A check at the check
APS surprises food bank with $45K donation
The Yuma Community Food Bank thought they were getting a safety check last Thursday from the utility, Arizona Public Service.
Under the guise of an inspection of the food bank’s warehouse, employees from Arizona Public Service played on a pun, though, and presented the food bank with a literal check for $45,000.
“The motivation was truly their need,” said Anna Chaulk, spokeswoman for APS. “They were using a truck that they borrowed from another food bank in the Phoenix area. And they had to return it at some point.”
Chaulk said she knew that the president of the YCFB, Shara Merten, was stressed out over the situation.
The food bank has an aging fleet of vehicles it uses to transport large donations of food, usually from larger cities to Yuma, Chaulk explained. In the summer months, if a refrigerated truck is not used, fresh food spoils and packaged foods may overheat.
“We just saw the need and had the opportunity to fulfill that for them and help them meet their mission,” Chaulk said. “And that’s part of our mission too, is to help vulnerable populations and it just made sense. So we did it.”
APS’s safety audit did include reflective paint to re-do the traffic lines in the YCFB’s warehouse, and two pallet jacks, the utility said in a news release.
But the big surprise came when APS Southwest Division Manager Jeff Spohn picked up an oversized check placed on the pallet jacks made out for $45,000 so that the food bank can purchase a much-needed refrigerated truck. Spohn presented the check to a surprised and overwhelmed Merten.
“It was emotional to say the least. We write grants all the time to fill needs that we have not met at the food bank, and to get $45,000 was huge and a wish come true,” Merten said in the release.
The new refrigerated truck will allow the food bank to extend its service beyond its home base in Yuma into La Paz county.
APS will also help the food bank brand the truck once YCFB finds one that fits its needs, Chaulk said.
The surprise visit took some planning, Chaulk said, and had been in the works since the summer months when APS toured the facilities, asking questions about needs and challenges.
“We got information from them as far as what were their greatest needs so that we could figure out how we could help them meet those, and that’s what kept coming up was the truck,” Chaulk said. “So instead of us just going and buying what we thought they might need, we just gave them money to get ... so they could get what they most needed, that would best fit their needs.”