EVENTS HAPPENING IN YOUR AREA.
FOOD INSECURITY PROJECTIONS, STORY OF HOPE – JULY 17
FOOD INSECURITY PROJECTIONS
The Feeding America national research team recently released predictions regarding how the COVID-19 pandemic will impact food security locally and nationally as part of its annual Map the Meal Gap study. The study predicts that overall food insecurity in Second Harvest’s 26-county service territory in Eastern Washington and North Idaho will increase from 12.4% in 2018 to 17.7% (out of six people) in 2020 in the wake of the pandemic. Child food insecurity rates in the region are projected to climb from 18.1% to 27.6% (one out of four kids). Second Harvest is tracking this data as the crisis evolves and continues to adjust operations to meet the increased demand for food assistance during this time. You can view Feeding America’s interactive food insecurity map here.
STORY OF HOPE
“It’s a godsend—an absolute godsend.”
Dave said these words as he waited in line for a free food distribution at his local food bank in June. Before the COVID-19 crisis, he had never been to a food bank before. Now, he’s grateful for the help since his hours were cut at one of his jobs. Because he can access food for himself and his family at no cost, he can keep up with other expenses during this time, like car payments and medical bills. You can read more about Dave here.
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Your guide to making tasty vegetable broth – February 16
Despite our best efforts to reduce food waste, it can sometimes be impossible to make it through a recipe without throwing away a carrot top or two. While it doesn’t feel like much at the time, you’d be surprised by how quickly the waste piles up. But fear not! You can easily transform those leftover vegetable scraps into delicious, homemade vegetable broth in just over an hour.
Kids Cooking Camps – February 9
Three times a year, we offer kids cooking camps that help support our programming year-round. These camps meet for two-hour sessions, Monday through Thursday, and are designed for kids ages 8-12. We pick a different theme for each camp so it’s always a new experience for our return campers. The kids get to eat what they make and take home cookbooks to recreate the recipes in their own kitchens.
Spending time in the kitchen is such a valuable tool for children as they develop their motor skills, social skills, confidence, and learn to problem solve. They practice basic skills like math and reading, too. We also focus on sharing nutrition knowledge through activities, discussions, and best of all, tasting how good nutritious foods like whole grains and vegetables can taste.
Cook up inspiration as a nutrition ambassador – January 26
In The Kitchen, we host cooking classes every week that are free to the public — especially our neighbors facing hunger. We focus on recipes that are nutritious, affordable and use ingredients sourced from our very own warehouse. We want our neighbors to know all about the health benefits of those canned chickpeas they keep seeing on the shelf at the food pantry and how they can cook them.
To execute these cooking classes, our nutrition education team partners with a dynamite group of volunteers whom we call nutrition ambassadors.
Feeding Eastern Washington and North Idaho
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