Charlotte helps feed her little town
After a long and successful career as a court mediator, Charlotte Kiffer and her husband, and her husband Walter, decided to retire and relocate from Las Vegas to Dolan Springs, a small desert town in northern Arizona.
They appreciated the slower pace and simplicity of Dolan Springs. It has a beauty only found in the desert, and its isolated enough that traffic and pollution isn’t a problem. But when they relocated, they quickly saw that poverty and hunger was a huge issue for much of the population.
“We live in a very poor community,” she said. “We have a lot of people whose funds are very, very limited. We have no grocery stores here in Dolan springs. People have to travel 30 to 40 minutes to Kingman, and some can't make it. They don't have transportation, or they don't even have the money to drive into Kingman, so they're reliant on what's available.
That’s how the local St. Vincent de Paul chapter is able to help: Through a free food box distribution that takes place twice per month, as well as a thrift store that provides quality clothes and other items at a more than affordable price, which also helps fund the distribution.
“When I found out about the food distribution, it was a miracle,” said Pansy Johnson, a guest who regularly gets food boxes from the distribution and is well-known by the SVdP volunteers for often being the first in line, usually parking her car outside the campus at 2 a.m.. “It means the world to me. There’s nothing like going to your cabinets and finding nothing.”
The food boxes are composed of what is donated to the pantry. Each month, the Food Reclamation Center sends a truck of food to the pantry, but it often isn’t enough to feed every guest in need of a meal. This has led to Charlotte and other volunteers participating in food drives, buying and donating food themselves, or forging connections with local community partners, such as the Arizona Bread Ministry.
All this adds up to an average of about 300 people every two weeks getting a food box that helps stretch their pantry — and budget — that much further.
“[The volunteers] are always here to help when you need them,” Pansy said.
Charlotte credits the strong sense of community and love to providing so many volunteers to take care of the people around them.
“We're all neighbors. We live in this small area, but all of our volunteers are neighbors,” she said. “We all sign up because it's just so important to take care of those that that are in need — and they are in need.”
After volunteering for a few years, Charlotte and Walter became so involved that Charlotte served a term as council president for three years. When her term ended in 2024, Walter was voted council president, and Charlotte stayed involved as a “trusty and invaluable assistant.”
“It's a poor community,” she said. “We felt it was important to give back with whatever we could do with our skills and our knowledge.”
