Unity for Our Community at Banner Del E. Webb to conduct food drive
SUN CITY WEST (Nov. 9, 2011) – Unity for Our Community at Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center aims to help feed those in need this holiday season during its nonperishable food drive.
“Last year, we helped more than 15 families put food on their tables,” said Joanne Karas, founder of Unity for Our Community. “This is a way for Banner Del E. Webb employees and the community to join together in feeding the hungry.”
The campaign begins Monday, Nov. 14 and runs through Dec. 12. Boxes will be distributed throughout the nonprofit hospital, 14502 W. Meeker Blvd., Sun City West, at the east entrance, Women's Center and front entrance (D Tower). Food should not be expired, and please no glass containers.
Unity for Our Community is an employee-based charity that champions a drive each quarter. It is the brainchild of Joanne Karas, who when undergoing treatment for breast cancer, saw the emotional and financial toll the disease was having on many of the people around her. She thought that if she could in some way pay forward the small fortunes she has in life that she could make a difference.
She brought the idea to Rhonda Farr-Dvorak, a nurse at the hospital and they formulated the premise for Unity, which was to ask employees to give simple things such as water, personal hygiene items or paper goods once a quarter.
They also decided that they would focus the drives on Banner Olive Branch Senior Center, in Sun City, which provides services for seniors; and Eve’s Place, a shelter for victims of domestic violence. The program has been increasing its collections each quarter.
This summer, Unity for Our Community at Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center collected 400 cases of water (more than 9,500 bottles) to help those in need throughout the hot Arizona summer through its Webb Water Wednesdays campaign. Other campaigns yielded hundreds of paper goods, nonperishable food items, and personal hygiene items.
About Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center
Banner Del E. Webb is a 404-bed, acute-care hospital offering orthopedic surgery, heart care, emergency care, general surgery, cancer care, obstetrics and gynecology, medical imaging, women’s diagnostic services, outpatient services, rehabilitation and behavioral care.
Banner Del E. Webb is part of Banner Health, a nonprofit health care system with 23 hospitals throughout the West. Supporting Banner Del E. Webb’s mission of excellent patient care is Sun Health Foundation, which encourages charitable giving to enhance health care delivery. In 2010, Thomson Reuters named Banner Health one of the Top 10 Hospital Systems in the U.S. To learn more, visit: www.bannerhealth.com/webb.
