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BISBEE — On a rainy Thursday morning, July 28, a semi-truck full of 12 pallets of food donated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arrived at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Bisbee. The food included cans of beef stew, spaghetti sauce, pears, salsa, chili beans, chicken soup, bags of pancake and waffle mix, jam, peanut butter and other food goods.
“Our numbers keep increasing each week. Last week 65 people came to pick up food to help feed their families for the week,” said Kathleen Keryan, director of the St. Patrick Catholic Food Bank. “Because of this food we will be able to help more people in need of assistance with rent and utilities.”
Mike Clawson, director of the food delivery, explained the challenges they encountered that morning: the semi-truck was too long for the parking lot and it took five men to push the pallet jack with the pallet up to the back of the truck so the forklift could off-load them because the truck was on such a steep slope.
“It was exhausting given the weight of each pallet,” he said. “Once the pallets were placed near the storage rooms, we made a human chain and unloaded and stacked the cases on each pallet onto the storage shelves.” Many volunteers, including Keryan, helped unload the food.
“The Bisbee food bank no longer receives all of the fresh vegetables that they used to get,” Keryan said. “The food commodities that were delivered were much needed to fill shelves and make up for lack of vegetables. This alliance feels like a real miracle. Our hands and the hands of our Latter-day Saint friends working together to do the work of Jesus Christ, our Savior.”
In Sierra Vista, more miracles occurred when the semi arrived at St. Vincent de Paul. Many churches and charitable organizations were there ready to receive the food but no forklift or lift gate was available to unload the food.
Clawson said, “I saw Sierra Vista Tile and Granite, a local family-owned business. I know the Petersons and felt inspired to go inside and see if they would be willing to help out a worthy cause.”
A forklift and driver were willingly provided, and 12 pallets of food were unloaded. “It was a tender mercy that we found a forklift,” Clawson stated. “We want to give special thanks to Sierra Vista Tile and Granite for their willingness to donate the forklift and driver to off-load the pallets of food.”
Approximately 20 groups picked up food, including St. Vincent de Paul Community Food Bank, Salvation Army, Generations Group Home Inc, S.A.H.A.R.A. Humanitarian Resource Center in Huachuca City and Community Baptist Church and Outreach Center of Sierra Vista.
“Pastor John C. Turner of the Community Baptist Church brought about eight young people to help distribute the food,” Clawson gratefully acknowledged.
Stan Garner, director of Salvation Army food distribution, noted that “Pastor Darryl Willhite of Krystal Light Ministries of Sierra Vista, delivered to other churches and groups who could not pick up the food.”
The rain stopped just in time to unload the pallets. “That was a tender mercy of the Lord,” said Clawson. “It was threatening to rain on us for a lot of the time. When I left and started driving back to Sierra Vista, the heavens opened, and the rain poured!”
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