by Ellen Sussman of the Green Valley News
Derrick and Aubrey Johnson and their family hit the supermarket jackpot this month when a new Safeway opened in Vail and had a promotion for a year of free groceries. Derrick, 32, has been with the Air Force for 13 years, and is a Technical Sergeant and Airborne Linguist based at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. He’s been deployed to Afghanistan and learned Pashto, a language widely spoken in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His supervisor Warren Biles said the base’s chaplain division got wind of the Safeway promotion and passed it along. Biles knew the Johnsons have five children, ages 3 to 11, and that Aubrey home schools the four older kids. “I knew he was in a situation where he could use a year of free groceries,” Biles said. Two of the children were fostered before they were adopted.
Aubrey Johnson shops at Safeway in Sahuarita.
On Safeway’s opening day, April 4, Johnson told Aubrey to have the children ready — Eliana 3, Nahum 7, Emily 8, Abby 9, and Nick, 11 — to leave their Rancho Sahuarita home at 7:45 AM. Johnson said he had an inkling of what was happening, but didn’t tell his wife. They were just going someplace and it was a surprise. “As Derrick drove to Vail, I looked up the address of where we were going. When I saw it was a Safeway grocery store in Vail I couldn’t understand why he was taking us there when there are two Safeway stores closer to home,” Aubrey said. When they arrived, there was a lot of hoopla — a school band, a television station, a stage and a crowd. Biles also was there. An official asked Aubrey if she knew what was happening. She said no.
The year’s worth of groceries were given to the Johnsons in the form of Safeway gift cards totaling $13,500. According to the USDA, in 2017 a family of seven on a thrifty food budget spends about $851 a month. That same family spends $1,368 on a moderate budget and $1,666 on a liberal budget. If you have teenagers, add $400 to $500.
Aubrey said she shops and buys wisely. When she shopped at the Davis-Monthan commissary, she tried to stay at a $1,000 a month budget for food and other necessities. The gift cards give her some breathing room.
On a recent shopping trip at Safeway on Duval Mine Road, her cart filled quickly with fruits, vegetables, bread, fresh chicken, two rotisserie chickens, jars of pasta sauce, milk and basic household needs of detergent and paper goods. “I try to shop healthy-ish. I tend to buy food I can prepare at home quickly,” she said. “With the cars and house our budget was really tight,” Derrick said. “This is like getting a second tax return. We’re very blessed.”
Reprinted with permission from Green Valley News
