ST MARY'S FOOD BANK ALLIANCE

Senior nutrition: the commodity supplemental food program (csfp) is a federally funded initiative aimed at improving the health of low-income seniors 60 years of age and older by providing nutritious usda commodity foods to supplement their diets. During the fiscal year, st. Mary's distributed 210,000 senior food boxes through more than 100 partner organizations.

Child nutrition: because no child should go to bed hungry, the federal kids cafe program is dedicated to combating childhood hunger in arizona. Through this initiative, st. Mary's provided 867,000 meals to food-insecure children and youth at 343 kids cafe sites, including after-school and summer meal locations that offer safe, accessible, and supportive environments. Many of these sites are part of broader programs featuring tutoring, homework help, and athletic activities. Kids cafe partners, such as churches, schools, community centers, and municipal parks and recreation departments, ensure children not only receive a nutritious late-afternoon meal but also benefit from a holistic approach to their well-being. This meal is especially vital for children who may not have dinner waiting for them at home.backpack program: the st. Mary's backpack program supports "chronically hungry" children in arizona by providing them and their families with non-perishable food, including meals children can take home for weekends when school meals are unavailable. During the fiscal year, st. Mary's distributed 117,000 backpacks through this initiative.

Skills center: the st. Mary's skills center houses two workforce development programs, community kitchen and lift. Both programs are designed to help individuals facing poverty, homelessness, and employment barriers, often due to incarceration, by combining hands on equipment training and life skills development to prepare students for a new career and a fresh start. For more than twenty years, the community kitchen program has prepared students with the skills necessary to pursue careers in the food service industry. Over the past decade, community kitchen students have supported the kids cafe program by preparing thousands of meals each week for children across the valley. The greatly reduced availability of restaurant jobs during the pandemic prompted st. Mary's to explore other industries in need of workers. With two large warehouses and extensive experience managing and distributing millions of pounds of food annually, st. Mary's recognized an opportunity to expand its training efforts and created the lift program, designed to help individuals secure warehouse jobs. The goal of the skills center is to help students secure jobs that offer livable wages, benefits, and opportunities for advancement. Over the past two decades, thousands of lives have been transformed as students learn to "get a job, keep a job, and become a better you." during the past year, these programs successfully graduated 212 students.