WENDOVER, Utah — Students carried boxes out of Wendover High School's gym, loading them with care into cars and trucks waiting in the parking lot.
The boxes are meals for people in need in the Wendover area.
"I think this is amazing," said Emma Prieto, a senior at West Wendover High School. "It’s something that the community really needed."
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The boxes are part of a recently-launched local food network that doesn't seek to rely completely on outside food donations. Instead, community groups like Chicanos Por La Causa partner with local farmers and meat producers and then distribute it.
"We’ve been in partnership with this farmer as well and, at the same time, we’re feeding the families while we’re helping this farmer grow his business," said Leo Gonzalez with Chicanos Por La Causa.
Holy Cross Ministries is using its caseworkers and resources to help connect the food to people who need it.
"We want to come and do what we can, that hand up not hand out, right?" said Emmie Gardner with Holy Cross Ministries.
Other community groups involved in the effort include Comunidad Materna, Mujeres Unidas de Utah, the Sanpete Food Pantry, Utahns Against Hunger, Bridge the Gap Emergency Food Pantry and Utah State University's Extension Service. Food is being produced by OakDell Egg Farms, Utah Refugee Goats, International Rescue Committee's New Roots farms and Utah Natural Meat. The Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation, Mountain America Credit Union, the Brent and Kathryn Wood Foundation and Marathon Petroleum are offering financial support.
"We’re feeding 90 different families here in Wendover," Gonzalez said. "We’re going to other rural areas today, Salt Lake County as well. The goal is to 100% do this all over the state."
Marjle Greymountain-Pete helped load dozens of boxes into the back of a truck, headed to Goshute tribal lands in Tooele County. She said there are a number of families who will benefit, including her own.
"With the food prices? It would help out a lot," she told FOX 13 News. "I mean, I have a family of six and just like groceries alone is like $300-400 and I come from Ibapah and that means I have to pay for gas."
Greymountain-Pete said the local food network concept could help a lot of communities.
"It’s really nice to work with people who want to help," she said.
Currently, there are an estimated 445,000 Utahns experiencing food insecurity, meaning they struggle to afford groceries.
"For some families? That literally means diapers or milk. Those are real decisions families are making in Utah," said Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, who was at Thursday's event in Wendover.
Sen. Escamilla is backing the local food network. She has personally run legislation to address food insecurity and support local food growers, but said affordability is a major issue facing all Utah families. She feared it will get worse in the next year.
"A lot of federal legislation will be starting next year that we foresee," she said. "And we’re prepping for that increase in families that will be struggling with food insecurity."
To find out more about the local food network or to donate, click here.