Mesa’s United Food Bank Is Storing Donations in Trucks, So It Plans a Bigger Warehouse With Room for Fresh Produce

At United Food Bank’s warehouse in Mesa, the problem right now is not a shortage of food. It is a shortage of room. Donations have been arriving so quickly, CEO Jason Reed told ABC15 Arizona last week, that some nonperishable items are being kept in trucks parked outside the building.

The nonprofit wants to fix that with a major expansion of its Mesa warehouse, and the part Reed highlighted is the part home gardeners and grocery shoppers will understand right away: cold storage. “We’re going to have much more space for freezers and coolers,” he said.

More cold space means the food bank can hold more fresh produce, dairy and other perishable food, the kinds of groceries that are hardest for families on a tight budget to buy and hardest for any food bank to keep on hand. According to reporting by ABC15’s Sean McDowell and by The Phoenix Focal, the organization is now working with Mesa city officials on permits. There is no construction timetable yet.

Why the space matters now

Reed said demand for United Food Bank’s services has risen 61% during his three years leading the organization. He tied the increase to higher living costs that leave households short on basics.

“Because the costs have risen so much, they’re just having a hard time making ends meet,” Reed told ABC15. “So, they come to the food bank, they get support for that food, that allows them to pay for their rent that month.”

That is a practical way to think about what a food bank does. A box of groceries does not only fill a refrigerator. It frees up money that a family can then put toward rent, a utility bill or a car repair that keeps someone getting to work.

The warehouse also supplies other charities. One of them is Paz de Cristo Community Center in Mesa, which runs a food box program. Leaders there estimate that about 500,000 people in Maricopa County are experiencing food insecurity. Jackie Shelley of Paz de Cristo said the center’s kitchen serves daily meals to roughly 200 people on most days, and that demand has grown in recent months.

“For a lot of people, they don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” Shelley told ABC15. “We have to keep working together.”

A 43-year-old East Valley institution

United Food Bank’s roots are in the East Valley. According to the organization’s history, it began in July 1983 as United Food Distribution Center, Inc., formed through a collaboration between local cities and United Way organizations. In its first year it worked with 28 community groups to collect and distribute food, and the food bank says many of those early partners are still with it.

By 1985 it had expanded beyond Maricopa County’s East Valley to serve Gila and Pinal counties and parts of Apache and Navajo counties. Today the food bank says it covers a service area of 19,608 square miles, including some of the most remote parts of Arizona, and works through more than 130 partner agencies such as food pantries, meal sites and after-school youth meal programs. It also runs its own mobile pantries.

For readers in San Tan Valley, Queen Creek, Florence and the rest of Pinal County, that service map is the important detail. A bigger cooler in Mesa is not only a Mesa story. It is part of the supply line that reaches pantries and programs across a wide swath of the state, including communities close to home.

Rescued groceries, not just canned goods

Much of what United Food Bank distributes is food that would otherwise be thrown away. The organization says more than half of its food comes through its Grocery Rescue program, which collects fresh, nutritious food from local grocery stores, including fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat and shelf-stable items.

That model explains why the expansion leans so heavily on freezers and coolers. Rescued produce and dairy have a short window. A food bank that cannot chill them quickly either has to move them out the door fast or risk losing them. More cold storage gives staff more time and more flexibility to get perishable food to the partner agencies that need it.

The food bank says the rest of its supply comes from individual donors, food drives, partnerships with grocers and food producers, and federal programs that provide staples. It occasionally buys food to keep a balanced variety on the shelves.

What happens next

The expansion is still early. Reed told ABC15 that the organization is working with Mesa officials to secure permits, and he estimates the project will take about two years to complete once construction begins. Neither outlet reported a cost estimate or a start date, and the food bank has not published either on its website.

In the meantime, the day-to-day work continues at the food bank’s two Mesa addresses. Its administrative offices are at 245 S. Nina Drive, open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, and the phone number is 480-926-4897. Volunteers work at the Javelina Volunteer Center, 358 E. Javelina Ave. Neither location distributes food directly to the public. People who need food can use the Find Food tool on the food bank’s website to locate a partner pantry or mobile distribution near them.

How neighbors can help

The most direct way to help is a volunteer shift. United Food Bank says volunteers sort and box food, build emergency food bags and serve families, and that a single shift can help feed thousands of people. Children ages 5 to 15 can volunteer at emergency food bag shifts, and teens 16 and 17 can volunteer on their own at any shift with a waiver signed by a parent or guardian. Sign-ups for individuals and families, nonprofits and corporate groups are on the food bank’s Volunteer page. The food bank notes that it cannot accommodate court-ordered community service.

Nonperishable food donations can be dropped off at 358 E. Javelina Ave. from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Thursday. The organization also helps people host food drives and fundraisers, and it says each dollar donated can help provide three meals. United Food Bank is a Qualifying Charitable Organization under Arizona’s charitable tax credit, with QCO code 20206.

Backyard growers with a heavy citrus tree or an overflowing fall garden may wonder whether fresh produce can go to the food bank too. Its website does not say whether it accepts home-grown produce at the drop-off site, so call ahead before loading up a box of grapefruit.

A bigger warehouse is a slow fix, measured in permits and years of construction. But the reason behind it is easy to see in the trucks parked outside the building: the food is coming in, and the need is too. The expansion is meant to give that food somewhere cold to wait until it reaches a family’s table.