The Laguna Village Shopping Center (5865 West Ray Road – the Southeast corner of Ray and Kyrene Roads in Chandler) will play host to a big car show and canned food drive to benefit St. Mary’s Food Bank this Saturday, Nov. 14, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

All makes and models of cars and trucks are welcome. So it’s time to Rev up the Chevy! Gas up the Ford! Polish the Packard! Shine the Shelby! Load up the family and come on over to Laguna Village for a day of fun

This FREE event will include music and a raffle for some cool prices. But it’s really all about collecting canned food donations for St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance, with 100 percent of the donations going directly toward easing the 50 percent increase in demand this holiday season.

For more information, contact, Dawn Sullivan at (480) 600-7601

St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance is proud to have been named as a finalist in the Non-Profit category by the 2009 Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce Sterling Award Committee.

Volunteer judges annually select nominees for the Sterling Award that demonstrate excellence, innovation and community stewardship. The award is one of the most coveted business awards in the Valley and involves a rigorous application, judging and selection process.

St. Mary’s thanks the Sterling Award Committee for its nomination and congratulates the other nominees for this distinctive honor.

www.scottsdalechamber.com

St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance would like to thank the members of the five Valley Weight watcher locations for a tremendous effort in their 2009 Food Drive.

After collecting more than 9,300 pounds of food in 2008, the Weight Watchers staff and members really turned up their efforts and collected 17,828 pounds to help the Food Bank at a very critical time. The 51st Avenue and Cactus location in Phoenix brought in more than 5,000 pounds alone, while the locations at 14537 Grand Avenue and 350 East Bell Road each totaled over 4,000.

On behalf of the nearly 18,000 members of the community that will enjoy meals because of your generosity … Thank you Weight Watchers!

Get an up-close preview of your Phoenix Suns just before the 2009-10 NBA regular season tips off and help St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance fight hunger during the “R U ORNG? SUNS FEST” from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday Oct. 24 at US Airways Center.

The event, but the Suns and Hensley Corporation are encouraging all fans bring non-perishable food donations to benefit St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance. Food Bank volunteers will stationed outside each entrance to collect donations.

Come watch Leandro Barbosa, Grant Hill, Steve Nash, Jason Richardson, Amar’e Stoudemire and newest Sun Channing Frye as the team works through a workout and scrimmage run by Head Coach Alvin Gentry from 1-2 p.m.

The Suns celebration will also include a variety of activities for the whole family, including pumpkin decorating, trick-or-treating, inflatable games, face-painting and all the Suns favorites including The Gorilla, Suns Dancers, Verve Sol Patrol, Hairy and Hairyson. Click to www.suns.com for more information.

Long-time Phoenician and musician Howard Faltz will present a benefit performance for St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance on Saturday, Oct. 24 at The Java Ground’s Coffee House (8385 W. Deer Valley Road in Peoria.) beginning at 7 p.m.

Cash donations will be collected at the concert and food bins will be available for any non-perishable food or household items. All tips and a generous portion of all register receipts during the performance will also be presented to the Food Bank,

Faltz, best known around the Valley for Gospel music, was influenced by Elvis Presley, John Sebastian, Kingston Trio and other pop artists of the of his youth. He has always been a great believer in giving back to the community and several years ago, selected St. Mary’s as his “Charity of Choice” and has helped St. Mary’s as a volunteer as well.

For more information, call (623) 572-8887 or log on to info@TheJavaGrounds.com

Come enjoy devilish foods, ghoulish drinks and a haunted house that will leave your teeth chattering on Halloween Night.

The “Haunted House For Hunger” will take place from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m on Saturday, Oct 31st at 13528 West Desert Lane in Surprise (major cross streets are Greenway Road and West Pointe Parkway). Admission is a non-perishable food item for St. Mary’s Food Bank. Call (623) 696-9674 for directions and more information.

Here’s a unique way to help St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance fight hunger. Through our “Buy-a-Bird, Feed a Family” program, you can purchase one of our cute toy turkeys. These birds – Mr. Touchdown($20), Toni Can-Can($15), and Sheriff Tex($15) – are a great way to help the Food Bank feed those in need, while providing a unique gift for yourself, a family member, business associate or client. You can even designate someone to receive the turkey and we’ll send it out, with a card.

You can order by: visiting www.buyabird.org; or mailing your order to SMFB, 2831 N. 31st Ave., Phoenix 85009 Attn:BuyaBird; or by calling 602 343-3164.
Remember: each $1 donated allows us to provide the equivalent of 7 meals to those in need.

MINI North Scottsdale (7101 East Chauncey Lane in Scottsdale) will hold its first food drive and motor rally for St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance on Saturday. Oct. 11 beginning at 9 a.m.

What better way to tie in one of your favorite pastimes – Motoring in you MINI – and helping family’s in need as the holiday season approaches? All you need to do is bring a mini – or even a maxi – bag full of non-perishable food items for donation to MINI North Scottsdale and follow the leader for a great ride. Please RVSP by Oct. 4 to Renate or Hillary at (480) 538-6401 or check out www.miniaz.com.

September 27, 2009 5:04 PM
Erin Turner
Daily News-Sun

Art Molay wakes up every day the same as he always has.

On Tuesday and Thursday he prepares for the day, gets in his car and heads over to the St. Mary’s Food Bank in Surprise, where he volunteers for three hour shifts, packing food boxes for the hungry and making meals for underfed children.

The Sun Citian has repeated the same routine for the last five years and joins hundreds of other volunteers whose dedication ensures the food bank meets the demand.

What makes Molay extraordinary, however, is the birthday he celebrated last Tuesday — number 96.

Molay is the oldest volunteer at St. Mary’s, and as it turns out, one of its most dependable.

Molay is part of a group of about 15 seniors from Temple Beth Shalom in Sun City, who volunteer each week at the food bank. Several of the members are in their 90s.

“They’re incredible. Not only are they mentors to the younger folks who come and volunteer with us they carry a living heritage with them,” said Elizabeth Wunsch, volunteer services manager. “You know they’re going to be here. You can count on them. They have an incredible work ethic. They teach by what they do. We can’t keep up with them.”

“Everything they do with a great amount of pride and a great amount of love,” she added.

For Molay, volunteering at the food bank allows him to combine his desire to help the less fortunate and children, who he “just loves,” with ample free time in need of filling.

“When (my wife) passed away I was cornered. I had to have something to do. One of the members of our temple suggested that I try this, and I’m forever grateful to her for doing so because they’re wonderful people, they make me feel at home and it fills in my day for me,” he said. “I feel sorry for some of the people who come here, I really do. I feel I’m very fortunate in that respect. I like keeping busy and being able to help as much as possible. I enjoy it.”

Molay said his “donation of time” to the food bank is a simple way to give back to the community.

“You have to have some innovation of some sort, some stimulus to (volunteer),” he said. “The only compensation you get is knowing that you’re helping people. As long as I can drive, I’m all right. That has always been my worry — that I’m going to become too feeble to drive and then I’m stuck. But so far I’m able to keep up with it physically and mentally (and) I’m happy to help.”

Without the dedication and time from volunteers like Molay and his friends, the food bank wouldn’t be operational, especially when the need has grown so much in light of the economy, food bank officials said.

“Our hours our volunteers provide us give us over 150 full-time staff positions. There is no way in the world we could function without them,” Wunsch said. “And this year our numbers have gone up 120 percent … we got slammed and the (volunteers) kept up. Whatever you give them to do, they want more. They actually are competitive, too.”

And unlike other St. Mary’s locations around the Valley, the west side facility is largely dependent on senior volunteers like Molay.

“What’s great about the volunteer base we have here is their consistency. We know every Tuesday we can count on this group,” said Irma Leyendecker, director of volunteer services. “Whereas some of our other facilities (we’re unsure) what we’ll have each day, here we know we can count on these people. It’s a close-knit family.”

For Molay, his second career as a volunteer is just getting started. He said he feels, “as good as ever” and plans to continue “as long as he’s physically able.”

“I’m lucky to be able to keep active,” he said. “That, I’m thankful for. I don’t have any secret … except I chose the right parents. Good genes. There’s no secret to it — just luck.”

For information about volunteer services or donations, visit www.firstfoodbank.org or call 602-242-FOOD.

Erin Turner may be reached at 623-876-2522 or eturner@yourwestvalley.com.