2022_GRANT_APPLICATION_ST MARY.PDF
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SALT RIVER PIMA-MARICOPA INDIAN COMMUNITY 10005 E. Osborn Road, Scottsdale, Arizona 85256 / Phone 480-362-7520 / Fax 480-362-7593 12% Gaming Grant Program Application Calendar Year 2022 About the Grant Program Application: The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community 12% Gaming Grant Program (“Program”) application will serve to provide a comprehensive review of the programming requests for Arizona cities, towns, counties, non-municipal public service organizations, and non-profit organizations selected to apply for grant funding. It is not the intent of the Program to award grants that would benefit individuals, be used as sponsorships, be used for religious activities, primarily fund the indirect or administrative costs of a program/organization, or be used for the direct benefit of the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community. Date of Application: 6/28/21 Organization Name: St. Mary’s Food Bank Organization/Municipal Government Mailing Address: 2831 N. 31st Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85009-1518 Organization History: (Provide a brief summary of the origins of the organizations and any notable milestones and/or significant audit findings) The 14th Century English proverb, "Mighty oaks -- from little acorns grow," truly describes St. Mary's Food Bank's humble beginnings and tremendous growth. A brief discussion with a woman who was feeding her children with clean produce and untouched cooked food from a dumpster in 1967 led to the largest food bank in Arizona. That chance encounter deeply touched John van Hengel, who came up with the idea of having a place where those with excess food could "deposit" it and those who needed food could "withdraw" it -- like a bank. Soon after, St. Mary's was born, and its model has been replicated countless times throughout the nation and the world. St. Mary's provides food to hungry Arizonans through a network of 816 agencies and specialized programs. Because of its expertise and 54 years of successful operations, St. Mary's is recognized nationwide for its leadership and innovation. Its notable milestones include providing more than one billion pounds of food since 1967, renovating its warehouse to improve efficiencies by more than 50% and the unprecedented amount of food it distributed to people impacted by COVID-19 in 2020 – including providing more than 10 million pounds of food each month last year after never having provided 10 million pounds in one month in its history! St. Mary’s activities and accomplishments in the last fiscal year included distributing more than 126 million pounds of food to our partner agencies, which used it to prepare meals for low-income, hungry Arizonans; serving 1,031,769 after-school meals for children who did not have one waiting at home; distributing 167,723 backpacks filled with food, which provided 2,012,676 meals for low-income children who were at risk of missing meals on weekends and school breaks; and distributing 825,612 Emergency Food Boxes (EFBs), including boxes for seniors, the homeless and large families. Organization Structure: (Provide a list of current board members and key staff members) Please see the attached Board of Directors list. Do any conflicts of interest exist within the organization structure? (I.e. family, professional or personal conflicts, SRPMIC representatives on board, etc.) No, St. Mary’s has no professional, personal or SRPMIC conflicts within its organization structure. Contact Person and Project Manager if different from Contact Person: Title: Lisa Notaro, Chief Development Officer and Marcos Gaucin, Chief Program Officer Address: 2831 N. 31st Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85009-1518 Phone: 602-343-3146 and 602-343-3114 Fax: 602-352-3665 Email Address: lanotaro@firstfoodbank.org and mjgaucin@firstfoodbank.org Project Name: Food Distribution Program Provide a brief description of the project being submitted to the 12% SRPMIC Grant program. In the description provide a summary of the relevant experience, administrative activity, and program development related to the grant request. The community need that the Food Distribution Program addresses is hunger and the negative physical and mental impacts it has on people. Feeding America reports that there is a hunger gap in Arizona. A full 13.1% of Arizona's population, or 937,300 residents, are food insecure. The numbers are worse for children, with 19%, or 311,390, being food insecure. People living on Arizona’s tribal lands have the highest rates - up to 31% - especially in areas known as “food deserts.” This is defined as regions where people have limited access to healthful and affordable food areas, often as a result of having few full- service grocery stores within a 10-mile radius of residents. Feeding America reports that children who experience chronic hunger are more likely to experience developmental impairments in language, motor skills, and behavior; illnesses; lethargy; and daily stress from worrying about when they will eat again. These negative impacts make it very difficult to concentrate in school, putting them at risk of academic failure and/or dropping out (Feeding, 2021). They, and adults also must consume regular, nutritious meals to maintain good health, and seniors must do the same to avoid exacerbating conditions like diabetes, COPD and heart disease. Finally, thousands of families continue to be impacted by COVID-19. The layoffs, significant health issues and related caregiving needed, and other pandemic-related issues affected the community over the past year to such a degree that many people came to St. Mary’s for food assistance for the first time ever. In fact, several told us they were donors to the food bank and never thought they would need to avail themselves of St. Mary’s services! While the number of Arizonans being vaccinated has increased, and fewer people have contracted the coronavirus over the past six months, the number of people seeking food assistance from St. Mary’s remains elevated. This is especially true in very low-income rural areas of Northern Arizona and other parts of the state St. Mary’s is requesting a grant from SRPMIC for its Food Distribution Program to help low-income, hungry Arizonans in Maricopa County and throughout the state. The goal of the Food Distribution Program is to alleviate hunger among Arizonans, including those who are continuing to recover from pandemic-related job layoffs and other situations. The activities that St. Mary’s will conduct to accomplish this goal will include: Distributing Family Weekend Backpacks filled with full-size healthy food items, such as large jars of peanut butter and jelly, family size cans of canned fruits and vegetables, stew, beans, and bags of rice -- enough for the whole family. Distributing EFBs filled with non-perishable food items to feed a family of four for three days and that often are supplemented with bags of extra food and produce. Conducting dozens of Mobile Pantries. We provide raw food items and community members come through, select the items they want, and use them to prepare healthy meals at home. Operating Kids Feeding Programs, including providing summer meals through youth-serving partner agencies and Grab-and-Go lunch bag meals that children take home after classes during the school year. Delivering food to 3,000 homebound seniors each month. Distributing indigenous food boxes/Tribal Boxes that are filled with primarily indigenous foods that people on the Hopi and Navajo Nation have requested. These include dry tepary beans, cornmeal, canned corn, Arizona-grown pecan halves and pieces, water, AP flour and wild rice. The wild rice is not produced in Arizona; it is a commodity product grown in Minnesota. We are providing nearly 2,500 boxes per month to several villages/tribal chapter houses. Distributing Snack Packs as a supplement to the EFBs. The Snack Packs provide additional healthy food items for children over the summer while school is out and they are spending more time at home. The Snack Packs consist of 8-10 pounds of USDA nuts (pecans, pistachios, and walnuts) and dried fruit (raisins and dried cranberries). The children love the Snack Pack items that are rich in vitamins. The last two bullets above are new program activities. St. Mary’s will work with its Food Distribution partner agencies to conduct the program. These include schools, homeless shelters, churches, community agencies, and senior centers. These agencies request and receive EFBs, backpacks, and bulk foods – the latter for mobile pantries or to prepare meals for their homeless, elderly and other clients. St. Mary’s also collaborates with retail stores; farmers; civic, corporate and other groups that conduct food drives; and other sources to procure millions of pounds of food each year. St. Mary’s partners with other food banks, the Arizona Food Bank Network and Feeding America to identify under-served populations, eliminate service duplication and manage accessibility to food. We are part of a consortium of southwestern food banks that share significant amounts of fresh produce and discuss other ways of sharing food. St. Mary's has worked with the USDA and the State of Arizona for 30+ years to distribute supplemental food to people in need. We follow the emergency food distribution eligibility guidelines set by the Arizona Department of Economic Security Hunger Relief Program and USDA Emergency Food Assistance Program. The target population to be served is anyone who requests food assistance from St. Mary’s or its partner agencies. The demographic breakdown of people served are approximately 58% Hispanic/Latino, 2% Native American, 1% Asian, 8% Black/African American, 29% White and 2% Multi-Racial. Most of the people served have incomes at or below 185% of the Federal Poverty Level, which for a family of four is just $49,025. The expected program outcomes are that St. Mary’s will provide at least 110 million pounds of food, which will provide for nearly 92 million meals. St. Mary’s will evaluate the program using qualitative and quantitative assessments. Quantitative data will include the total pounds of food distributed; number of weekend backpacks and EFBs distributed; number of mobile pantries conducted and families participating; total number of meals provided through the program; and total number of people assisted. This data will be obtained from inventory and delivery sheets, distribution reports, and information gathered from our partner agencies. Qualitative data will be collected through formal and informal polling and surveys with the partner agencies, volunteers, and beneficiaries to determine the impact the food had on their health and well-being. Additionally, St. Mary’s visits its partner agencies at least once annually to ensure they are adhering to all program procedures. St. Mary's has the experience, expertise and administrative capability to conduct the program, based on its 54 years of experience and being the pioneer of the food bank industry. St. Mary's has two warehouses, dozens of trucks and other equipment, and well-trained staff, many of whom have helped facilitate the program for years. Tom Kertis, St. Mary’s CEO, has four decades of experience working in the food industry, including serving as the Phoenix division president for U.S. Foods. Chief Program Officer, Marcos Gaucin, manages St. Mary’s Food Distribution and other programs, including managing a large staff and tons of food donations every year. We use the best practice of collaboration by working with hundreds of partner agencies, which enables a much greater reach throughout the state than one food bank could do alone and that helps leverage resources. We also use the best practice of utilizing hundreds of volunteers, which provides significant savings in labor and enables St. Mary's to leverage its resources and increase its services to the community. St. Mary's has a very successful track record in conducting all of its programs, as demonstrated by the accomplishments listed earlier in this document. In regard to the grant request to SRPMIC, St. Mary’s has the program very well developed and will not conduct any additional development. However, we will continue to look for new opportunities to expand the program activities, as we recently did with the Tribal Boxes and Snack Packs. What percentage of the grant request are Direct Costs of the programming and Indirect Costs, respectively? 100% of the grant request will be used for direct costs related to the Food Distribution Program. Define the Project Category and/or relevant sub-category: (i.e. Education, Public Safety, Transportation, Economic Development, Health Care, Social Services, or Cultural and Environment) Social Services Beginning Date of Project: 7/1/21 End Date of Project: 6/30/22 Geographic Area to be served: The geographic area to be served is Maricopa County and statewide. St. Mary’s directly serves two-thirds of the state, including Yavapai, Apache, and Navajo Counties, and indirectly serves the remaining one-third by providing food to its three sister food banks. ** Attach Detailed Budget** Amount of Total Project: $17,395,461 Amount of 12% Request: $100,000 (No Multi-Year Request will be accepted) If the amount of funding received is less than the amount needed for the project, do you have other funds to complete the project? (Please Explain): Yes. The program was fully funded in Fiscal Year 2020/21. St. Mary’s 2021/22 fiscal year begins July 1, 2021. Current committed funders for the program in FY 2021/22 include Federal Express, Salt River Project, Larry H. Miller Charities, Nationwide Insurance, Walmart Foundation, and Subaru of America. We also expect to receive about $120.5 million in donated food. Those food donations provide a significant amount of the food needed; however, each year, St. Mary’s must purchase tons of food items that are needed to ensure EFBs and other items are nutritionally well-balanced, but that are not donated in sufficient quantity. If you receive SRPMIC 12 % funding, will it be spent (Check One): Monthly Quarterly Lump Sum List any SRPMIC 12% funds you have received in the past. If the organization has received funding through the SRPMIC 12% Gaming Grant Program for five consecutive years, they will be required to submit a comprehensive report of grant funding toward the stated program objectives and mission of the organization. In addition, you will be asked to provide a formal presentation to the 12% Gaming Grant Committee prior to the awarding of any additional funding. We are humbled by, and so grateful, for, SRPMIC’s generous funding over the past four years, especially in 2020 when the need for food was unprecedented. Your funding helped ensure that St. Mary’s was able to respond to every request for food. In 2020, SRPMIC provided a grant of $200,000 for our Food Distribution Program; a grant of $100,000 in 2019 for the Backpack Expansion Program; a $125,000 grant in 2018, with $85,000 used for a new Kids Café delivery truck to transport thousands of hot meals each day to hungry children, and the remaining $40,000 for general operating expenses; and $50,000 in 2017 to conduct needed warehouse renovations. List any other 12 % grant funds your organization may be seeking from other Tribal Governments in 2021-2022. St. Mary’s is seeking a grant from the Gila River Indian Community in 2021 for its Skills Center Program. This program helps homeless and formerly incarcerated individuals gain job skills and experience in the food and warehouse industries so they can find employment in order to become self- sustaining. List any other funds you have received from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (Enterprises Included) and identify the amount and the source: St. Mary’s has not received any other type of funding from SRPMIC. Has your organization ever applied for and received any local, state or federal grants? If so, please detail. Yes. St. Mary’s applies to several local cities (Phoenix, Glendale, Avondale, Goodyear, etc.) for funds to provide food assistance to low-income people in their communities. St. Mary’s also applies for, and receives, grants from Maricopa Country, the Arizona Department of Economic Security, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The requests primarily are for the Food Distribution Program. Funding for project/programs may be based on available funding. As such, if funding were not available for the full the amount of request how would you prioritize funding. If full funding is not available, we would prioritize funding in this manner: 1. Food: $4,568,369 2. Supplies/Equipment: $1,731,958 3. Program Staff Salaries and Benefits: $6,213,862 The greatest need is funding for food that we must purchase, which typically includes protein and dairy items (i.e. peanut butter, tuna, yogurt, etc.). The next priority is for supplies, including thousands of boxes and bags that are filled with food and distributed to people in need. Other expenses include employee salaries and benefits, transportation costs, occupancy expenses and communications expenses. Through leveraging, economies of scale, operating efficiencies, and collaborations, St. Mary's can procure and provide seven meals for one dollar. A grant of $100,000 from SRPMIC will provide for 700,000 meals, $95,000 will provide for 665,000 meals, etc. We hope SRPMIC will provide full funding, but will be very grateful for any amount awarded that will provide needed food for hungry Arizonans. Which municipal governmental entity will serve as your pass through agency to accept 12% gaming grant on your behalf? Maricopa County will serve as St. Mary’s pass-through and accept the funds. By execution of the 12% Gaming Contribution Grant Application the undersigned agrees that the information contained in the Application is true to the best of the Applicants knowledge. The Applicant shall notify the SRPMIC if any information in this Application changes. 6/24/21 Signature for the Applicant Date Chief Executive Officer Name and Title The Application shall be signed by the senior elected official of the local government, or in the case of a non-profit entity, the Chief Executive Officer authorizes to commit the non-profit entity to apply for, accept, and implement an award from the SRPMIC utilizing 12% Gaming Contributions.