Twin Rocks Cafe receives Shop in Utah grant to benefit local Navajo Families

Bluff’s Twin Rocks Trading Post and Cafe is pleased to announce that we are the recipient of a generous Utah Governor’s Shop in Utah grant. The award of approximately $50,000 will be used to create a Feed the Hungry campaign to provide food relief for local families. Beginning September 1, and for the duration of the grant, for every dollar spent in the cafe, one dollar will be used to assemble healthy food boxes for those in need. For example, each $10 meal from the cafe will provide two meals for a needy family. 

The nearby St. Christopher’s Mission to the Navajo has agreed to identify families in need and help distribute food boxes. Every $100.00 spent at the cafe will provide approximately 20 nutritious meals for a family of four. The food boxes include staples like bread, fresh fruits and vegetables, flour, rice, sugar, milk, meat, butter, beans, and other necessities. Paper products and no-water sanitizers will also be included.

The grant also allows current employees of the cafe to keep working during this difficult period. Twin Rocks has previously worked closely with the Bluff Area Mutual Aid, the Rural Utah Project, Shamrock Foods, and Whitehorse High School to provide thousands of meals during the early stages of this pandemic. The Shop in Utah grant is expected to provide more than 10,000 additional meals.

This area of Southeastern Utah is a greatly underserved “food desert,” with grocery stores few and far between. The Shop in Utah grant will greatly help Twin Rocks, which has been seriously affected by a drastic and unparalleled drop in both foreign and domestic tourism. The dual benefits of providing food to needy families and supporting local businesses were cited as the major reasons for the cafe’s successful grant application.

Anyone interested in helping with this innovative program is invited to eat at Twin Rocks; we’ve adopted a new menu and carry-out dining during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you would like to assist in expanding the Twin Rocks Feed the Hungry campaign, please contact the cafe general manager Frances Van der Stappen or owner Steve Simpson at (435) 672-2341 for more information. Thanks for your support.