Avnet Interns Make a Difference at St. Mary’s Food Bank

Every year Avnet recruits a team of summer interns and during their first week on the job, the interns are invited to participate in a community service project underscoring Avnet’s commitment to community giving. This year, the day of service took place at St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance in downtown Phoenix.

St. Mary’s is known as being the world’s first food bank and is also one of the largest. This non-profit has been assisting the Arizona community for nearly 30 years and offers a variety of different services for individuals in need. Throughout the state, nearly half a million children go hungry every day. This makes the food bank’s existence essential for the well-being of many Arizonans. However, without community volunteers, St. Mary’s would have to double its team of employees, or greatly reduce the magnitude of people they serve. This makes the hard work of capable volunteer community members, such as the Avnet interns, a vital component of the food bank’s success.

In only five hours, the team of 55 worked diligently to prepare and package over 40,000 meals. This number broke the standing record and the 2016 Avnet intern class managed to box more food in a single day than any volunteer team has done before. Returning intern Mackenzie King commented on the day of service saying she “personally knows individuals who have benefited from the help of St. Mary’s and having the opportunity to volunteer at the food bank was an incredibly fulfilling and humbling experience.”

Eventually, these emergency food boxes will be distributed to families and individuals in need throughout the Phoenix area and parts of northern Arizona. It’s willing teams such as our summer interns that enable this non-profit to thrive so successfully! Keep up the great work interns; you are already making Avnet proud and doing great things in our communities where we live, work and play.