Organizers of one Arizona food pantry are determined to rebuild the center after it was destroyed last week in a fire.
The Maricopa Food Pantry lost nearly 40,000 pounds of canned food, meat, and produce on March 28 when the building burned down, KNXV News reports.
Mike Connelly, president of Maricopa Food Pantry, says people have come to depend on the food bank.
“They really relied on this food bank, and I don’t know where they are going to be without it,” Connelly told KNXV. “Here in this part of Pinal County, there isn’t really much. We’re a food desert.”
High winds fueled the fire which consumed six semi-trailers and a storage container, all filled with food donations.
According to KNXV, Maricopa Food Pantry has served the community for 17 years and provides meals for nearly 1,200 families a week.
“We bring all the food out and we have people packing boxes here, then we run cars in two lanes,” says Connelly.
The organization plans to replace the trailers with a warehouse that will also serve as a soup kitchen to feed the hungry.
“I know we can’t replace what we lost but we’re not done,” said Jim Shoaf, the group’s founder and CEO. “We’re going to rebuild. We’re going to rebuild bigger and better than what we were.”
The food pantry is located near Mount View Community Church, however, the building was untouched by the incident.
In a Facebook post, Maricopa Food Pantry thanked the community for the outpouring of prayers and shared a positive message about its future.
“This is God’s mission at His house. He saved His house, and the mission is still ours to continue.”
A GoFundMe was set up to assist with rebuilding the food pantry. So far, the effort has raised $25,915 of its $25,000 goal.
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