Ten days into his job as president and CEO of now 50-year-old St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance in Phoenix, Tom Kertis received an e-mail from a man living near Tuba City on the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona. His brother had lost sight in his right eye and had had his right foot amputated; the loss of the other eye and foot was imminent. They were living week to week; they were hungry. “I am writing to ask if there is any way you can assist us with a little food; I am not talking about much,” the man continued. “I’ve never asked for help before.” St. Mary’s contacted the Sisters of St. Jude, an agency partner in the area, and arranged for that help. “If we’re not here, what happens to that man?” Kertis asks. “Does this man and his brother fall through the cracks? It hit me like a ton of bricks. We’re changing people’s lives –– maybe even saving people’s lives.”
