Salt River Schools’ Food Services and Salt River Recreational Services have been distributing food boxes every Wednesday and Friday to Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community members since Wednesday, May 20. The boxes were donated to Salt River Schools by Stern Produce in Phoenix. The boxes were filled with apples, oranges, potatoes, cantaloupe, carrots, cucumbers and 2 gallons of milk.  

Stern Produce has had ongoing partnerships with many Native American communities, and through the COVID-19 pandemic the food boxes have been very beneficial to Native American families as schools were shut down and many were left without jobs during this difficult time.

The two departments finished up distributing the food boxes on Friday, June 26 at the Early Childhood Education Center. 

“We’ve been helping out for a month and a half,” said Recreation Coordinator Ephraim Sloan about distributing the food boxes. “I like it, it’s cool; [people are] just trying to get back to [normal]. It’s good to see some of the kids that come to our programs … and [help] out families that don’t have the luxury to go into town and put themselves at risk with COVID-19 going on.”

The SRS Food Program will still be distributing food to students at Salt River High School until mid-July. For more information, check out the Salt River Schools Facebook page at www.facebook.com/saltriverschools/.