November 26, 2025 • 28 mins
St. Mary’s is the First Food Bank in the world and was started in Phoenix in 1967 by John Van Hengel with a $3000 loan from his church, St. Mary’s Basilica. He paid back the loan but named the food bank after the church. So even though we are not affiliated with the church, the name remains as a legacy to founding supporter. Now with Milt as the CEO, he has continued to bridge the gap for Arizona Communities with nourishment for today and hope for tomorrow.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Listen to the CEOs You Should Know Phoenix podcast on
the iHeartRadio app to be President and CEO of Saint
Mary's Food Bank, Milt lou Saint Mary's Food Bank started
right here in Phoenix in nineteen sixty seven, the world's
first food bank. What began what the three thousand dollars
loan is grown to with a statewide network of seven
hundred nonprofit partners serving two point four million visits last
year alone. Today, one in eight Arizona households and one
(00:22):
in five children face food and security, and during the holidays,
the need is even greater. If you'd like to open
your heart and get involved, you can help feed hope
at Saint Mary's Food Bank dot org. Welcome to CEOs
You Should Know Phoenix. I'm your host, Rich Barre, our
guest today. This is a very important guest. I feel
like because this is a different sort of CEO. I'm
talking about Milt Lou In Milt is the president and
(00:46):
CEO of Saint Mary's Food Bank. I feel like a
lot of people when we do the show. You think
of CEOs, you think of spreadsheets, and you think of boardrooms.
But food and security is sort of an emotional CEO job. Right,
there's a lot of that. You see, a lot that
you have to almost like come to grips with in
(01:07):
all the environments that we've been through the past couple
of years. So how is that Let's start with the
human side of what you do as a CEO at
Saint Mary's Food Bank.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, you know, and we're so fortunate to be working
on a mission that's about people and every day we
get to interact with people who need a little help,
who need a hand up.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
There we go and you don't ever say hand out
over there.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
No, this is a hand up, you know.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Well.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Our mission, our mission, if I could just say, is
bridging Arizona communities with nourishment for today and hope for tomorrow.
And so we think this is a hand up for
many folks. It's a bridge, you know, it's a bridge
to get through some sort of crisis. Maybe it's a
car payment issue, or a medical bill, or just something
(01:56):
in their life that's knocked them off their feet.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Well, sure we know by to tight right, making it
we say, making ends meet is tough. Something happens, you
have a car problem, you you know, I don't maybe
have a government job that's not paying you currently. Things
can throw life off balance. In Saint Mary's Food Bank,
what a amazing resource. And I don't know if people
know that you've been around for a long time. Are
(02:21):
you the first food bank in the United States?
Speaker 3 (02:23):
We are?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah, so first, the first ever, the very first food bank.
We call ours we're the OG. Yeah, we're the OG
of food bank.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
And how how did how did this come about? In
what seventy or sixty seven? Yeah, nineteen sixty seven.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
In nineteen sixty seven, our founder, John Van Hangel on
Central Lab in Phoenix.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Opened up small.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
He was working in a soup kitchen and one day
he looked out in the back of the soup kitchen
after it closed, and there was a mother dumpster diving
and he went to talk to her and he said,
you just got food at the soup kitchen here. Why
are you looking for food? And she said, well, I
need food to take home for my kids. And the
(03:05):
best place to find food is actually behind grocery stores.
That's the best place to go find food and that's
usually where I get it. But I also come here
behind the soup kitchen. And after talking to her, she said,
you know, there would be a It would be amazing
if there was this place where some people who had
(03:25):
extra food could deposit that food and for those people
who need it they could take it out. And from
that he came up with the term food bank brilliant
and so from there he set up the first food bank.
He borrowed three thousand dollars from Saint Mary's Basilica and
they gave him a truck and he opened up the
(03:47):
world's first food bank and collected food from grocery stores
which otherwise would have ended up in a dumpster, and
he made it available to anyone who needed it. And
from that crazy little idea, from that conversation was born
the concept of food banks and around the.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Country that gets passed around the country because I know
where I grew up in Saint Louis. My my uncle
Bud was one of the guys who would go to
the grocery stores and pick up the food pretty much
three or four times a week and bring into the
food bank there. So it's always been a part of
my life, the food bank, as long as I can remember.
It's been a part of what our family has been around. Yeah,
(04:26):
and I know that it started here right here is amazing.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Idea started right here in Phoenix, and from that idea,
that food bank spread to the West Coast. Food banks
then got together for an organization called Second Harvest that
eventually became Feeding America, which is now two hundred food
banks across the country.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Well, I mean those buildings are massive, to the feed
buildings are, and yet we need to fill them and
people need them. So okay, So, as a CEO, when
you walk through the food bank on a normal day,
what's a moment that makes you milt stop and say
this is why we do this?
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
You know, one thing that people don't realize is that
the food bank is there's two things we're amazing at.
One is we're great at rescuing food, getting donated food
from all over Phoenix and all over Arizona into Phoenix.
And then we distributed it out across the state and
we have seven hundred partners across the state and most
(05:26):
of them are volunteers. They're in Prescott, they're in Holebrook,
they're in flag Staff, they're in Bullhead City, and most
of these folks are volunteers and they're working feeding their neighbors.
Some of them are using the food bank themselves, but
they want to help their neighbors. And the fact that
we're able to provide food to them at no cost
(05:49):
so that they will in turn turn around use their
time to distribute it to their neighbors. Those are amazing stories,
and there's stories that aren't told enough in the media.
All we hear is all the divisiveness. But I wish
there were more opportunities to tell the stories of how
people in neighborhoods, in communities are making it happen.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
It seems like a lot of us kind of wake
up to this around Thanksgiving, but it's all year.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
It's absolutely all year, and we are in the middle of,
you know, the holiday season, so I think folks pay
special attention.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, I mean, if you're thinking about it, let's let's
light you up for all year.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Too, right, Yeah, No, that's it. People need help throughout
the year and it's just so rewarding to be able
to serve everyone.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
And so what brings you, because you could have been
a CEO anywhere, you know, you're experienced, what brings you
personally into this? Tell me a little bit about your story.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, so my work has been in the food industry.
I used to work for Target and was involved in
setting up grocery at Target many years ago, and have
also led a couple of food companies. I've also served
on nonprofit boards well, and so the opportunity to work
at Saint Mary's, to bring both my food experience and
my non profit experience together and such an amazing organization
(07:09):
with such broad impact across the state, was really special.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
That's going to be kind of hard to leave something
retail like that, where you know there's upside all over
the place, and then go into a nonprofit where the
upside is more of a I feel good about this,
but the work is probably twice as hard.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I would think, Yeah, we're We're not small. We have
two hundred and fifty employees. So this is a this
is a big organization. It's a complex operation, and so
a lot of the things that I'd done in the
past I actually translate well to what we do. And
you know, I'm a point in my life, a point
in my career where I could think about something else
(07:49):
other than working in the private sector, and this was
just such an amazing opportunity in an amazing community.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
What's it do for you at the end of the day, Well,
for for you personally, when you when you leave and
you feel like a job's been well done, what are
the things that move the needle for you?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
At the end of the day, It's all about our people,
you know, whether it's the neighbors we serve or whether
it's our employees who are.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
I like that you say neighbors, not you know, clients,
not ye, not donation.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
It's their neighbors, their neighbors. It's a good reminder that
the folks that we serve. You know, many folks who
actually are volunteering today were neighbors in line for food before.
And I think a lot of what we talk about
is doing this with dignity for the people we serve.
(08:36):
And that's why I think neighbors is it right to that.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Comes through quite a bit. Yeah, I think do you
feel like too, It's like you've seen it. I mean
I've served there too. You see it when families come through,
the kids are excited. Yeah, they are like it's like, oh,
this is a big day. Yeah, And I think what's
really you know, food is nourishment. You need that as fuel.
But when you talk to some of our neighbors who
(08:59):
come having the food is it's also about releasing their stress,
as if you think about moms and dads who have
kids who have to worry about can I feed my kids?
That is a huge stress.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
And so to be able to provide food at a
time when they're clearly some crisis, something's going on in
their life that has brought them to the food bank,
it's good to be able to step in and provide
that bridge.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
If people want to get involved in the food bank.
I want to kind of go a couple of different
directions with this. First of all, let's get to how
people can get involved later, because I think you've hooked
them already. But let's talk about the Skills Center. I
want to get into the skill center that you have
at Saint Mary's Food Bank, which is sort of unique
to food banks in general.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, so obviously everybody knows Saint Mary's as really one
of the backbones for food throughout Arizona, but we also
have this really cool operation called the Skill Center, and
every year we train in a nine week program two
hundred and fifty students a year to work either in
(10:10):
the culinary industry, working in the back of the house
of a restaurant or driving a forklift in a warehouse.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
You're talking like teenagers or whoever.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, Actually, most of the folks that are in our
program are coming off of an addiction or they're coming
out of prison in incarceration. And frankly, some of those
folks are felons and they've been in prison for fifteen twenty.
We've had some somebody that was in prison for forty years.
And when they get released from prison, the world's changed,
(10:41):
the world's completely changed, and they don't really have a path,
and so many of them make it make their way
to our skills center. They spend nine weeks with us.
We teach a skill, a functional skill, but we also
teach life skills.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Oh like what like? What?
Speaker 2 (10:56):
So? One of the favorite classes that we have is
managing anger and frustration.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Well, that should be first of all, this probably right,
if you're coming for all of.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Us, for all of us, how do you manage how
do you deal with co workers who are a pain
in the workplace?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Right?
Speaker 2 (11:14):
How do you manage through those situations? How do you
develop relationships?
Speaker 3 (11:18):
How do you get how do you.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Show up for work every day and be ready and
be remarkable so that you can get the next job
and well, you know what so many of our students
talk about is how they feel for the first time
seen and heard.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Well, now that's incredible. But you also have the very
busy job of collecting food, distributing food. It seems like
this is a very full time extra arm of the
food Bank, right.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
It really is.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
You know, we are one of the largest workforce development
organizations in the state. Yeah, even though it's part of
the food Bank.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
So these guys and women and you know, people of
of all ages, they go on to work in what
kind of places with the skill set.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Yeah, they end up working in local hotels, restaurants. Think
about all the warehouses here in the valley. Yeah, there's
a lot, there's a lot, and so those are all
opportunities to get your foot in the door. And these
folks are all getting a second chance, and you know,
we are putting them on a path so that they
can take advantage of all the opportunities here in the valley.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
So let's say somebody's listening to this who maybe just
got out of some trouble recently, how do they get
involved with the skill Center.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yeah, just reach out to us at St. Mary's Foodbank
dot org. You'll see a button on the website for
skill Center.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Well, when did that start? The Skill Center? I don't
think I even knew about it.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, so the skill Center started twenty five years ago.
We actually, you kicked me. It's been around that long.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
It's been around that long.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
We just had our twenty fifth celebration, twenty fifth year
celebration two months ago.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Wow, that's pretty big. That's pretty big. How do you
feel like the the legacy of where it started is
being carried out out today for Saint Mary's Food Bank.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
That's a great question, you knows. As the CEO, I
feel enormous kind of responsibility to take care of this
treasure that John Van Hangel started almost sixty years ago.
And one of the things that we talk a lot
about is how innovative this simple idea was of a
(13:25):
food bank, a place where people could deposit food and
a place where people could withdraw it if they needed it.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
And talk about like getting that from being in the
community and seeing somebody that you've already helped, and you
could have washed your hands of it and been like,
I wonder what she's doing in the dumpster. But he
actually had a conversation which started a whole movement that's
lasted this long and reverberated throughout the country. It's pretty
it's pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
It is amazing, and that's why, you know, we feel
this enormous responsibility to continue to make our operation and
the way we serve neighbors dignity better every day.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
I saw some stat that one in five children in
Arizona are dealing with food issues? Is that a correct number?
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (14:15):
That doesn't seem high?
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Yeah, doesn't that crazy?
Speaker 1 (14:17):
It seems really high.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
So think about that.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
So in a classroom a twenty kids, let's say twenty
five kids, that means five of those kids are dealing
with some sort of food insecurity that they over the
course of the year they had they didn't have enough food, right,
Think about that. That means five out of twenty five
kids in a classroom. So, you know, I look at
(14:41):
what we do as an investment as an investment because
those kids will How do you focus on a classroom
if you're worried, you don't, If you're hungry, you don't.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
There's no way, there's no way. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
And so many of those folks who used who were
in families that used food banks previously when they grow up,
they come volunteer at Saint Mary's and they tell us
that the reason they're there at Saint Mary's is because
they remember, they remember their parents using food banks for
a period of time, and that they want to give back.
And so when I hear those stories, when I get
(15:16):
stopped in a grocery store because I happen to have
a Saint Mary's T shirt on, they want to share
their story. And that's that's incredibly ruly.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Every time I see you're always smiling, so I know
that you love your job. I mean, unless that's that's
to cover up all the other stuff. But can I
ask you about what do we need or what are
the challenges right now in Arizona? What are we looking at?
What's the landscape look like for people that are having
food and securities? Where are we right now?
Speaker 2 (15:44):
So you know the great thing about what's happening here
in the valleys, there's been enormous growth, right, enormous growth.
The challenge is that growth has led to higher housing costs,
higher food costs, higher utility costs. And that's what we're
hearing from people who are in line. They're having a
(16:05):
tough time getting to the end of the month. Their
money just doesn't get to the end of the month.
And that's one of the reasons we see the number
of visitors spike as we get closer to the end
of the month.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
And that's true for every month of the year.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Here every month of the year, right, independent holidays, right,
but just every month of the year. We see visit
spike at the end of the month. And when we
talk to people who are visiting us, they tell us
that it's housing costs, prescription costs, gas costs, that if
they're able to not have to purchase their food for
(16:39):
the week, they can then fill their gas tank, they
can buy the prescription.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
But we can't do it all. You have to pick
and choose, that's right. And a lot of times, you
know you've got to get to work. You're going to
go there hungry, right, right, and you don't want to
see that, right.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I believe that a lot of the work we do
is really in some ways homeless prevention.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
If folks can stay stable and have access to food,
that puts them in a position to work and payrun.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Yeah, So last year I was reading that Saint Mary's
Food Bank and correct me if my numbers are wrong.
It's my own little research serve something like two point
four million meals. Yeah, that's kind of staggering. So break
that down on a daily what's your daily like?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Yeah, so it's actually two point four million visits visits. Okay, Yeah,
we got two point four million visits that translated to
over one hundred million meals h across the state. So
what does that mean? That means with all of these.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Parts all the time, it's going on all the time,
going on.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
All across the state, being done by amazing partners, amazing
community members in small towns, rural towns, urban locations throughout Arizona.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
How do you keep that running?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:56):
How do you keep that running? How do you keep
it organized?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Well, we've got a great team number one. And remember
we've been doing this for almost sixty years. So over
these many years, we've developed all of these great partners.
We developed all of these great relationships with food donors,
right who donate the food to us. And so this
amazing combination of a superpower about collecting food and distributing food,
(18:23):
and then the other superpower is all of these great
network partners that we have across the state put those
two together, and that allows us to get all that
food out into the community.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
It's pretty impressive. What's a daily how about how much
do you do on a daily basis? Now?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Yeah, so let's see if you translate it back, we
do about fifty thousand visits a week. Right, We're serving
fifty thousand people, say, every week across the state who
are coming to either Saint Mary's directly or one of
our partners.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
And how does I guess? This is important too? Let's
say I'm a restaurant or even me, I'm just somebody
who has a little extra how do I donate?
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Great question. So there's a couple of different ways to
support Saint Mary's and our network. One is a donate food, right,
so you can drop it off at any of our locations.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
What sort of stuff is the the things that you
go through the fast that we need to drop off more?
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Yeah, So the best thing to drop off is dry goods,
So think canned corn, canned beans, rice, those kinds of
things that are are not perishes, that don't yeah, that
don't go bad right away exactly, even though they'll probably
use them right away, yes, right, but people love having
them in their cupboards, right, and so those are always
in short supply. So, but if you can't donate food,
(19:42):
you can also volunteer your time. So we have almost
three hundred volunteers a day who come to us in
either Phoenix or Surprise who help us sort through food,
pack boxes or distribute food out in the community.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Do you know when I first moved here, I think
the first thing I ever heard of is somebody talking
about the tax credit. So if you donate, you can
get an Arizona tax credit. Is that still happening? And
can you explain that?
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yeah, no, that's it, absolutely is. Arizona is one of
I think ten states that have this feature. So if
you're a couple, a married couple, you can donate up
to nine hundred eighty seven dollars to Saint Mary's and
get a one for one tax credit on your Arizona state.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Income tax form.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Well that's great.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
So basically you get to direct up to nine hundred
eighty seven dollars of your tax money to an organization
that you want, and you know, hopefully Saint Mary's is
one that you'd consider.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Yeah, I would think. So. I mean it's like you
you almost can't find a more pure. I don't want
to say charity, but organization where it's like we need help,
and then you can see exactly what we're doing. And
if you don't believe it's, come on over and help. Yeah,
because I'm sure you could use volunteers too.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Yes, absolutely, Like I said earlier, we use three hundred
volunteers every day. We need a hundred volun every day.
Some come as part of corporate groups. Others come three
times a week.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
You know.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
They just love what they do. They love interacting with
the community, and they come down and with friends and
afterwards they go get breakfast or coffee. So it's a
great way to connect with people in the community and
build friendships.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I kind of have this theory too. If you're going
through something in your life, maybe it's not financial, maybe
you're stressed out, maybe you know whatever, relationship, whatever, it's
hard to think about that when you're helping other people.
So if you want to get away from your own stuff,
nothing feels better than helping other people. It puts things
(21:41):
in perspective, but it also you're thinking about what you're doing,
and you're doing something good to help other people, and
that's it's always a good thing. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Yeah, so I think, you know, giving, a lot of
people say giving is better than getting sure, and I
think that's what we hear from a lot of ours.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
I know, you believe that, or else you wouldn't be
doing the job you're doing.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Yeah. Incredibly fortunate to be able to do what I do.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, I think that's kind of amazing. Twenty five thousand
Thanksgiving meals usually provide twenty five thousand Thanksgiving meals. How
in the world that is an astounding number.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, so that's just so. Actually this week we're actually
up north on the Navajo Nation throughout northern Arizona doing
Thanksgiving meal distributions. That'll happen this week and next week
and then the week of Thanksgiving in Phoenix and surprise,
we'll be doing a very mass distribution for Monday, Tuesday,
(22:36):
and Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
We're in those meals.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
So there's turkey, produce, canned goods.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
And dessert so you can feed a whole family.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Yeah, that's the goal. That's the goal.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
And you know, there's no holiday that where the meal
is so important as Thanksgiving, And that's why we spend
a great deal of resources and time for Thanksgiving meals.
We know that that's the holiday where we want to
be with friends and family and we want to have
a meal that we can be proud of. And that's
why we our neighbors tell us that this is such
(23:09):
an important time of year to have the Thanksgiving turkey
and the Thanksgiving essentials on their table.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
So you've been the CEO for how long?
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Two years?
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Two years? Two hundred and fifty employees? Right is, how
would if your employees were to describe you in one word? Well,
would they what adjective would they use?
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Let's see, I think they would say innovative?
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Innovative. Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
I think we're always trying to find ways how to
do what we do, to do it even better.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Is it getting more efficient? Is the years go by?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Absolutely, we get better. We get better every year. We'd
better understand what our neighbors want, we better understand what
our agencies want. At the end of the day, we
want to provide a great experience. I want this to feel.
You know, when people are at a point in their
lives where they're in crisis or they need a hand,
(24:08):
it's not always a great feeling to have to come
to a food bank. And so we want to make
that experience as dignified as possible.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Totally different job than we're going to target. Are kind
of the.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Same, obviously, the mission is so unique, so that part
is very different. On the other hand, trying to do
what you do as best as you can and to
do it as efficiently as possible, and to do it
with as much heart as possible. I think, Look, you're
the right guy for that job though. Yeah I'm incredibly fortunate. Yeah,
(24:41):
I'm incredibly fortunate.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
But I could I could tell just in the way
you walk, the way you cure yourself. People are lucky
to have you there, for sure, And what a blessing
it is for the community to have Saint Mary's Food
Bank around, and again the website Saint Mary's food Bank
dot org, which I think, you know, if you can help,
not only is a great thing to have involved, but
(25:02):
we're all kind of responsible for it too, right, we
all need to take a little bit of ownership and
what this is because if you are you know, what
do they say to those who have what is it?
What's the phrase? If you if you've been blessed with it,
then maybe you have a little more responsibility to give
back a little bit too.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Yeah, and I think, I tell you what, this community
behaves that way very much, so very much. We are
so incredibly fortunate with the wide range of supporters we have.
Some folks have resources and are able to donate a lot,
but I also the ones that the donations I'm most
impressed with are donations of five dollars or ten dollars
(25:39):
and the notes we get that someone might even apologize
for the fact that it's only five dollars or ten dollars,
but that's all they have, but they want to support.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
I think that's a beautiful thing. What about in the
summertime when kids are out of school and you know,
parents are freaking out about well, I gotta work, but
I gotta feed my kids. Like what happens in the summer.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, Well, we have a lot of child nutrition programs
as well. In the summer, it's all around after school programs.
So a number of kids get many of their meals
at school, so during the summer they don't have access
to those meals, and so we partner with organizations across
the state that are doing after school programs and making
sure that those programs have food.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Now, speaking of food, I know you're a guy that
lives here, so outside of the food bank, favorite place
to get a meal? What's your favorite? What's your go
to give me? Give me one or two?
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Boy.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
You know, my wife and I love going to Buck
and Rider.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
That's one of my joints too. I love it.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Yeah. They do a great job.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah, I think that's great. What do you get there?
Have you had the hamachi krudo?
Speaker 3 (26:42):
I have not, but I will look for that appetizer.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Okay, you'll thank me. Everything's good there.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Everything's good.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Even the burger is good there, even though they're really
not known for that. Is there anything that we need
to cover here that we haven't covered here? Good, Sir Milt.
I think we've gone through a lot here. Anything that
we're missing.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
No, I would just say that this community is just
all of us should be proud of the community we
live in here in the valley. The community just steps
up during times of crisis. We see it in the
increase in volunteer hours, the number of folks that show
up wanting to volunteer. We see it in the number
of food drives that are happening around the valley because
(27:22):
people want to help out. And we see it in
the number of food donations that people bring they drop
off at our locations because they want to help out.
And so I just want people to know there's really
great people all around the valley, and in spite of
all the news, in spite of all the drama in
the news, let's not lose sight of just how we
(27:42):
take care of each other every day.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Well, I think that's a good point. So if you're
listening and you need a little help, don't forget about
Saint Mary's Food Bag. And if you're listening and you
think you can provide a little help, don't forget about
Saint Mary's Food Bag, because it's one of the one
of the greatest things we have in this community that
really is about the community.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Yeah, yeah, sure, absolutely, Yeah. At the end of the day,
Saint Mary's Food Bank is a community organization for sure.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Milt Lusmen our guest. The website is Saint Mary's Foodbank
dot org. The place is very, very special. We've been
trying to get you in here for a little while.
I'm glad that it happened kind of close to the holidays,
so I know people have it on the top of
their mind, but please keep Saint Mary's Food Bank, in
your in your hearts and all your want because I
think it's a big big deal. Thanks for being my
(28:27):
guest today. I was really enjoyable.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Thank you, appreciate you.
Listen to the CEOs You Should Know Phoenix podcast on
the iHeartRadio app to be President and CEO of Saint
Mary's Food Bank, Milt lou Saint Mary's Food Bank started
right here in Phoenix in nineteen sixty seven, the world's
first food bank. What began what the three thousand dollars
loan is grown to with a statewide network of seven
hundred nonprofit partners serving two point four million visits last
year alone. Today, one in eight Arizona households and one
(00:22):
in five children face food and security, and during the holidays,
the need is even greater. If you'd like to open
your heart and get involved, you can help feed hope
at Saint Mary's Food Bank dot org. Welcome to CEOs
You Should Know Phoenix. I'm your host, Rich Barre, our
guest today. This is a very important guest. I feel
like because this is a different sort of CEO. I'm
talking about Milt Lou In Milt is the president and
(00:46):
CEO of Saint Mary's Food Bank. I feel like a
lot of people when we do the show. You think
of CEOs, you think of spreadsheets, and you think of boardrooms.
But food and security is sort of an emotional CEO job. Right,
there's a lot of that. You see, a lot that
you have to almost like come to grips with in
(01:07):
all the environments that we've been through the past couple
of years. So how is that Let's start with the
human side of what you do as a CEO at
Saint Mary's Food Bank.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, you know, and we're so fortunate to be working
on a mission that's about people and every day we
get to interact with people who need a little help,
who need a hand up.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
There we go and you don't ever say hand out
over there.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
No, this is a hand up, you know.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Well.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Our mission, our mission, if I could just say, is
bridging Arizona communities with nourishment for today and hope for tomorrow.
And so we think this is a hand up for
many folks. It's a bridge, you know, it's a bridge
to get through some sort of crisis. Maybe it's a
car payment issue, or a medical bill, or just something
(01:56):
in their life that's knocked them off their feet.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Well, sure we know by to tight right, making it
we say, making ends meet is tough. Something happens, you
have a car problem, you you know, I don't maybe
have a government job that's not paying you currently. Things
can throw life off balance. In Saint Mary's Food Bank,
what a amazing resource. And I don't know if people
know that you've been around for a long time. Are
(02:21):
you the first food bank in the United States?
Speaker 3 (02:23):
We are?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah, so first, the first ever, the very first food bank.
We call ours we're the OG. Yeah, we're the OG
of food bank.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
And how how did how did this come about? In
what seventy or sixty seven? Yeah, nineteen sixty seven.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
In nineteen sixty seven, our founder, John Van Hangel on
Central Lab in Phoenix.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Opened up small.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
He was working in a soup kitchen and one day
he looked out in the back of the soup kitchen
after it closed, and there was a mother dumpster diving
and he went to talk to her and he said,
you just got food at the soup kitchen here. Why
are you looking for food? And she said, well, I
need food to take home for my kids. And the
(03:05):
best place to find food is actually behind grocery stores.
That's the best place to go find food and that's
usually where I get it. But I also come here
behind the soup kitchen. And after talking to her, she said,
you know, there would be a It would be amazing
if there was this place where some people who had
(03:25):
extra food could deposit that food and for those people
who need it they could take it out. And from
that he came up with the term food bank brilliant
and so from there he set up the first food bank.
He borrowed three thousand dollars from Saint Mary's Basilica and
they gave him a truck and he opened up the
(03:47):
world's first food bank and collected food from grocery stores
which otherwise would have ended up in a dumpster, and
he made it available to anyone who needed it. And
from that crazy little idea, from that conversation was born
the concept of food banks and around the.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Country that gets passed around the country because I know
where I grew up in Saint Louis. My my uncle
Bud was one of the guys who would go to
the grocery stores and pick up the food pretty much
three or four times a week and bring into the
food bank there. So it's always been a part of
my life, the food bank, as long as I can remember.
It's been a part of what our family has been around. Yeah,
(04:26):
and I know that it started here right here is amazing.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Idea started right here in Phoenix, and from that idea,
that food bank spread to the West Coast. Food banks
then got together for an organization called Second Harvest that
eventually became Feeding America, which is now two hundred food
banks across the country.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Well, I mean those buildings are massive, to the feed
buildings are, and yet we need to fill them and
people need them. So okay, So, as a CEO, when
you walk through the food bank on a normal day,
what's a moment that makes you milt stop and say
this is why we do this?
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
You know, one thing that people don't realize is that
the food bank is there's two things we're amazing at.
One is we're great at rescuing food, getting donated food
from all over Phoenix and all over Arizona into Phoenix.
And then we distributed it out across the state and
we have seven hundred partners across the state and most
(05:26):
of them are volunteers. They're in Prescott, they're in Holebrook,
they're in flag Staff, they're in Bullhead City, and most
of these folks are volunteers and they're working feeding their neighbors.
Some of them are using the food bank themselves, but
they want to help their neighbors. And the fact that
we're able to provide food to them at no cost
(05:49):
so that they will in turn turn around use their
time to distribute it to their neighbors. Those are amazing stories,
and there's stories that aren't told enough in the media.
All we hear is all the divisiveness. But I wish
there were more opportunities to tell the stories of how
people in neighborhoods, in communities are making it happen.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
It seems like a lot of us kind of wake
up to this around Thanksgiving, but it's all year.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
It's absolutely all year, and we are in the middle of,
you know, the holiday season, so I think folks pay
special attention.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, I mean, if you're thinking about it, let's let's
light you up for all year.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Too, right, Yeah, No, that's it. People need help throughout
the year and it's just so rewarding to be able
to serve everyone.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
And so what brings you, because you could have been
a CEO anywhere, you know, you're experienced, what brings you
personally into this? Tell me a little bit about your story.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, so my work has been in the food industry.
I used to work for Target and was involved in
setting up grocery at Target many years ago, and have
also led a couple of food companies. I've also served
on nonprofit boards well, and so the opportunity to work
at Saint Mary's, to bring both my food experience and
my non profit experience together and such an amazing organization
(07:09):
with such broad impact across the state, was really special.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
That's going to be kind of hard to leave something
retail like that, where you know there's upside all over
the place, and then go into a nonprofit where the
upside is more of a I feel good about this,
but the work is probably twice as hard.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I would think, Yeah, we're We're not small. We have
two hundred and fifty employees. So this is a this
is a big organization. It's a complex operation, and so
a lot of the things that I'd done in the
past I actually translate well to what we do. And
you know, I'm a point in my life, a point
in my career where I could think about something else
(07:49):
other than working in the private sector, and this was
just such an amazing opportunity in an amazing community.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
What's it do for you at the end of the day, Well,
for for you personally, when you when you leave and
you feel like a job's been well done, what are
the things that move the needle for you?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
At the end of the day, It's all about our people,
you know, whether it's the neighbors we serve or whether
it's our employees who are.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
I like that you say neighbors, not you know, clients,
not ye, not donation.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
It's their neighbors, their neighbors. It's a good reminder that
the folks that we serve. You know, many folks who
actually are volunteering today were neighbors in line for food before.
And I think a lot of what we talk about
is doing this with dignity for the people we serve.
(08:36):
And that's why I think neighbors is it right to that.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Comes through quite a bit. Yeah, I think do you
feel like too, It's like you've seen it. I mean
I've served there too. You see it when families come through,
the kids are excited. Yeah, they are like it's like, oh,
this is a big day. Yeah, And I think what's
really you know, food is nourishment. You need that as fuel.
But when you talk to some of our neighbors who
(08:59):
come having the food is it's also about releasing their stress,
as if you think about moms and dads who have
kids who have to worry about can I feed my kids?
That is a huge stress.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
And so to be able to provide food at a
time when they're clearly some crisis, something's going on in
their life that has brought them to the food bank,
it's good to be able to step in and provide
that bridge.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
If people want to get involved in the food bank.
I want to kind of go a couple of different
directions with this. First of all, let's get to how
people can get involved later, because I think you've hooked
them already. But let's talk about the Skills Center. I
want to get into the skill center that you have
at Saint Mary's Food Bank, which is sort of unique
to food banks in general.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, so obviously everybody knows Saint Mary's as really one
of the backbones for food throughout Arizona, but we also
have this really cool operation called the Skill Center, and
every year we train in a nine week program two
hundred and fifty students a year to work either in
(10:10):
the culinary industry, working in the back of the house
of a restaurant or driving a forklift in a warehouse.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
You're talking like teenagers or whoever.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, Actually, most of the folks that are in our
program are coming off of an addiction or they're coming
out of prison in incarceration. And frankly, some of those
folks are felons and they've been in prison for fifteen twenty.
We've had some somebody that was in prison for forty years.
And when they get released from prison, the world's changed,
(10:41):
the world's completely changed, and they don't really have a path,
and so many of them make it make their way
to our skills center. They spend nine weeks with us.
We teach a skill, a functional skill, but we also
teach life skills.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Oh like what like? What?
Speaker 2 (10:56):
So? One of the favorite classes that we have is
managing anger and frustration.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Well, that should be first of all, this probably right,
if you're coming for all of.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Us, for all of us, how do you manage how
do you deal with co workers who are a pain
in the workplace?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Right?
Speaker 2 (11:14):
How do you manage through those situations? How do you
develop relationships?
Speaker 3 (11:18):
How do you get how do you.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Show up for work every day and be ready and
be remarkable so that you can get the next job
and well, you know what so many of our students
talk about is how they feel for the first time
seen and heard.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Well, now that's incredible. But you also have the very
busy job of collecting food, distributing food. It seems like
this is a very full time extra arm of the
food Bank, right.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
It really is.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
You know, we are one of the largest workforce development
organizations in the state. Yeah, even though it's part of
the food Bank.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
So these guys and women and you know, people of
of all ages, they go on to work in what
kind of places with the skill set.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Yeah, they end up working in local hotels, restaurants. Think
about all the warehouses here in the valley. Yeah, there's
a lot, there's a lot, and so those are all
opportunities to get your foot in the door. And these
folks are all getting a second chance, and you know,
we are putting them on a path so that they
can take advantage of all the opportunities here in the valley.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
So let's say somebody's listening to this who maybe just
got out of some trouble recently, how do they get
involved with the skill Center.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yeah, just reach out to us at St. Mary's Foodbank
dot org. You'll see a button on the website for
skill Center.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Well, when did that start? The Skill Center? I don't
think I even knew about it.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, so the skill Center started twenty five years ago.
We actually, you kicked me. It's been around that long.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
It's been around that long.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
We just had our twenty fifth celebration, twenty fifth year
celebration two months ago.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Wow, that's pretty big. That's pretty big. How do you
feel like the the legacy of where it started is
being carried out out today for Saint Mary's Food Bank.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
That's a great question, you knows. As the CEO, I
feel enormous kind of responsibility to take care of this
treasure that John Van Hangel started almost sixty years ago.
And one of the things that we talk a lot
about is how innovative this simple idea was of a
(13:25):
food bank, a place where people could deposit food and
a place where people could withdraw it if they needed it.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
And talk about like getting that from being in the
community and seeing somebody that you've already helped, and you
could have washed your hands of it and been like,
I wonder what she's doing in the dumpster. But he
actually had a conversation which started a whole movement that's
lasted this long and reverberated throughout the country. It's pretty
it's pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
It is amazing, and that's why, you know, we feel
this enormous responsibility to continue to make our operation and
the way we serve neighbors dignity better every day.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
I saw some stat that one in five children in
Arizona are dealing with food issues? Is that a correct number?
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (14:15):
That doesn't seem high?
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Yeah, doesn't that crazy?
Speaker 1 (14:17):
It seems really high.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
So think about that.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
So in a classroom a twenty kids, let's say twenty
five kids, that means five of those kids are dealing
with some sort of food insecurity that they over the
course of the year they had they didn't have enough food, right,
Think about that. That means five out of twenty five
kids in a classroom. So, you know, I look at
(14:41):
what we do as an investment as an investment because
those kids will How do you focus on a classroom
if you're worried, you don't, If you're hungry, you don't.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
There's no way, there's no way. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
And so many of those folks who used who were
in families that used food banks previously when they grow up,
they come volunteer at Saint Mary's and they tell us
that the reason they're there at Saint Mary's is because
they remember, they remember their parents using food banks for
a period of time, and that they want to give back.
And so when I hear those stories, when I get
(15:16):
stopped in a grocery store because I happen to have
a Saint Mary's T shirt on, they want to share
their story. And that's that's incredibly ruly.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Every time I see you're always smiling, so I know
that you love your job. I mean, unless that's that's
to cover up all the other stuff. But can I
ask you about what do we need or what are
the challenges right now in Arizona? What are we looking at?
What's the landscape look like for people that are having
food and securities? Where are we right now?
Speaker 2 (15:44):
So you know the great thing about what's happening here
in the valleys, there's been enormous growth, right, enormous growth.
The challenge is that growth has led to higher housing costs,
higher food costs, higher utility costs. And that's what we're
hearing from people who are in line. They're having a
(16:05):
tough time getting to the end of the month. Their
money just doesn't get to the end of the month.
And that's one of the reasons we see the number
of visitors spike as we get closer to the end
of the month.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
And that's true for every month of the year.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Here every month of the year, right, independent holidays, right,
but just every month of the year. We see visit
spike at the end of the month. And when we
talk to people who are visiting us, they tell us
that it's housing costs, prescription costs, gas costs, that if
they're able to not have to purchase their food for
(16:39):
the week, they can then fill their gas tank, they
can buy the prescription.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
But we can't do it all. You have to pick
and choose, that's right. And a lot of times, you
know you've got to get to work. You're going to
go there hungry, right, right, and you don't want to
see that, right.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I believe that a lot of the work we do
is really in some ways homeless prevention.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
If folks can stay stable and have access to food,
that puts them in a position to work and payrun.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Yeah, So last year I was reading that Saint Mary's
Food Bank and correct me if my numbers are wrong.
It's my own little research serve something like two point
four million meals. Yeah, that's kind of staggering. So break
that down on a daily what's your daily like?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Yeah, so it's actually two point four million visits visits. Okay, Yeah,
we got two point four million visits that translated to
over one hundred million meals h across the state. So
what does that mean? That means with all of these.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Parts all the time, it's going on all the time,
going on.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
All across the state, being done by amazing partners, amazing
community members in small towns, rural towns, urban locations throughout Arizona.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
How do you keep that running?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:56):
How do you keep that running? How do you keep
it organized?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Well, we've got a great team number one. And remember
we've been doing this for almost sixty years. So over
these many years, we've developed all of these great partners.
We developed all of these great relationships with food donors,
right who donate the food to us. And so this
amazing combination of a superpower about collecting food and distributing food,
(18:23):
and then the other superpower is all of these great
network partners that we have across the state put those
two together, and that allows us to get all that
food out into the community.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
It's pretty impressive. What's a daily how about how much
do you do on a daily basis? Now?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Yeah, so let's see if you translate it back, we
do about fifty thousand visits a week. Right, We're serving
fifty thousand people, say, every week across the state who
are coming to either Saint Mary's directly or one of
our partners.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
And how does I guess? This is important too? Let's
say I'm a restaurant or even me, I'm just somebody
who has a little extra how do I donate?
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Great question. So there's a couple of different ways to
support Saint Mary's and our network. One is a donate food, right,
so you can drop it off at any of our locations.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
What sort of stuff is the the things that you
go through the fast that we need to drop off more?
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Yeah, So the best thing to drop off is dry goods,
So think canned corn, canned beans, rice, those kinds of
things that are are not perishes, that don't yeah, that
don't go bad right away exactly, even though they'll probably
use them right away, yes, right, but people love having
them in their cupboards, right, and so those are always
in short supply. So, but if you can't donate food,
(19:42):
you can also volunteer your time. So we have almost
three hundred volunteers a day who come to us in
either Phoenix or Surprise who help us sort through food,
pack boxes or distribute food out in the community.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Do you know when I first moved here, I think
the first thing I ever heard of is somebody talking
about the tax credit. So if you donate, you can
get an Arizona tax credit. Is that still happening? And
can you explain that?
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yeah, no, that's it, absolutely is. Arizona is one of
I think ten states that have this feature. So if
you're a couple, a married couple, you can donate up
to nine hundred eighty seven dollars to Saint Mary's and
get a one for one tax credit on your Arizona state.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Income tax form.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Well that's great.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
So basically you get to direct up to nine hundred
eighty seven dollars of your tax money to an organization
that you want, and you know, hopefully Saint Mary's is
one that you'd consider.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Yeah, I would think. So. I mean it's like you
you almost can't find a more pure. I don't want
to say charity, but organization where it's like we need help,
and then you can see exactly what we're doing. And
if you don't believe it's, come on over and help. Yeah,
because I'm sure you could use volunteers too.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Yes, absolutely, Like I said earlier, we use three hundred
volunteers every day. We need a hundred volun every day.
Some come as part of corporate groups. Others come three
times a week.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
You know.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
They just love what they do. They love interacting with
the community, and they come down and with friends and
afterwards they go get breakfast or coffee. So it's a
great way to connect with people in the community and
build friendships.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I kind of have this theory too. If you're going
through something in your life, maybe it's not financial, maybe
you're stressed out, maybe you know whatever, relationship, whatever, it's
hard to think about that when you're helping other people.
So if you want to get away from your own stuff,
nothing feels better than helping other people. It puts things
(21:41):
in perspective, but it also you're thinking about what you're doing,
and you're doing something good to help other people, and
that's it's always a good thing. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Yeah, so I think, you know, giving, a lot of
people say giving is better than getting sure, and I
think that's what we hear from a lot of ours.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
I know, you believe that, or else you wouldn't be
doing the job you're doing.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Yeah. Incredibly fortunate to be able to do what I do.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, I think that's kind of amazing. Twenty five thousand
Thanksgiving meals usually provide twenty five thousand Thanksgiving meals. How
in the world that is an astounding number.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, so that's just so. Actually this week we're actually
up north on the Navajo Nation throughout northern Arizona doing
Thanksgiving meal distributions. That'll happen this week and next week
and then the week of Thanksgiving in Phoenix and surprise,
we'll be doing a very mass distribution for Monday, Tuesday,
(22:36):
and Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
We're in those meals.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
So there's turkey, produce, canned goods.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
And dessert so you can feed a whole family.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Yeah, that's the goal. That's the goal.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
And you know, there's no holiday that where the meal
is so important as Thanksgiving, And that's why we spend
a great deal of resources and time for Thanksgiving meals.
We know that that's the holiday where we want to
be with friends and family and we want to have
a meal that we can be proud of. And that's
why we our neighbors tell us that this is such
(23:09):
an important time of year to have the Thanksgiving turkey
and the Thanksgiving essentials on their table.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
So you've been the CEO for how long?
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Two years?
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Two years? Two hundred and fifty employees? Right is, how
would if your employees were to describe you in one word? Well,
would they what adjective would they use?
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Let's see, I think they would say innovative?
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Innovative. Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
I think we're always trying to find ways how to
do what we do, to do it even better.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Is it getting more efficient? Is the years go by?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Absolutely, we get better. We get better every year. We'd
better understand what our neighbors want, we better understand what
our agencies want. At the end of the day, we
want to provide a great experience. I want this to feel.
You know, when people are at a point in their
lives where they're in crisis or they need a hand,
(24:08):
it's not always a great feeling to have to come
to a food bank. And so we want to make
that experience as dignified as possible.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Totally different job than we're going to target. Are kind
of the.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Same, obviously, the mission is so unique, so that part
is very different. On the other hand, trying to do
what you do as best as you can and to
do it as efficiently as possible, and to do it
with as much heart as possible. I think, Look, you're
the right guy for that job though. Yeah I'm incredibly fortunate. Yeah,
(24:41):
I'm incredibly fortunate.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
But I could I could tell just in the way
you walk, the way you cure yourself. People are lucky
to have you there, for sure, And what a blessing
it is for the community to have Saint Mary's Food
Bank around, and again the website Saint Mary's food Bank
dot org, which I think, you know, if you can help,
not only is a great thing to have involved, but
(25:02):
we're all kind of responsible for it too, right, we
all need to take a little bit of ownership and
what this is because if you are you know, what
do they say to those who have what is it?
What's the phrase? If you if you've been blessed with it,
then maybe you have a little more responsibility to give
back a little bit too.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Yeah, and I think, I tell you what, this community
behaves that way very much, so very much. We are
so incredibly fortunate with the wide range of supporters we have.
Some folks have resources and are able to donate a lot,
but I also the ones that the donations I'm most
impressed with are donations of five dollars or ten dollars
(25:39):
and the notes we get that someone might even apologize
for the fact that it's only five dollars or ten dollars,
but that's all they have, but they want to support.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
I think that's a beautiful thing. What about in the
summertime when kids are out of school and you know,
parents are freaking out about well, I gotta work, but
I gotta feed my kids. Like what happens in the summer.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, Well, we have a lot of child nutrition programs
as well. In the summer, it's all around after school programs.
So a number of kids get many of their meals
at school, so during the summer they don't have access
to those meals, and so we partner with organizations across
the state that are doing after school programs and making
sure that those programs have food.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Now, speaking of food, I know you're a guy that
lives here, so outside of the food bank, favorite place
to get a meal? What's your favorite? What's your go
to give me? Give me one or two?
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Boy.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
You know, my wife and I love going to Buck
and Rider.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
That's one of my joints too. I love it.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Yeah. They do a great job.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah, I think that's great. What do you get there?
Have you had the hamachi krudo?
Speaker 3 (26:42):
I have not, but I will look for that appetizer.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Okay, you'll thank me. Everything's good there.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Everything's good.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Even the burger is good there, even though they're really
not known for that. Is there anything that we need
to cover here that we haven't covered here? Good, Sir Milt.
I think we've gone through a lot here. Anything that
we're missing.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
No, I would just say that this community is just
all of us should be proud of the community we
live in here in the valley. The community just steps
up during times of crisis. We see it in the
increase in volunteer hours, the number of folks that show
up wanting to volunteer. We see it in the number
of food drives that are happening around the valley because
(27:22):
people want to help out. And we see it in
the number of food donations that people bring they drop
off at our locations because they want to help out.
And so I just want people to know there's really
great people all around the valley, and in spite of
all the news, in spite of all the drama in
the news, let's not lose sight of just how we
(27:42):
take care of each other every day.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Well, I think that's a good point. So if you're
listening and you need a little help, don't forget about
Saint Mary's Food Bag. And if you're listening and you
think you can provide a little help, don't forget about
Saint Mary's Food Bag, because it's one of the one
of the greatest things we have in this community that
really is about the community.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Yeah, yeah, sure, absolutely, Yeah. At the end of the day,
Saint Mary's Food Bank is a community organization for sure.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Milt Lusmen our guest. The website is Saint Mary's Foodbank
dot org. The place is very, very special. We've been
trying to get you in here for a little while.
I'm glad that it happened kind of close to the holidays,
so I know people have it on the top of
their mind, but please keep Saint Mary's Food Bank, in
your in your hearts and all your want because I
think it's a big big deal. Thanks for being my
(28:27):
guest today. I was really enjoyable.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Thank you, appreciate you.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Are You A Charlotte?
In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.