Food bank ships supplies to families affected by Grand Canyon flooding
Jul 17, 2018, 4:13 PM
(Courtesy Photo/St. Mary's Food Bank)
(Courtesy Photo/St. Mary's Food Bank)
PHOENIX — A Valley food bank is providing emergency supplies for more than 200 families affected by flooding at the Grand Canyon.
St. Mary’s Food Bank sent a truck filled with food and water on the four-hour drive from Phoenix to the Hualapai Hilltop on Tuesday morning.
From there, the supplies were transported via military helicopter to the bottom of the canyon, where approximately 220 Havasupai Tribe families live.
“They’re kind of cut off now because of the flooding, and they asked us to do emergency food,” St. Mary’s spokesman Jerry Brown told KTAR News 92.3 FM. “The only way to get that food into the grand canyon is by helicopter.”
Brown said a week’s worth of food was being delivered.
“Hopefully by that time the water will have receded and they’ll be able to go back to their normal way of getting food,” Brown said. “If that’s not the case, we’ll be ready to help out again.”
It’s a familiar mission for the food bank, which delivers food, toys and clothes — and a Santa Claus — by a similar method every December during the holiday season.
Last week, rescue workers evacuated around 200 tourists who were trapped by flash flooding in the area.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Griselda Zetino contributed to this report.
