Hello Borderlands’ P.O.W.W.O.W. Volunteers/food rescuers!!!!!

Just a reminder that our next market is Saturday February 7, 2026 from 8-10am.

On January 3, 2026,  our community at Desert Skies UMC was able to distribute ALL of the food, the entire truck salvaged through Borderlands this past Saturday.  This was a first for our location.  What a blessing to be able to distribute around 12 tons of food in one morning to those that are truly finding this program a blessing in their own lives, and now spreading to those around us.  God is good!  Thanks for your volunteer hours that make this possible.  Let go strong for our next 4 events by sharing this opportunity with your family and friends – dates below.
February 7, 2026  8am – 10am
March 7, 2026  8am – 10am
April 4, 2026   7am – 9am
May 2. 2026  7am – 9am
Thank you again for volunteering last month. We are making a huge impact in the community!  We are working side by side with community partners and programs to enhance our community and to be more effective patrons of our environment.  Each box of food can be a blessing, or even half a box shared with someone in need can say that you care.
Our location will be offering pre-order boxes AND $15 cash donations are welcome again.
DUTA pre-order donations are $21 and can be made here: https://borderlandsproducerescue.org/duta-donation-saturday/
Door Dash boxes are only 25 pounds of food delivered to you for $15/box: https://borderlandsproducerescue.org/doordash-donation-saturday/
Click here for information, other events, and all ways to donate for this week’s event: https://borderlandsproducerescue.org/events/desert-skies-012026
A couple of things to expect in 2026:
  • Borderlands is probably scheduling close to 100 pre-paid “DUTA” boxes for the morning, so produce packers at 6am is key!
  • We may need extra assistance with traffic control depending on what the intersection of Houghton and Ft Lowell looks like later on this week. If you or someone you know would like to help with that please let me know.
  • Weather looks good:  still expecting 40 degree temps when we get started, but the sun is starting to rise a bit earlier!
Know there are still some spring breaks happening, so if you haven’t already, PLEASE let me know if you will be there to help this week, so I can let Borderlands know later this week that we have enough volunteers.
I will let you know if there is anything else that comes up this week.
As always, THANK YOU! and see you Saturday,
Carrie
P.S.
Just so this doesn’t come as a complete surprise next month…
Market start time changes to ***7-10am*** for April and May!
Meaning…***5am*** box packing.Emoji

 

This week, you can expect you box to include:

– Watermelon
– Butternut Squash
– English Cucumber
– Zucchini Squash
– Grey Squash
– Eggplant
– Green Bell Pepper
– Red Bell Pepper
– Orange Bell Pepper
– Beef Tomato
– Tomato on the Vine
– Green Beans

 

WHAT IS BORDERLANDS PRODUCE RESCUE?

Borderlands Produce Rescue is an Arizona Charitable Tax Credit (QCO20938) 501(c3) organization with a mission to rescue produce, and in turn, to improve the quality of peoples lives by addressing their most basic needs—accessibility to nutritious fresh produce and living in a healthy environment. They rescue 32 MILLION pounds of fresh produce annually, providing over 76,000 fresh nutritious produce boxes to families across Arizona.

They are not always able to distribute all of the produce rescued. Instead of sending this excess produce to a landfill, Borderlands partners with local ranchers and composting programs to recycle any unusable produce. During the 2020/21 produce season 13% of rescued produce was no longer usable, however 90% of this was sent directly to recycling partners, and not the landfill.

Borderlands’ vision is to keep as much produce out of the landfills as humanly possible, helping our environment and distributing this produce to those in need, helping our community.

WHAT IS POWWOW?

POWWOW stands for Produce On Wheels WithOut Waste. POWWOW is a weekly neighborhood market, where Borderlands Produce Rescue partners with community locations, like Desert Skies, to distribute rescued produce to any community members wishing to participate—no qualification required.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

  1. Find a local POWWOW

That’s easy! It will be right here at DSUMC!

2025 Schedule:  Saturday, 12/06 8-11am

2026 Schedule:  1st Saturday, January through May 2026

  1. Contribute $15 for 70 POUNDS of fresh rescued produce

There are several ways to do this:

  • Pay in CASH (only) onsite as you drive through Desert Skies, and we will load your produce directly into your trunk.
  • Order & Pay on line (paypal, credit/debit) through Borderlands Produce Rescue’s DUTA (Drive Up and Take Away) Program, and we will load a prepackaged box of produce into your trunk as you drive through Desert Skies. Pre-orders begin the Monday before that Saturday’s distribution.
  1. Enjoy!

70 Pounds of Produce too much?

  • Share—with family, friends & neighbors
  • Save—freeze, sauce, preserve all that fresh produce to enjoy later!

HOW CAN I HELP?

  • VOLUNTEER!

If you volunteer for 3 hours, you will receive a free PRODUCE box!

Mark you calendars!

Shifts will be available from:

6-9am                Set-up & produce packaging/distribution

7-10am              Produce packaging/distribution

9-noon Produce packaging/distribution & clean-up

Email Carrie Radomsky at [email protected] with your name, cell number,

email address, and preferred shift to be added to the list of volunteers.

  • SHOP!

Support Desert Skies’ and Borderlands Produce Rescue’s programs & mission

  • DONATE!

Can’t shop? Can’t eat/share that much produce?

Donations gratefully accepted to support our missions that aid the community,

prevent waste and help the environment.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Visit our websites, sign up for our newsletters, visit our social media sites (Facebook/Instagram)

https://borderlandsproducerescue.org