The unusual looking vehicle — owned by Tim Cervantes of Cox Communications — is part of a food drive, with donations going to St. Vincent de Paul for its turkey box distribution, the Salvation Army’s Thanksgiving dinner and the Carmichael Family Resource Center.
It’s part of a community service project that includes Cox employees and Girl Scout troops 217, 271 and 721.
 Tim Cervantes, Cox Communications director of operations for Cochise County, loads his stagecoach vehicle with food donations collected at Safeway, which will be distributed to Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul and the Carmichael Family Resource Center. More than $5,000 worth of food was collected. (Ed Honda-Herald/Review) |
“Last Saturday was the first day of our drive,” Cevantes said. “We couldn’t believe how much food we collected.”
As shoppers walked into the grocery store, the Girl Scouts and Cox volunteers handed them a wish list of items needed by the three charitable organizations.
“This is a generous community,” said Connie Adam, a Cox employee who has been organizing the donations for distribution. “We overflowed the stagecoach and had to start filling up one of our trucks.”
Every year the Society of St. Vincent de Paul St. Andrews Conference organizes a project where 225 needy families are given turkey boxes, filled with all the necessary items for a full Thanksgiving dinner.
The Salvation Army is expecting to feed 300 to 400 people at the Veterans of Foreign Wars building on Veterans Drive.
The Family Resource Center provides food year-round for the families of children in the Carmichael School District.
“Right now, we need sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy and pie crust mix,” said Penny Cates, coordinator for the resource center.
Cates is currently organizing Thanksgiving boxes for a list of families who receive food through the center.
While Salvation Army Capt. Karen Schmig says her group has plenty of turkeys to meet its anticipated Thanksgiving dinner requirement, the organization is still in need of stuffing, sweet potatoes and cranberries. And needs don’t stop with the annual turkey feast. In addition to sponsoring Thanksgiving dinner, the Salvation Army distributes food boxes to families for Christmas.
“St. Vincent gives food boxes for Thanksgiving, but we do a Christmas food box distribution,” Schmig said. “As far as I know, we’re the only agency doing the food boxes at Christmas.”
Kathy Murray, a Cox manager who is coordinating the food drive, said Cox and its employees have committed two Saturdays to the effort.
“Even though our first drive was really successful, we need to collect more food,” Murray said. “The Salvation Army needs more items for Thanksgiving, so we want to try and collect some of those things. This community is wonderful, so I’m confident we’ll do it.”
DANA COLE can be reached at 515-4618 or dana.cole@svherald.com.
