2022 Annual Report | Yavapai Food Neighbors

The Yavapai Food Neighbors Project

2022 Annual Report

The Yavapai Food Neighbors Project (YFNP) has been serving the quad cities area for over eight years. It began in August 2014 and has provided a steady food supply to local hungry kids programs and emergency food pantries. The Project receives promotional materials and website support from the National affiliate, the Neighborhood Food Project begun in Ashland, Oregon. It operates in collaboration with the Hungry Kids Project which is a collaborative fund of the Arizona Community Foundation of Yavapai County

The “green bag” project operates on a simple model. Each volunteer plays a small part and cumulatively the impact is huge. Volunteer Neighborhood Coordinators (NCs) recruit friends and neighbors to donate a bag of food every other month. On the second Saturday of even numbered months, the food donations are collected by the NCs and taken to distribution sites,

where the food is sorted and immediately transported to local food banks and Hungry Kids Programs.

Overview of 2022: A fourth collection site was added this year to our previous three collection sites. The Prescott collection occurs at the Walmart parking lot on Gail Gardner Way. Chino Valley, which uses a slightly different model with fewer Neighborhood Coordinators, has a collection site at Chino Valley Heritage Middle School. Prescott Valley’s collection takes place at the Prescott Valley Food Bank. Our newest collection site is at the Park

Collective in Prescott Valley. Again the model is slightly different. Donations are brought in, sorted and largely transported to the Prescott Valley Food Bank.

Volunteers: YFNP is completely run by volunteers. It is easily the largest volunteer program in the quad cities area with over 1500 volunteers participating. Volunteers oversee program management; collection site operations in Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley and Park Collective; data management; NC recruitment and training; and social media and web site development and maintenance. We continue to have in place an inclement weather telephone tree, but thankfully so far we have not needed to use it.

We again saw an increase in NCs trained and participating over the previous year. Sixteen new NCs were added with only seven NCs leaving the program, resulting in a net gain of nine NCs. There were a total of 84 NCs at the end of 2022.

Neighborhood Coordinators by Collection Site:

Prescott

Chino Valley

Prescott Valley

TOTAL

Jan 2022

Dec 2022

We saw a huge increase in donors over 2022 across all collection sites. Most of the increase came from new NCs. Donors increased from 1113 in December 2021 to 1555 in December of 2022. This is an increase of 40%.

Food Donors by Collection Site:

Prescott

Chino Valley

Prescott Valley

TOTAL

Jan 2022

1038

155

272

1113

Dec 2022

1115

167

397

1555

Pounds of Food Collected: Food bags are weighed individually at the Chino Valley. However, beginning June 2020, the Prescott collection site no longer weighed bags, relying instead upon a surprisingly accurate average weight of 15 pounds per bag. Prescott Valley began using the average weight in 2022.

In 2022, a total of 168,500 pounds of food was collected by the Yavapai Food Neighbors Project. This is a significant increase over the 2021 collection total of 143,772 pounds. Since the inception of the program in August 2014, 687,594 pounds have been collected and distributed to emergency food providers in the quad cities area.

Pounds of Food Collected per Collection Site

Prescott

Chino

Valley*

Prescott

Valley*

Park

Collective*

TOTAL

2022

101,855

29,831

27,979

8,835

168,500

All prior years

379,057

71,532

68,505

N/A

519,094

Cumulative Total Since Project Start

480,912

101,363

96,484

8,835

687,594

*Chino Valley began collecting food in 2018. Prescott Valley began its collection site in late

Park Collective began collecting food this year.

Food collected at the Prescott collection site is shared by Prescott Community Cupboard, Mayer Hungry Kids Weekend Backpack Program, the Model Creek Elementary School, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church Food Bank and the Yarnell Food Bank. All food collected in Chino Valley goes to the Chino Valley Hungry Kids Project. The Prescott Valley collection goes to the Prescott Valley Food Bank and the Park Collective.

The number of persons served in 2023 by each Emergency Food Provider

The Prescott Community Cupboard

26,564

Prescott Valley Food Bank

3,600

Yarnell Food Bank

7,400

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church Food Pantry

2,741

The number of children served each week through a Weekend Food Project

Mayer Schools Weekend Backpack Project

100 per week

Chino Valley Hungry Kids Project

325 per week

Model Creek Backpack Project

36 per week

Program Costs: Expenditures in 2023 were $5,261 consisting of the

following:

Expense

Cost

Web Hosting

150

Annual Fee

150

Liability insurance

400

2023 Calendar Magnets

510

Recruitment cards (4000)

436

Banners and Yard Signs

575

Promotional Materials

724

Green Bags

1,866*

Miscellaneous Expenses

450

Total Expenses

5,261

*indicates In Kind donation to cover the expense

Challenges & Accomplishments: 2023 was a very successful year overall, with the following accomplishments achieved:

The increase in Neighborhood Coordinators resulted in more Food

Donors and more food donated

The Project’s growth allowed for a 4th collection site to be added.
Tabling events at the Prescott Farmers Market increased community awareness and added new Neighborhood Coordinators and Food Donors.
Two FaceBook administrators assigned to keep this social media current
A meeting was held with highly successful Neighborhood Coordinators to glean best practices.
An Americorps Volunteer assisted with canvassing and creation of promotional materials
Expenses for purchase of additional Green Bags needed to meet expansion demand was shared by the Prescott Community Cupboard and the Prescott Valley Food Bank (a huge Project savings of $1,866)

The following challenges were identified this year as areas that will need to be addressed moving forward:

The emergency food providers reported a nearly 60% increase in the number of people served
Community awareness of the need and YFNP’s role in sharing food.
Project growth allowing for a broader base of volunteers assisting with operations

2022 Program Totals	FEB	APRIL	JUNE	AUGUST	OCTOBER	DECEMBER	YTD TOTAL

2022 TOTAL POUNDS: PRESCOTT	16,650	15,450	18,305	17,145	15,675	18,630	101,855

2022 TOTAL LBS: CHINO VALLEY	5,208	3,580	4,019	6,258	3,457	7,309	29,831

2022 TOTAL POUNDS: PV	5,640	5,775	4,570	4,080	5,179	4,920	27,979

2022 TOTAL POUNDS: PARK COL	0	0	2,010	2,295	2,115	2,415	8,835

2022 TOTAL POUNDS – ALL	27,498	24,805	28,904	29,778	26,426	33,274	168,500


# of Donors: Prescott	1,038			1,041		1,115	3,194
# of Donors: Chino Valley	155			145		167	467
# of Donors: PV	296			369		397	1,062
TOTAL DONORS – P, Chino & PV	,1489	1,489	1,489	1,555	1,555	1,555	1,555

# of Bags per Collection – Prescott	1,110	1,030	1,107	1,143	1,045	1,242	6,677
# of Bags per Collection – Chino	192	177	172	187	158	185	,1071
# of Bags per Collection – PV	376	385	213	280	342	328	1,924
# of Bags per Collection – Park Col	0	0	134	153	141	161	589
Total Bags – P, Chino, & PV	1,678	1,592	1,626	1,763	1,686	1,916	10,261

PRIOR YEARS COLLECTION TOTALS
	P R E S C O T T	P V	C H I N O	P C	CUM TOTAL SINCE PROJECT START / Prescott:	480,912
2014/2015	26,144	0	0	0
2016	28,918	746	0	0	CUM TOTAL SINCE PROJECT START / Prescott Valley:	96,484
2017	39,285	5,650	0	0
2018	64,643	7,757	6,213	0	CUM TOTAL SINCE PROJECT START / CHINO VALLEY	101,363
2019	62,415	11,919	21,535	0
2020	66,888	16,504	14,648	0	CUM TOTAL SINCE PROJECT START / Park Collective	8,835
2021	90,765	25,929	29,136	0
Total Prior Years	379,057	68,505	71,532	0

2022 YTD	101,855	27,979	29,831	8,835	CUMULATIVE TOTAL All Locations:	687,594