The Marana Food Bank and Community Resource Center is getting ready to celebrate its first birthday, with officials saying it has made significant strides toward addressing food insecurity and providing essential resources to residents. 

The Marana Food Bank opened in 1952, but announced about 18 months ago that it would no longer be a part of the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.

“The council took that very seriously. The food bank has been in our community for a very long time, so we began to look around for options,” Town Manager Terry Rozema said during a town council meeting earlier this month. “We came across probably the greatest blessing in terms of the community food bank that we could have had.”

Town officials had previously met with Sahuarita Food Bank Executive Director Carlos Valles and toured the facilities, and proposed a plan for Sahuarita’s food bank to operate a similar facility in Marana.

The Marana Food Bank and Community Resource Center opened on December 1 as a sister organization to the Sahuarita Food Bank. It operates under its own budget and all the money it raises stays in Marana.

The Town of Marana and Pima County provided funding for the first year and community donors have also chipped in to keep it up and running, with financial sustainability being the ultimate goal.

The new food bank and community center has served more than 7,500 families and nearly 27,000 families in its first year, but it’s already facing a new challenge: securing funding to purchase its building.

Valles highlighted the food bank’s first-year accomplishments and efforts to the town council, saying that the time has flown by.

“It’s been almost a year since I was up here, maybe pleading my case why we should be here in Marana,” he said. “December 1 will be our one-year anniversary and it feels like it's been longer. But again, we’re here to support the community.”

He said the food bank has maintained a Tuesday through Thursday food distribution schedule, while focusing on expanding its impact beyond distribution.

“We’re actually going to be looking at adding additional hours in the spring, especially to target working individuals that might get out of work at four or five o’clock,” he said.

In addition to its distribution efforts, the food bank also offers health and nutrition programs, helping local families adopt healthier eating habits. One key initiative involves the distribution of senior food boxes, with about 300 boxes prepared each month.

“Our initial mission was feeding the hungry, but we want to make a change in our community,” he said.

With a handful of full-time staff members and 40 volunteers, the food bank serves between 350 and 400 households each week.

“We run a small but mighty team,” Valles said.

Last November, the Sahuarita Food Bank was licensed by the state as a vocational school and now offers a Google IT certification training, a welding program and a forklift certification program. The welding program will be offered through the Marana Food Bank in the spring, with Valles hoping to expand the other offerings as well.

The Marana Food Bank and Community Center also offers free tax assistance and has a Pima County navigator on site to help connect residents with services that the food bank staff cannot.

But the continued success of those initiatives  depends on the food bank’s ability to purchase its building.

The food bank has launched a $220,000 capital campaign to purchase the property from Marana Health Care, hoping to reach its goal by the end of November.

The campaign has already garnered significant community support, with food bank employees and volunteers urging residents to engage their networks and contribute to the cause.

The organization is encouraging donations through social media using the hashtag #MaranaChallenge. Top donors will receive special recognition on the food bank’s social media platforms and in their newsletter.

“You saved this community,” Councilwoman Patti Comerford said during the meeting.  (what meeting?)“Probably the best thing that happened was that the old organization pulled out, because we got to come back and bring it back to the Ora Mae days.”

Comerford was referencing Marana’s first female mayor, Ora Mae Harn, a community advocate who played a crucial role in shaping the town and is considered the matriarch of Marana.

“You and your staff have worked so hard to get it where it is and I’m looking forward to the future,” she said, encouraging attendees to donate to the capital campaign.

But the work won’t stop with the purchase of the building. Valles talked about a second capital campaign he’s hoping to launch in four or five years to build out the property into a two-story, state-of-the-art facility. He said Marana Mayor Ed Honea told him he wanted Marana’s food bank to take on a similar role in the community as Sahuarita’s has.

“Give me five years and we will make that happen,” Valles said.

Lauryn Abozeid is a journalism major at the University of Arizona and Tucson Spotlight intern. Contact her at labozeid@arizona.edu.

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