Flagstaff Family Food Center (FFFC), which has operated a food bank and kitchen in northern Arizona for more than 30 years, has taken over operations of Grand Canyon Food Pantry, Inc. (GFPI) to ensure continued service to residents and workers. has been secured. Grand Canyon National Park and surrounding areas.

“We are proud to continue the important work that Chairman Mike Scott started seven years ago,” said Ethan Amos, FFFC President and CEO. “We look forward to a seamless transition and will ensure everyone who uses the pantry continues to receive the high-quality service they have always been known for.”

Scott, who was honored as a “Hunger Action Champion” at FFFC’s Anti-Hunger Summit earlier this year, approached FFFC about taking over the pantry as he retires.
From my volunteer role as director.

The food pantry is open three days a week, delivering weekly food boxes to Havasupai families in Grand Canyon National Park, and hosting a monthly mobile food pantry in front of Tusayan City Hall.

The inspiration for GCFPI came from a conversation in 2017 between Scott and Matthew Vanzula, then the park’s lead ranger. Vanzula noted that more than half of the children in the local school system receive subsidized lunches. I wondered what they were doing during school holidays. For the next two years, volunteers provided meals to students during the summer.

The organization’s mission rapidly expanded when it opened an emergency food pantry in December 2018 to support workers furloughed by the six-week government shutdown that closed national parks. Plans were made to create a permanent food bank, and the National Park Service provided space within the park, in an old prison, where a food pantry still operates.

It is estimated that approximately 18% of families living in national parks benefit from food pantries.

The operation is now run entirely by volunteers, including Scott. Although FFFC has paid employees who oversee the management of the pantry, Scott and Amos said volunteers are still essential to running the organization.

“Our volunteers are the heart of organizations like FFFC and the Grand Canyon Food Pantry,” Amos said. “They embody our mission of ‘neighbor feeding neighbor every day’ and enable us to transform lives.”

Although Scott is retiring from managing the pantry, he plans to become one of the volunteers.

“Next to raising a family, working with thousands of motivated people, businesses, the public sector, and other food banks to bring some level of food security to the people who live and work in the Canyon and Tusayan is the most truly It’s one of the most rewarding experiences. in my life,” he said. FBN

Photo provided by: Grand Canyon National Park representatives are working with the Flagstaff Family Food Center, which will take over operations of the Grand Canyon Food Pantry following President Mike Scott’s retirement. Shown here are Tim Joyce, Jean Balsam, Luke Racilow, Ceara Cilovsky, Ed Keeble, Ethan Amos, Mike Scott, Heather Lapre, Jennifer O’Neal, and Justin Curry.