“For us, we have one that’s going to come to help us do some storytelling and to interview people that are going through food insecurity,” said Dave Richins, CEO of United Food Bank. ”The other one is involved in capacity building; helping our agencies specifically serve more people, in a better way.”
Arizona food banks are getting some help, thanks to AmeriCorps & Arizona Food Bank Network
On Friday, Aug. 26, Jill Sears, AmeriCorps Mountain regional administrator, joined Angie Rodgers, Arizona Food Bank Network president and CEO, and Dave Richins, United Food Bank CEO and president to recognize AmeriCorps members and announce the grant awards at United Food Bank Volunteer Center in Mesa, Ariz.
The Food Security Initiative is funded by the American Rescue Plan Act. The initiative will help add much needed staff to food banks and pantries, opening 33 new VISTA positions in high need areas throughout Arizona. VISTAS (Volunteers in Service to America) are volunteers who work with non-profits and government agencies to address poverty and food insecurity. The responsibilities of the VISTAS vary greatly, some might be responsible for supervising food distributions or training food bank volunteers, while others might be responsible for community outreach.
Arizona Food Bank Network is recruiting more than 30 AmeriCorps members to serve in the VISTA program to bolster sustainable local food systems, improve food pantries’ organizational capacity and sustainability, expand community engagement and increase the pounds of emergency, nutritious food distributed.
United Food Bank is excited to welcome TWO new AmeriCorps VISTA members to our team this August. Sarah Bathe, will be joining our Communications & Marketing team as a Storytelling and Marketing Specialist and Daisy Carter will be joining our Agency & Program team as Agency Capacity Support Specialist.
