Giving back in Southern Arizona

• Fry’s Food Stores: A $25,000 grant from Fry’s Food Stores will support a growing number of mobile school pantries helping families even while schools are closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant from Fry’s will be used for to pay for food purchases, staffing and transporting food. The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona supports 22 school pantries across eight school districts and two counties, providing food and resources for families in neighborhood schools and community centers. The majority of school pantries continue to operate despite school closures, with school staffs offering to pack and distribute packs of food, including fresh produce, through no-contact and drive-thru distribution offered during grab-and-go lunch service.
• American Medical Women’s Association and The Robonauts: The American Medical Women’s Association joined efforts with the Robonauts, a nonprofit founded to teach STEM and leadership skills to young learners, to help provide 200 3-D-printed face shields, 100 one-time-use face shields (donated by Dinsmore), 350 surgical masks and 96 cloth masks (donations from Taiwan through Ambassador HE Lily Hsu of TECO and AMWA leader Dr. Padmini Murthy) to help the Navajo Nation with the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix’s Operation Pegasus. The project has sent personal protective equipment to health-care providers hit hard by COVID-19. Donations are being delivered via air and ground to Window Rock; Kayenta; White River; the Tsehoostooi Medical Center in Fort Defiance; the Chinle Comprehensive Health Center; the Tuba City Indian Medical Center; and Gallup, New Mexico.

Operation Pegasus delivers medical and nonmedical supplies to the Navajo Nation. It has moved large shipments of PPE through its partnership with Guardian Air Transport, which has donated crews, aircraft and time to deliver these items. To date, eight flights have delivered more than 1,500 pounds of critical PPE. Another 5.5 tons of donations have been moved via ground. All donations were obtained from local and corporate donors or made by members of the CSSC’s COVID-19 Innovation Team.

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• Arizona Complete Health: Arizona Complete Health donated $7,000 in gift cards to the Pascua Yaqui tribal community. The $35 Walmart gift cards were to be distributed to people in need, as determined by the Pascua Yaqui Tribe’s Social Services Department, through the Tu’l Bwa’ame (Good Food) Pantry, a collaboration between the Social Services Department and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe Charitable Organization.