EVENTS HAPPENING IN YOUR AREA.
KEY PROGRAMS, VOLUNTEERING AND FUNDRAISING NEEDS – MARCH 19
FEEDING KIDS
On Monday and Tuesday, March 16 and 17, generous donors and volunteers helped Second Harvest and At The Core more than double our Bite2Go kit distribution to students in Spokane, Spokane Valley and Mead school districts.
Second Harvest arranged for an emergency food pick-up for Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties on March 18 after the organization posted a request for food on social media. The post showed that the shelves of their food pantry were empty, as more families are in need of food assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Within a few hours of the post, Second Harvest restocked the pantry with fresh produce, nonperishable goods and other food items. Volunteers then coordinated food deliveries to families in need associated with the Boys & Girls Club.
FEEDING SENIORS
On Thursday, March 19, in partnership with Catholic Charities volunteers, Second Harvest volunteers and staff distributed 1,300 Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) boxes to homebound seniors.
MOBILE MARKET
Second Harvest will be doubling the Mobile Market bus schedule starting the week of March 23.
In order to increase the number of Mobile Market events each week, we will add a second driver so that both Mobile Market vehicles – our large refrigerated truck and our bus – can be utilized four to five times each week. We will begin to schedule these additional Mobile Market distributions in conjunction with our existing partners and agencies. Second Harvest will work with our partner agency network to assess community needs and utilize the Mobile Market’s increased capacity to get food to where it’s needed most.
Beginning the week of March 30, we will also use a semi-truck/trailer as a Mobile Market fleet vehicle. This vehicle will serve mostly rural communities. We are currently working with our rural partners to assess needs throughout the region and send this equipment where it can do the most good.
Events will be visible and added to our website here and on social media.
Currently, we do not publicly promote Mobile Market bus events. We have increased the number of bus distributions to include more existing partner sites serving vulnerable communities. Given the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, we plan to keep bus events private to better protect the health of vulnerable populations, such as seniors.
VOLUNTEERS
Volunteer shifts are being added in our warehouse to build emergency food boxes for distribution at Mobile Market events. These boxes will include shelf-stable foods, fresh produce, bread and beef from the Beef Counts program through the Washington Beef Commission (while supplies last). These volunteer shifts will occur Monday through Saturday and are open to fewer people in order to promote social distancing. You can sign up for these shifts on Second Harvest’s VolunteerHub.
FUNDRAISING NEEDS
Second Harvest is seeking community support to fund its COVID-19 response operations, including the following:
- Emergency food boxes of shelf-stable foods, fresh produce, bread, and beef from the Washington Beef Commission (while supplies last) to be distributed at Mobile Market events
- Hire of a temporary/backup driver for the Mobile Market program to increase Mobile Market distributions throughout the region
- Expanded food distribution throughout the Inland Northwest, potentially renting another semi-truck/trailer
To sign up to receive our updates to COVID-19 via email, please click here.
In The Kitchen: Food Waste Prevention Week – April 5
Earth Month is the perfect opportunity to reflect on our habits and how they impact the planet. We might think about how often we drive and take advantage of the nicer weather to bike to work, or maybe even grab some friends and family and find a river cleanup event for Earth Day. But did you know that you can make an impact without even leaving your house? In fact, reflecting on our cooking and grocery shopping habits has the potential to have a greater and long-lasting impact on our environment.
Gonzaga’s Dusty Stromer and Zilch: Teaming up to end hunger – March 29
Dusty Stromer understood from a young age that while his family had enough to eat, others in his circle were not so fortunate. Dusty had a courtside seat to food insecurity — he says that by age 10, he knew some of his friends came from households where food was not reliably available.
A freshman shooting guard on the men’s basketball team at Gonzaga University, Dusty recently got a close look at the fight against hunger by touring Second Harvest’s warehouse and helping to distribute free food through its Zilch program.
Grocery Rescue: Changing lives daily – March 22
Your visit to a local grocery store may seem like a routine, unimportant chore. That perfect strawberry, tomato or apple you select is made possible because different departments of your neighborhood store carefully maintain a standard for each product. But what happens when the banana is too green, or the strawberries are too ripe? That product is stranded and without rescue would find its way to the landfill. Thanks to stores partnering with Second Harvest’s Grocery Rescue program, that nutritious food is shared with partner agencies throughout the 26 counties in Eastern Washington and North Idaho served by Second Harvest.
Feeding Eastern Washington and North Idaho
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