Author: Virginia Thomas

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.

Zilch helps Second Harvest efficiently steward donated food supplies and gives agricultural producers and transportation companies an outlet for rejected truckloads of food. These are edible products that are turned away by the intended recipient for any of a variety of reasons. Although some drivers can find other buyers for the perishable items, others may turn to landfills to dispose of their rejected freight. Instead, Second Harvest’s distribution centers in Spokane and Pasco are ready to put these abandoned loads to good use right away to serve food-insecure people.

After all orders for partner programs and Second Harvest programs are filled, the Zilch team coordinates deliveries of time-sensitive perishable food to low-income communities.

On the day Dusty volunteered, the Zilch team distributed food at the Delaney Apartments, an 82-unit subsidized housing facility for low-income seniors, and at the Wilton Apartments, a 52-unit affordable housing facility for formerly homeless people.

“It was an amazing experience,” Dusty said of volunteering with Zilch. “Just to see the smiles put on these people’s faces when you give them food is priceless.”

Dusty said he had never participated in direct food distribution before Zilch. He described the experience as gratifying.

“I learned that there’s more people in need than most of us know,” Dusty said.

Dusty helped distribute fresh strawberries, yellow squash, prepared mashed potatoes from Reser’s, Lucy apples from Gebbers Farms, salad kits, and cucumbers to the residents of the two housing facilities.

Zilch distributes fresh food to 20 low-income housing sites in Spokane, including Father Bach Haven, Donna Hansen Haven, Cathedral Plaza Apartments, and The O’Malley.

See more of Dusty’s Zilch experience in the video below: