"Created by God and redeemed by Christ, every person possesses a fundamental dignity that comes from God, not from any human attribute or accomplishment. Because each person’s life is a sacred gift from God, all people have a right to life that must be defended and protected from its beginning to its end. The dignity of every person must always be respected because each person is a precious child of God. In light of our commitment to the right to life of every person, we believe all people also have basic rights to material and spiritual support, including the right to food, which are required to sustain life and to live a truly human existence."
Catholic Reflections on Food, Farmers, and Farmworkers, 2003
Humble Begginings
In the mid-1980's, when the current site of St. Anne Roman Catholic Parish in Gilbert, Az was still a pecan grove, the pastor, Father Charles O'Hern was working to increase the parish building fund. One fundraising event “The Valentine's Day Dance" involved the young women from the parish. These young women would raise money for the building fund, and the woman who raised the most money was crowned as Valentine's Day Queen at the dance.
In 1986, Miss Teri Hernandez raised $3,000 by holding yard sales, soliciting money from local businesses in the community, and organizing raffles. As Teri and her family held these yard sales in the community, they grew increasingly familiar with the people in the downtown Gilbert, Az area, many of whom were poor and in crisis. The fundraising soon extended to buying diapers for the needy, as coordinated by Sister Beatrice McQuade. It became very apparent these people needed much more than diapers, so Teri's group continued having yard sales so they could help buy food, diapers and assist these families who were less fortunate.
“That's how Friends of the Needy Ministry started and we expanded from there," says Merci Hernandez, Teri's mother. “We just kept asking people within the parish to donate food and we started a little pantry in the old rectory on Bruce Street. While other parishes have their own St. Vincent de Paul ministry, we developed our Friends of the Needy ministry separately based on our available space and ability to help the community."
Father Doug Lorig arrived as the new pastor in June 1992 and he gave the ministry his full support, allowing St. Anne Friends of the Needy to collect money after church Masses. That was when the need to hold raffles and yard sales slowed down and the ministry was able to concentrate on helping the needy using parishioner funds. St. Anne Friends of the Needy is funded primarily by St. Anne parishioners.
Currently:
St. Anne Friends of the Needy is operated by a staff of 1 person, who directs the food bank, and by many local volunteers, both young and old, who prepare boxes of rescued food from local grocery stores, and from food donated by the local community or church food drives. These boxes contain fresh produce, meats, dairy, bread, pastas and other canned goods that are distributed to families Monday through Saturday at our location - 14 N Cottonwood Drive, Gilbert, Az 85234. St. Anne Friends of the Needy also collects baby items like diapers, wipes, formula and baby food for families in need.
St Anne Friends of the needy strives to serve all without regard to faith, religion, age, sex, national origin, creed, or color. We currently provide food for 500 families a month. Our vision for the future is to continue serving our community and alleviate hunger on a local level.
