Sharon Pierson
Sharon Pierson is our final all school assembly speaker on Monday, March 7th.
Sharon Pierson is Director of the Desert Mission Food Bank, a community service program of the John C. Lincoln Health Network. In her role, she is responsible for the oversight of food bank programs including emergency food distribution, 4th Street Market operations, the weekend snack pack program, the senior gap program, and community volunteers that work at the food bank.
Sharon has worked with the John C. Lincoln Health Network for 24 years, starting with the Adult Day Health Care program, and then becoming director of the network’s assisted living facility. She worked with the Lincoln Learning Center, the network’s childcare and kindergarten program. Sharon oversaw the teaching and administrative staff with the NAEYC accreditation process. In 2007, she became director of the Desert Mission Food Bank, allowing her to positively impact the lives of more than 30,000 clients annually.
Through the Desert Mission Food Bank, Sharon and her team is focused on service delivery. The unique service delivery at the 4th Street Market allows clients to shop & make choices for their own family’s health and needs. This concept supports the idea of giving clients a “hand-up” as opposed to a “hand-out”. Clients get to choose from a daily selection of food and fresh produce to meet their family’s needs, as opposed to being given a pre-packed box of food. Sharon has more than 10 years of experience in the food industry. She is educated in food sanitation, customer service delivery, and health code standards.
Food insecurity is an issue that affects 1 out of 4 children in Arizona. Our state is one of the 3 worst states in child food insecurity. More than 25% of our state’s children don’t eat regular meals; what they do eat isn’t balanced or nutritionally adequate, which affects their long-term health, their ability to learn, and their ability to earn a living as an adult.
Sharon and her team are focused on impacting the children of the Desert Mission Food Bank’s service area, which covers 150 square miles in the north Phoenix area. They are focused on impacting the children at the greatest risk – school age children.
