From Church Kitchen to Community Lifeline: Matthew’s Crossing
Matthew’s Crossing distributed more pounds of food in 2022 than any other of United Food Bank’s partner agencies. With support from United Food Bank, community members, volunteers and various organizations, they were able to distribute over 1,354,566 pounds of food to neighbors in need. Located in Chandler, Arizona, they open their doors to anyone that needs them 5 days a week.
Jan Terhune, the executive Director of Matthew’s Crossing Food Bank, took the time to reflect back on the challenges that 2022 had on our community and how their organization was able to help alleviate some of those stressors.
“I cannot believe the prices of groceries this past year. The amount of times I have heard a parent say no to their child in the grocery store, not because something was unhealthy, but because a pack of fruit or something was double the price it used to be. People who are doing ok throughout these times are going to be ok when inflation gets better. But the people we see every month are going to take a long time to bounce back from this. They need us now more than ever.”
Matthew’s Crossing started in 2001 at Saint Matthew’s Episcopal Church. In 2006, they expanded from a church kitchen to a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was no longer faith-based. “I think they served 800 families that first year and as of this year, we’re on our way to serving 200,000 individuals,” Jan proclaimed. “Some of that is because when I arrived in 2014, I had just come from Washington DC where I was advocating for young children on the hill and I found out that 40% of our clients were children. At the time I got really very angry about that because why is it that there are more children than any other demographic? I thought it was criminal. And so when I came in, we started our Meals to Grow which is our branded name for the student hunger program. This allowed us to grow our reach to schools and families in the community.”
“But now we are seeing seniors as the highest demographic of people [needing food assistance]. This year alone, 20% of our clients are new and these are people who never saw themselves in the situation of needing help. You know you can stand in line and most of our neighbors look like you and I, they just find they are at a place where things don’t add up.”
A lot of United Food Bank’s Partner agencies and other Food Banks around the U.S. are seeing a similar pattern. Seniors are the fastest growing food insecure population. With 1 in 8 Arizona seniors struggling with food insecurity, United Food Bank is working hard to combat this rising statistic. Karen Scoggins, the Agency Logistics & CSFP Manager at United Food Bank, adds, “we continue to expand our reach to seniors with the Commodity Senior Food Program and Senior Hunger Grant.”
“Even though we are seeing such an uptick in demand, we still stick to our values and mission,” adds Jan, “Our core values are compassion and hope. If I go to the grocery store and take the egg carton to check to make sure they are good, then I am also going to take the time to open them here to make sure every neighbor is getting a dozen good eggs. We get eggs that have been transported several times and we still promise to open every single one of them and check.”
Jan is thankful to all donors who contribute to Matthew’s Crossing and United Food Bank. She promises that “your investment will be put to good use.” She ended the conversation by saying, “If we could all roll it all into the moral fiber of helping our community, our whole community will be a better place to work, play and worship. We are only doing ourselves better by helping our neighbors meet their needs and feel safe and supported.”
Donating to United Food Bank helps support our partner agencies, like Matthew’s Crossing, to serve our neighbors. Visit https://www.unitedfoodbank.org/donate/ to invest in your community today!
Written by Sarah Bathe
