Verde Valley Food Project collects more than a million meals for neighbors in need

The Verde Valley Food Project is entirely volunteer-run. Donors simply fill a reusable green bag with nonperishable food items and every two months, neighborhood coordinators pick up the bags from donors’ doorsteps and deliver them to a local collection site where the food is sorted and given to local pantries. Photo by David Cole

The Verde Valley Food Project is entirely volunteer-run. Donors simply fill a reusable green bag with nonperishable food items and every two months, neighborhood coordinators pick up the bags from donors’ doorsteps and deliver them to a local collection site where the food is sorted and given to local pantries. Photo by David Cole

The Green Bag Food Project was locally founded in 2013 in the Village of Oak Creek. Since then, the project has expanded to three locations in the Verde Valley with nearly 1.1 million meals collected.

Also known as the Verde Valley Food Project, the organization is entirely volunteer-run. Donors simply fill a reusable green bag with nonperishable food items and every two months, neighborhood coordinators pick up the bags from donors’ doorsteps and deliver them to a local collection site where the food is sorted and given to local pantries.

Despite challenges posed by COVID-19 in 2020, donors gave more than ever before, both through increased food donations and financial support.

Prior to April 2020, Verde Valley Food Project had not solicited monetary donations, but compassionate donors began to help financially during the lockdown as an alternative or addition to donating a bag of food every other month.

Chélee Skinner, co-chair for the Verde Valley Neighborhood Food Project, commented, “One of the great things about the Green Bag Project is that it is inexpensive to run. Each meal we collect costs our organization just five cents! Because the project’s operating costs are so low, we were able to pass on the financial donations to the pantries that we support.”

After the six collections Valley-wide in 2020, the Verde Valley Neighborhood Food Project collected over 67,000 pounds of food which was shared with eight participating local pantries. Additionally, over $30,500 was also donated to the project which was  shared with valley food pantries.

Food collected from the Village of Oak Creek is shared with Sedona Community Food Bank, Sedona’s St. Vincent de Paul Pantry, and the Verde Valley School Weekend Backpack Program. The Cottonwood donations are given to the Jerome Methodist Pantry, Seventh Day Adventist Pantry, Spirit of Joy Pantry, and  Mountain View United Methodist Church Pantry. Finally, green bags collected in Sedona are donated to the Sedona Community Food Bank and the Sedona Area Homeless Alliance Pantry. 

Verde Valley Food Project’s mission, “Building community by supporting those who feed the hungry in the Verde Valley, one green bag at a time” is supported by Manzanita Outreach. Members of the community interested in learning more, becoming a donor or neighborhood coordinator are encouraged to visit verdevalleyfoodproject.org.


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