleBrooke business complex). Office hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. about putting their Unit number and either SaddleBrooke or SaddleBrooke Ranch in the memo line.

All monetary donations go directly to grocery purchases and related expenses. SBCO and TCFB are both all-volunteer organizations and are IRS 501(c)(3) and AZ non-profit charitable organizations, so donations made to these organizations are tax deductible.

Food donations need to be placed at the curb for pick up by 8 a.m. on Saturday, March 15. Each unit will be given a list of suggested food items to donate based on TCGB’s needs. Food donations will be taken to the MountainView Clubhouse parking lot for sorting, boxing and delivery to TCFB.

If you live in SaddleBrooke and would like to volunteer for the food drive, email Andrea Stephens at andrea.stephens@community-outreach.org. SaddleBrooke Ranch residents should email Marian Bianchini at marian@community-outreach.org.

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