St. Mary’s Food Bank made a stop at the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community’s Accelerated Learning Academy parking lot on November 20 to distribute turkeys, tribal food boxes and fresh fruit to Community members.

The event was a collaboration between St. Mary’s and the SRPMIC, with SRPMIC day workers, government employees and Council members volunteering to help with traffic control and food distribution.

SRPMIC was the eighth stop for St. Mary’s during the month of November, taking the food bank to other Tribal Nations such as the Navajo Nation, Hualapai Tribe and the Hopi Tribe.

St. Mary’s and the SRPMIC distributed holiday meals to 971 households at the event, according to St. Mary’s Food Bank Mobile Distribution manager Lauren Tomlinson-Handwerk. Overall, St. Mary’s distributed more than 20,000 holiday meals to Tribal Communities in Arizona and at events in Phoenix and Surprise.

“We want everybody to be well fed and happy for their Thanksgiving,” said SRPMIC events coordinator Adrian Sixkiller.