OGDEN, Utah — Mike Larson started the Tri-City Exchange four years ago to help people who were struggling to pay for food during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Since then, it's kind of the whole state,” he said. “Northern Utah, so we help middle class, poverty, elderly, just everybody.”
Now at the height of demand, feeding almost 2,000 families each week, his refrigerated trailer, known as a “reefer,” is breaking down.
“Last Saturday afternoon it started losing temperature,” said Larson. “We spent a lot of money, got it kind of going, and then today we found out the compressor’s bad, and the motors old and tired, and it's just on its last leg.”
Larson needs to find someone to sell or donate a 50-foot reefer to him so he can keep providing meat to the community.
“This is tough for me because I don't ask for help,” Larson said. “We try to help other people. But in this case, if we don't have a freezer, we don't have help for anyone. That gives us a big freezer to help other smaller pantries, etc., with frozen and perishables. We don't have three-phase power here at the time to be able to have an indoor freezer, so we run off of the diesel, and it running constantly for four years, it's tired.”
It’s not just the Tri-City Exchange that needs help; the Utah Food Bank’s locations all over Utah need food, money and volunteers, said Ginette Bott, CEO.
“Summer is always a challenge,” she said. “Summer is a time that we're doing things that we normally do, or vacationing, where kids are involved with all sorts of things. We forget to volunteer. We forget to donate. But while we are doing our specific things, there's a whole group of folks throughout the state of Utah who are struggling.”
Many children need to fix meals during the summer, said Bott.
“What is a kid-friendly item? Kids might be home from school, but parents are still at work,” she said. “So we look for things that the kids can prepare. Is that mac and cheese? Is it something as simple as peanut butter that they can make a sandwich with? Is a perhaps a bowl of cold cereal or a bowl of noodles?
The Tri-City Exchange’s situation is dire; the reefer probably only has a week left, said Larson.
“One lady came in and she said, ‘I just got to tell you that something from every meal we have comes from you, or we wouldn’t eat.’ So that's the importance to me.”
If you, your company or someone you know might have a refrigerated trailer to donate or sell to the Tri-City Exchange, you can reach Larson at 801-505-1400.
