EVENTS HAPPENING IN YOUR AREA.
SPOKANE FOOD FIGHTERS, BMAC, RESOURCE DIRECTORY, NATIONAL GUARD – APRIL 3
SECOND HARVEST IN THE NEWS
KXLY covered Second Harvest’s Mobile Market distribution on April 1 at Northeast Community Center. The event served 300 families. You can watch KXLY’s coverage here.
PARTNERSHIP WITH SPOKANE FOOD FIGHTERS
This was week one of Second Harvest’s partnership with Spokane Food Fighters for home deliveries of emergency food boxes. Second Harvest volunteers build meal boxes, and dedicated people donating their time as Spokane Food Fighters deliver them to people who are homebound due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week, emergency food boxes were delivered to 311 families throughout Spokane. Watch KREM’s video about the partnership here.
BMAC WEEKLY DISTRIBUTIONS
In late March, Second Harvest began supplying extra food to longtime hunger-relief partner Blue Mountain Action Council (BMAC) in Walla Walla. The food is for weekly distributions to help Walla Walla families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, the first two distributions served 908 households – and the second served 100 more households than the first. To keep pace with the growing need for food assistance in Walla Walla, Second Harvest will increase the amount of food provided to BMAC to accommodate for 600 families at these distributions each week.
THE FIG TREE RESOURCE DIRECTORY
The Fig Tree, a monthly publication in Spokane, updated its resource directory to include information specific to the COVID-19 pandemic. Updates include new food and clothing bank hours, energy and rent assistance resources, options for virtual health care and more. Visit the resource directory here.
NATIONAL GUARD AT WASHINGTON FOOD BANKS
In response to the increased need for food assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Guard has been deployed to help food banks in Washington. This week, they served at two Second Harvest partners – Blue Mountain Action Council (BMAC) and Tri-Cities Food Bank. Thank you to the men and women in the National Guard for helping keep our communities healthy and safe during this crisis.
To sign up to receive our updates to COVID-19 via email, please click here.
Food Safety First: – April 19
In January and March, AIB International conducted audits of our facilities – the Pasco Distribution Center, the Spokane Distribution Center and the Wolff Family Child Hunger Solution Center. As has been the case for more than a decade, we received scores of 930 or higher, out of a possible 1000. Anything above 900 is considered exemplary.
While receiving high scores from AIB is important, we are equally proud of the fact that any day of the year, our team is always working to keep our buildings clean and our food supply safe. This speaks to the strong food safety culture we have here at Second Harvest.
A celebration of our volunteers – April 12
Volunteering doesn’t have to be a one-time thing and the individuals who volunteer at Second Harvest in Spokane and Pasco have proven that in many ways. Even though April is nationally recognized as Volunteer Month, our gratitude for your service is year-round. In the last couple of years, the Volunteer Center in Spokane has gone through various changes and adjustments to keep up with the increase in food demand, prompted first by COVID in 2020 and then by inflation. Even with the changes, our volunteer support has stayed and become even stronger. Our community is filled with mission-driven individuals to help us feed, nourish and build the community around us.
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.
Feeding Eastern Washington and North Idaho
Copyright 2020 Second Harvest. All rights reserved.
