Arizona Legion post helps distribute 250,000 pounds of fresh produce over 12-month span
Around the same time that he was checking out getting involved with a local food redistribution program, John J. Morris Post 62 Historian Dwight Amery came across an article in The American Legion Magazine about food insecurity.
The combination of the two helped the Peoria, Ariz., post on the way to passing out nearly a quarter of a million pounds of fresh produce over the past year for pennies per pound.
For the past 12 months, Post 62 has teamed with Borderlands Produce On Wheels With-Out Waste for monthly distributions of fresh fruit and vegetables. Borderlands is Arizona’s largest food redistribution program and teams with dozens of nonprofits throughout the state to provide the produce to be distributed in local communities.
Amery said he saw Borderlands posting on Facebook the different locations where its produce would be distributed, which caused him to reach out to the organization to get more information about the post possibly becoming involved with its efforts.
He brought it up with the post membership, which he said had “a lot of interest, because it was doing community outreach. And it was right around the time (immediate Past National Commander Jim) Troiola talked in (The American Legion Magazine) about food insecurity. So when I brought it up, I was holding the magazine up – ‘Right here, the national commander says we should be helping address food insecurity.’”
Amery and then-Post 62 Commander Tom McClain then attended an orientation put on by Borderlands, paving the way for the post to begin distributions.
A semi-truck delivers the food to the post, usually between 3 and 4 a.m. on the day of the distribution. Legion Family volunteers show up after that and began setting up tables and prepping the produce for pick-up.
The distribution is done via a drive-thru line, with recipients never leaving their cars. Some will pre-buy ahead of time; others had food delivered through DoorDash. Those who receive the produce pay just $15 for up to 70 pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables.
“After the first one we did, we all went inside (the post) and collapsed,” Amery said. “We said, I’ve never been so sore, and I’ve never had this much fun, helping all those people. (The recipients) were like, ‘God bless you. Thank you.’”
More than 250,000 pounds of food distributed over the course of 12 months, with approximately 250-350 cars going through the line each time, some coming from as far away as 40 miles. The post’s last distribution effort, on June 29, drew more than 400 vehicles and resulted in traffic into the post being backed up more than two miles.
Amery said the post also would also fill a few tables within the post with boxes of produce for local veterans to pick up. “It’s funny. You can tell these guys (are veterans),” he said. “They’d walk over and take three tomatoes and a watermelon. And we’d say, ‘You can take more.’ And it was, ‘No, I need to leave some for the next guy to walk in.’ It’s the brotherhood.”