MARYVALE, AZ — It's a Thursday morning at the Watts Family Maryvale YMCA, and the attendees of a workout class are making one last pit stop before they head out.
"It's crazy how expensive things are," Angelica said in Spanish, through a translator. "Prices will only get worse."
Y members, like Angelica, are grabbing a blue bag filled with food at the location's first-of-its-kind food pantry. She says it will help feed not only herself, her husband, and their four kids, but her parents who are staying with them as well. It's a common living arrangement for those living in this West Valley neighborhood.
"Maryvale is 85% Spanish speaking, Hispanic culture," Joshua Zavala, who works at the YMCA, said. "A lot of families that live together."
It's also where Zavala grew up. While working at the Y for the past few years, he says he learned that, along with rising costs, affording food is one of the many challenges his neighbors face.
"It did (surprise me), but it didn't at the same time because I could see the cost of food rising," he said.
So that's when he, along with some of his other team members, came up with a plan. Every week, they give away anywhere between 500 and 1,000 pounds of food. It's all donated by the nonprofit Waste Not. Along with the bags, they also have the Valley's first-ever food pantry inside a YMCA. So if someone misses out on grabbing a bag, there is more food on hand at any point in the day.
Zavala says it feels good to start something new.
"I enjoy it because I've seen the impact it has on the community, and it’s a positive one," he said. "For me, with the Hispanic background, Mexican background, helping these families is important to me."
Zavala says that right now, the food is only for members of the Y, but he says they never turn away someone who is hungry. You can join the Y for a monthly fee, and they also offer financial assistance to become a member. They pass out the food on Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Maryvale location.
