At age 74, long after most men have opted to retire and relax, Jack Parris continues to search for new challenges and ways to make a difference. His latest undertaking is as communications and marketing manager for the Community Food Bank.
"When I retired from a 51-year career in broadcasting in 2005, I puttered around and tried to get my golf game in better condition until it was suggested that I really should give up golf and go back to work. And that was fine because I was getting bored continually rearranging the kitchen spice rack. My health and energy level are still good and I wanted to do something constructive. I’ve always felt if you’re going to be a part of a community, you need to get out and about, find out what’s going on and how you might help, and then make that contribution."
  
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Parris will soon celebrate his first year on this job, an educational orientation that has been both personally and professionally rewarding.
"I’ve been in Tucson nearly 30 years and thought I knew a lot about the Food Bank and the service it provides to the hungry people of Southern Arizona. But they don’t just hand out food here and I didn’t have a clue as to the depth of services involved," he said.
It’s a daily challenge to keep up with a growing need.
"Our donations are coming in about the same as in past years, but requests for help with emergency food boxes are up more than 25 percent, due partially to increases in a variety of basic cost-of-living categories, things like transportation and utilities. The federal poverty level is $20,000 a year for a family of four, but a family of four can’t realistically make it on that income. Almost half of the people who receive our food boxes are in the category of the working poor. Many times they have more than one job, but the employment is at minimum wage which doesn’t leave much to buy gas to get to those jobs or enough food for a large family. And the general overall economic slowdown has hit our clients as hard, or harder, than the populace at large."
The Food Bank opened its own 10-acre farm plot in Marana this past fall and is already growing crops there to supplement a need for fresh fruits and vegetables. And expansion plans are under discussion for the on-site Value Food Store.
"This is a grocery store put together some 12 years ago for people who don’t quite qualify for food stamps, but need some help in purchasing food for their family. Savings run between 30 and 50 percent of normal grocery store prices," Parris says. "This is not food that has been donated. Sometimes a supermarket will run a special on beans and order 20,000 cans and end up with too many. We buy the overage. Or a label may change and the store doesn’t want to finish selling the older labeled product. We buy product like that in discounted bulk purchase, sell it here and roll the profits back into the store and the food bank. Anyone can shop at the Value Food Store which is open to the general public."
Parris looks back on his more than a half century in broadcasting, calls it a good run and says its time for someone else to deal with budget cuts and staffing issues.
"I worked on the commercial side for many years (1954-1988), starting in TV when the only pictures were in black-and-white. Most people back then, when TV was so new, would sit around and watch the test pattern waiting for something to happen. The instruction book on right and wrong hadn’t been written. We wrote it through trial and error. I switched over to public broadcasting in the late 80s and stayed past normal retirement age because it was invigorating and I was having a good time."
That good time has been reflected in professional recognition for good work like a recent Tucson Advertising Federation award for "furthering industry standards" that followed a National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences kudo for "outstanding contributions to the TV industry" and an Arizona Broadcasters Association accolade for "contributions to broadcasting in Arizona."
Parris is currently having a good time at the Community Food Bank, surprised and pleased at the culture of the organization.
"There are a lot of people here who are dedicated to doing their job the way it should be done. The goal here is to feed the hungry and we all work together in that same direction. Everybody thinks about the hungry during the holidays and in January, our donations drop off dramatically. So I need to keep the CFB name in the lights year-round because the need is always there."
Among many planned activities is the largest annual fundraiser, Carnivale 2008, a Mardi Gras festival to be held Jan. 26 at Hotel Congress downtown. Retired U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe, a member of the Food Bank’s board of directors since 1983, will be Carnivale King to help raise money for the Child Nutrition Initiative.
With a 30th anniversary to wife Joyce celebrated and their combined six sons having flown the nest, Parris now makes time for eight grandchildren and weekend opportunities to practice his golf game. "It’s still awful, but I’m an eternal optimist," he says.
Lee Allen is a Tucson-based
freelance writer.
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