A volunteer-run food bank in Queen Creek says its supplies had been running low when a semitruck carrying about 40,000 pounds of donated food pulled in on Sept. 29.
The Father McGivney Food Bank operates out of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish at 20615 E. Ocotillo Road. Its founders and directors, Robert Varela and Steve Way, said in a press release reported by the Queen Creek Independent that the food bank serves 350 to 450 families each week and that the delivery "could not have come at a better time."
The release said the donation should feed about 1,400 people for a week.
The food came from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through its JustServe volunteer platform, as part of a national America 250 effort that began in November 2025. That campaign plans 250 truckloads of food for communities in all 50 states, about 10 million meals in all, according to the release.
Queen Creek's was the sixth delivery in Arizona this year, after Yuma, Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff and Gilbert.
Volunteers from several faiths unloaded the truck and then gathered for an appreciation breakfast. Mayor Julia Wheatley spoke, saying that volunteers "may not know the name of the person you are helping, but they know that somebody cares enough to help." Rob Padia, a former district deputy of the Knights of Columbus, told the group that "hardship is quiet but real" for many local families.
