Feeding the hungry

APS awards $50,000 to yuma Community Food bank

This Thanksgiving, the Yuma Community Food Bank has a little more to be grateful for. Arizona Public Service (APS) has awarded the nonprofit $50,000 to help it provide more food to those in need.

“We give out Community Impact Grants to various nonprofits and they are all different kinds of nonprofits: we give to United Way, Amberly’s Place [and others],” said Regina Twomey, APS Public Affairs Manager for the Southwest Division. “The reason why this grant is so special is because we give about $500 to $2500 on average but this year we were able to give $50,000.”

Twomey explained in an interview with the Sun that the reason for this big number is that for the first time, there was a surplus of grant funding available.

Nonprofit organizations can apply for the Community Impact Grant each year and in the application describe what their need is. When the Yuma Community Food Bank applied, Twomey said that they were looking for funds to buy cold storage containers. While the food bank has dry food storage, she noted that it didn’t have much in the way of cool storage. What was there also needed an upgrade.

“When the food bank made their request, we really pushed to make their dream come true in full,” Twomey said.

With $50,000, the request is being completely fulfilled by APS.

“I’m really excited that we were able to fully fund this grant request,” Twomey said. “The food bank does wonderful work and we’re glad to help them feed more of the hungry in Yuma and La Paz Counties.”

While the window to apply for a Community Impact Grant is closed for the year, Twomey encourages nonprofits to apply for the following in February. To learn more, visit https://bit.ly/3DR33lY.