UPDATE 08/30
Thanks to the generosity of Tucson neighbors and a special matching grant from the Barrio Brewing Foundation Fund, GAP Ministries raised a record-breaking $67,037 this month through the KGUN 9 Giving Project.
Thank you Tucson!
Original Story:
It's the final push for our August Giving Project nonprofit GAP Ministries: Construction continues on their kitchen, and once completed that upgrade is expected to more than double their capacity to serve meals to Tucsonans in need.
But GAP Ministries needs your help funding the new much-needed kitchen. Board Member Demetrius Miles knows the impact the organization has had on the Tucson community over the last 25 years.
"We're touching so many different elements of the community, but we're touching the citizens, we're touching the people that are most hurting," Miles said.
And it's through the kitchen that northside-based GAP Ministries touches most of those individuals. Tom Bell is the principal at Southern Arizona Community Academy, a tuition-free charter school near Grant and Tucson.
"They've been a blessing for us because they provide snacks and take-home meals for a lot of our kids and their families," said Bell.
GAP Ministries distributes those meals and snacks to Tucson students and families during summer programs and throughout the school year.
"It's a great benefit to our youth and our families that otherwise may have not been able to make that lunch at home or prepare, during the school year, that dinner to go," said Cerina Quiroz of Ellie Towne Flowing Wells Community Center.
To handle the growing need, and the growing number of meals they need to prepare each day, GAP Ministries is building a much larger kitchen facility on their Campus of Hope on the northside, near Prince and I-10.
"We're just ecstatic, we're super excited that their going to get a permanent home and get back to serving at the larger number and levels," Miles tells me.
The new kitchen will expand the number of meals they prepare from 100,000 each year to between 200 and 300,000.
"We're really excited to get in here, to be able to up our production and serve even more kids, to reach even farther. Kind of 'cast a larger net,' so to speak," said GAP Ministries Sous Chef Joel Boyer.
You can help GAP Ministries with the construction of their new kitchen by donating directly to their website here.
Your Giving Project donation qualifies for Arizona's charitable tax credit.
Our partners in the Giving Project, the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, will again match the first $500 in donations.
MORE ABOUT GAP MINISTRIES:
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Pat Parris is an anchor and reporter for KGUN 9. He is a graduate of Sabino High School where he was the 1982 high school state track champion in the 800 meters. While in high school and college, he worked part-time in the KGUN 9 newsroom. Share your story ideas and important issues with Pat by emailing pat.parris@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
