Jim Meagher
Under normal circumstances being second of 50 states would be a source of great pride. This is not one of those times. Arizona is the second highest state in the country in the number of our residents to lose their federal government food and nutrition benefits called SNAP. The program is oddly named SNAP or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Odd because it is not supplemental for the families and individuals who need it. It is their major source of food to stay healthy, able to work and, in some cases, to remain independent. Interesting that the leader is Texas. Texas has approximately 30 million residents while we have roughly 8 million in Arizona. This is not a statistic to be proud of. In our climate to be deprived of nutrition and adequate hydration is a matter of survival.
A large part of the solution to this enormous public health and social justice problem is the existence of our system of regional food banks throughout Maricopa County and the entire state. Arizona is the state where the first food bank in the United States was created. Not surprising given our climate and other contributing factors. That food bank is St. Mary’s that I’m sure our readers are familiar with or at least heard of. It is a source of great pride for Phoenix and a model for food banks around the country. Matthews Crossing Food Bank is our local food bank. It provides nutrition support and other services for this part of the southeast valley. Here in Sun Lakes we are proud to support the work done by Matthews Crossing through our own organization Reach Out Sun Lakes or ROSL. We provide this column each month to The Splash reader community to inform and motivate our community of the reality of the food and hydration problem in Chandler and the surrounding communities. The ROSL team also picks up and delivers food donated by you, the residents of Sun Lakes. The solution to the problem of food deprivation is a mosaic and each of us can be a unique and important component of that mosaic in our own way. We can donate food, volunteer at Matthews Crossing, donate cash and be a cheerleader for Matthews Crossing in a manner of our own choosing. The main thing is to join in and be part of the solution mosaic.
Communities of people donate food and money. ROSL provides the service of picking up the food and promptly delivering it to Matthews Crossing Food Bank which is located in north Chandler. Active partner communities of Reach Out Sun Lakes include: Sun Lakes Country Club, Unity Church Community of Sun Lakes, Democratic Club of Sun Lakes, and the Sun Lakes Duplicate Bridge Club. These organizations have donated over 1000 pounds of food in the first four months of 2026. If you are part of any of these communities, you can participate in their monthly food drives if you are not already doing so. If you are not a member of any of these groups, you can leave your food donation at Sun Lakes Country Club in the container outside of their service desk near the restaurant during normal working hours. If you have questions or wish to have food picked up at your home, please call or text me: Jim Meagher at 630-346-1966. You can also make a donation conveniently at the Matthews Crossing web site: Matthewscrossing.org. Join in the fight to keep our neighbors healthy and productive through good nutrition and hydration. Thank you!