Gov. Spencer Cox makes first donation of the Feed Utah food drive

SALT LAKE CITY — On Saturday, March 15, Utah residents around the state are encouraged to fill a bag of food and set it on their porch for the fourth annual Feed Utah food drive.

A kickoff event for the statewide food drive was held on Wednesday at the Utah Food Bank. The event featured a few speakers, including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox.

The Feed Utah food drive is being put on by the Utah Food Bank in partnership with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Associated Food Stores and the governor's office.

As a part of the kickoff event, the governor presented the first ceremonial donation to the food drive. Before making his donation, Cox read an official proclamation declaring March 15 as Feed Utah Day.

"No child should have to go to bed hungry, no parent should have to send a child to school hungry, no family should have to choose between a roof over their head or food on their table, and no elderly person's health should be compromised by a lack of access to adequate nutritious food," Cox said.

He added that Utah leads the nation in statistics around generosity, and he hopes that this year won't be an exception, and that people will step up for this food drive.

"We're fortunate to live in a state where we care deeply about our communities, we care deeply about our neighbors and giving back," Cox said. "Please, please, please, just fill a bag of food and set it on your porch this Saturday."

The state of food insecurity in Utah

There are about 415,000 Utahns who suffer from food insecurity, according to Kent Liston, chief financial officer of Utah Food Bank. That means that 1 in 6 children and 1 in 8 adults don't know where their next meal will come from.

"We hope that we keep the shelves stocked, that we have enough food to help get us through the rest of the year for those who are in need all across the state, and eventually, we hope again that this helps people to get back on their feet," Cox said.

Liston said that typically the food bank sources food by the truckload, which means that there isn't a ton of variety in the food they have available. The Feed Utah event helps give more variety to the food they can provide to those in need.

"You could have thousands and thousands of different product types, different product brands, and that helps us both in terms of supplementing nutrition, but also variety," Liston said.

How to participate in the food drive

"So we invite all our friends, all faiths, all civic society, of all communities, to please participate as volunteers and be generous givers of your funds as well as your food," said Elder Hugo Martinez, a member of the Utah Area Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Utahns are being asked to fill up their own grocery bags with nonperishable food items from their pantry. The bags need to be placed on their porch by 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 15.

"A lot of the items that are a priority would be things like peanut butter, canned meats, stews, vegetables, canned items like that," Liston said. "But also, we also want what people have, and what people eat, and so Top Ramen, you know, mac and cheese, those types of things are welcomed as well."

Volunteers around the state will come by and pick up the food that people set out and will take the food to collection centers. The donations will then be distributed to food pantries and people in need across Utah.

Jonathan Badger, owner of Lee's Marketplace, also spoke at the event and shared that people will be able to bring donations to grocery stores across the state from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday.

All of Utah's Lee's Marketplace, Macey's Grocery and Lin's locations across the state will be taking both food and financial donations during this time.

Donations can also be made online.

"Food is not just a nice thing to have, it's actually a necessity that we all need," Badger said.

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