Meet Our Members - Northwest Harvest (Cherry Street Food Bank)

Learn more about the Cherry Street Food Bank:

Besides providing food for over 300 partner programs, Northwest Harvest operates the Cherry Street Food Bank in downtown Seattle. Cherry Street is the busiest food bank in the state, serving well over 2,000 people on full-service days. We serve people of all backgrounds. These are our neighbors in need. As one of our volunteers said, “If you stand here long enough, you'll see yourself walk through that door.”

Many find it difficult to seek help, so we try to make our clients as comfortable as possible, welcoming them with a smile and asking only for enough information to make sure we're meeting client need.

On full-service days, clients choose items such as pasta, canned vegetables and boxed meals. Protein products are distributed on the last Monday and Wednesday of each month. Sack lunches are ready for those without cooking facilities. Over 1,500 sack lunch packages, including freshly-made sandwiches, are regularly distributed on full-service days.

On Thursdays, Cherry Street Food Bank's Baby Day provides infant formula and jarred baby food for our youngest clients. Diapers distributed when available. The presence of a child or proof of child's age (WIC card, birth certificate, immunization record, etc.) is required to receive Baby Day items.

Meet Our Members - Oregon Food Bank

Oregon Food Bank works with a cooperative, statewide network of partner agencies to distribute emergency food to hungry families. In addition, we work to fight hunger's root causes through public policy, outreach and education.

Oregon Food Bank operates four regional food banks out of facilities in Portland, Beaverton, Ontario and Tillamook. They recently held their annual conference at their new warehouse and office facility in Beaverton, OR and were able to give a tour of this facility during the event. This facility is referred to as "OFB West" and the recent project of acquiring the facility demanded an overall retrofit of an outdated facility. The facility is 35,000 square feet, and the remodel project cost $8.5 million. They are now only $400,000 short of completing the project, being able to pay for it all in cash thus far through a very successful capital campaign. The grand opening for this facility is set for April of 2011.

Plentiful office space for a large part of OFB's staff is a great accomplishment through this project.

Volunteers hard at work sorting through donated food in the cooler room.

Cleanliness is key! The volunteer area has plentiful spots to keep food safety and cleanliness at its height.

The garden education center offers opportunities to teach clients how to grow their own food.

The kitchen provides a space for cooking demonstrations for clients.

Advocacy Training Preview

Food Lifeline has been conducting local trainings on advocacy in preparation for Hunger Action Day on February 25th. Here are some tips & insight from these trainings to help you prepare to advocate for Hunger Relief!

Click here to download some tools to help you prepare for a visit with a lawmaker.

Watch the video below to see a portion of one of the Advocacy Trainings that Food Lifeline hosted at Rainier Valley Food Bank.

Finally, register for Hunger Action Day NOW by clicking here. You can also download the full information packet for Hunger Action Day here.

Announcing Harvest Against Hunger Area Summits

Washington Food Coalition has received a contract from the WSDA Food Assistance Programs as part of the USDA Specialty Crop Grant. Our role will be to coordinate 4 Area Summits across Washington to bring the emergency food community together with local specialty crop farmers and their commissions to help these groups learn how their businesses intersect and potential options for growth.

Specialty crops are defined as fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops (including floriculture). The Harvest Against Hunger Area Summits will involve many important partners, including Rotary First Harvest. These Area Summits will begin in September 2011.

The schedule for the Area Summits is as follows:

• September 14: Central Washington Summit in Wenatchee
• October: Eastern Washington Summit in Tri-Cities Area
• January: Northwest Washington Summit in Greater Seattle Area
• February: Southwest Washington Summit in Olympia Area
  

In addition, we'll be working on an electronic recipe resource which identifies and highlights specialty crops in meals typically prepared using emergency food.

Do you have a recipe that includes specialty crops & uses foods found in your food program? If so, submit it here now to be included in the recipe resource!

Read the Energize Newsletter for Nutrition Educators

Click here to read the Energize Newsletter for Nutrition Educators in PDF format from the WSU Puyallup Extension.

Our Blog's Word Cloud

Below is a current word cloud of our blog.

What is a word cloud? It is a graphical representation or word frequency. Presents a picture of the most common words used with those used more often displayed larger.

Want to create your own word cloud? Click here

Washington State Budget Update from Food Lifeline

Here's the latest from Olympia!

Considering the challenges of this difficult economic time, many positive decisions in favor of hunger-relief programs were made by our state Senators last week in Olympia. The Senate Early Action for the Supplemental Budget, ESHB 1086, had a hearing on February 2nd and passed their plan for a budget on Friday, February 4th. Like the House bill, this bill also doesn't close the full budget gap for 2011, but makes $394 million in reductions, reversions, and fund transfers towards closing the gap. The final budget needs to be passed by both House and Senate. The legislature is finishing work on the 2011 supplemental budget and then will move to the 2011-2013 budget. With your continued effort to make your voice heard more favorable choices for basic needs will be made throughout this legislative session.

Here are the updates for Food Lifeline's priority items:

• DSHS State Food Assistance Program (food stamp look-a-like for legal immigrants and refugees)-The same as the House, the Senate Supplemental Budget also contains $4.8 million for State Food Assistance through the end of June 2011. This is half of the total estimated to be needed to sustain current benefits and current recipients. However, with this program under threat of complete elimination, it was your voice that saved this program from complete elimination and persuaded both the House and the Senate to allocate some financial resources for this critical hunger-relief program.

• WSDA food programs (EFAP, TEFAP, CSFP)- The same as the House proposal, the Senate budget document makes an administrative reduction of $241K to the “Department of Agriculture, Reduce Food Program Administration,” in large part by maintaining vacancies in administration. The Senate proposal aslo stated specifically that grants for the programs will not be reduced.

• Maternity Support Services- The service dollars for MSS were cut the same dollar amount in both House and Senate. Both the House and the Senate cut the program by 35 %, after the House added funds to the original proposal for this important program. There is concern that these cuts will have negative effects on both the women and children served and on the clinics that offer these services. However, priority will be placed heavily on pregnant women with the highest risk of negative birth outcomes.

Learn More About Summer Food Service Program

See the information below provided by the USDA Summer Food Service Program:

Summer may seem far off in the distance with winter’s cool weather and shorter days, but it’s not too early to begin thinking about participating in the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). SFSP provides free, nutritious meals and snacks to help children in low-income areas get the nutrition they need to learn, play, and grow, throughout the summer months when they are out of school.

For many children who receive free and reduced-price meals at school, summer can mean hunger. Just as learning does not end when school lets out, neither does a child's need for good nutrition. In SFSP, any child under age 18 who shows up at a meal site is served a meal.

As a sponsor or site, your organization not only provides free, nutritious meals for children, but it also can provide a safe, supervised place for children to gather and participate in an enrichment activity. SFSP brings federal dollars back into the local community. It is flexible and can be included in many existing programs and resources. Your organization can make the summer better for families in your community. Please attend one of our free webinars to learn more! Please feel encouraged to send this invitation on to others to attend as well.

Please join us!

USDA FNS 2011 Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) Webinar Series

Thursday, 2/10/11, 12:00pm – 1:00pm EST: General Public Session

Thursday, 2/10/11, 3:00pm – 4:00pm EST: General Public Session

Monday, 2/14/11, 3:00pm – 4:00pm EST: General Public Session

Thursday, 2/24/11, 5:00pm – 6:00pm EST: General Public Session

Tuesday, 3/8/11, 6:00pm – 7:00pm EST: General Public Session

Thursday, 3/17/11, 11:00am -12:00pm EST: General Public Session

Registration Link: http://vovici.com/wsb.dll/s/17fb9g48fe7

Description: Each summer, 22.3 million students are at risk of going hungry when the school year ends and school lunches are no longer available. For many children, school meals are the only complete and nutritious meals they eat, and in the summer they go without. This summer, the need will likely increase. The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) can help to fill the summer meal gap for low-income children. Faith-based, community and private non-profit organizations can make a difference in the lives of hungry children by serving meals with SFSP, a federally funded program administered by states that reimburses organizations for meals served to children during the summer.

Join us to learn more about how you can help and hear the benefits to being a part of the Summer Food Service Program!

Participation: This session will be available via Microsoft Office LiveMeeting (Webinar) and is free for all participants. You will need access to a phone line and a computer with internet access for this webinar. To participate, please complete the online registration. Further information will be forthcoming to registered participants. You must register to receive additional information.

Other Webinar Sessions: If you are interested but unable to attend one of these sessions, please register to participate in one of the other sessions in the series. There are several webinars scheduled for partner organizations, specific target audiences, as well as the general public. Please check the registration page for additional sessions.

To participate in any of the free webinar sessions, please register here: http://vovici.com/wsb.dll/s/17fb9g48fe7

Additional SFSP Information: Additional information on the Summer Food Service Program can be found on the USDA Food and Nutrition Service Website, and more on the webinars under the link for “free webinars”: www.summerfood.usda.gov

Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact:

Emily Buckham Buday

Emily.buckham@fns.usda.gov

703-605-0772

Washington State Budget Update

As of 2.4.11, here is an update on budget items that affect food programs in Washington (courtesy of the Anti-Hunger & Nutrition Coalition):

-Budget Updates:

The Senate Early Action/Supplemental Budget, ESHB 1086, had a hearing on February 2^nd and will likely be voted on in the Senate by the end of the week. Like the House bill, this bill also doesn’t close the full budget gap for 2011, but makes $394 million in reductions, reversions, and fund transfers towards closing the gap. The final budget needs to be passed by both House and Senate.

Here are the proposed cuts to AHNC priority items and other hunger relief programs that were included in the Senate supplemental budget and the comparison to the House funding:

1. DSHS State Food Assistance Program(food stamp look-a-like for legal immigrants)

The same as the House, the Senate Supplemental Budget also contains $4.8 million for State Food Assistance through the end of June 2011, half of the total estimated to be needed to sustain current benefits and current recipients. We are pleased that both the House and the Senate rejected elimination of this critical hunger-relief program.

The Senate proviso direction is stronger than the House, stating in the bill:

“To ensure expenditures remain within available funds appropriated in this section, the legislature establishes the benefit under the state food assistance program, made pursuant to RCW74.08A.120, to be fifty percent of the federal supplemental nutrition assistance program benefit amount.”

AHNC advocates will continue to work to ensure that the language in the final budget treats all currently qualified individuals equally and fairly.

2. WSDA food programs(EFAP, TEFAP, CSFP)

The same as the House proposal, the Senate budget document makes an administrative reduction of $241K to the “Department of Agriculture, Reduce Food Program Administration,” and specifically states that grants will not be reduced.

House and Senate budget bill language:

"REDUCE FOOD PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION - The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) will maintain administrative vacancies, and partially shift state match requirements to other existing general fund resources available as a result of combining the food programs transferred from the Department of General Administration and the Department of Commerce during the 2010 Legislative Session within the WSDA. Pass through grants will not be impacted."

3. Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program

There were not cuts to this program in the House or Senate supplemental budgets.

4. Maternity Support Services

The service dollars for MSS were cut the same dollar amount in both House and Senate. AHNC is concerned about the effect these cuts will have both on the women and children served and on the clinics that offer these services.

Senate budget language:

REDUCE MATERNITY SUPPORT SRVCS PROG - Maternity Support Services (MSS) provide preventive health care services for pregnant and postpartum women. MSS includes professional observation, assessment, education, intervention, and counseling as provided by interdisciplinary teams comprised of community health nurses, nutritionists, and behavioral health specialists. Beginning March 1, 2011, MSS funding will be reduced by approximately 35 percent. The Department will prioritize evidence-based practices, and it will continue to target the remaining funding towards pregnant women with the highest risk of poor birth outcomes. To the extent practicable, the Department will also develop a mechanism to match local revenue support for MSS with federal Medicaid funds. (General Fund-State, General Fund-Federal)

5. School Meals

The same as the House, the Senate transferred funds within OSPI, and made a $3 million cut in funds provided to school districts to offer school meals. AHNC is concerned about the impact of these cuts on the quality of meals provided to children, and will follow this issue in the development of the biennial budget.

House and Senate language:

TRANSFER FOOD SERVICE PROGRAMS - Programs previously in the Education Reform budget are transferred to the School Food Services budget. The transferred programs include $1.67 million in FY 2011 for funds to eliminate the lunch co-pay for students in grades kindergarten through third grade who are eligible for reduced price lunch, and $5.29 million for FY 2011 for the meals for kids program under RCW 28A.235.145, which eliminates school breakfast co-pays for students eligible for reduced price meals, and provides assistance for school districts initiating summer food service programs.

FOOD SERVICE FUNDING - Funding provided for school food service federal matching funds is reduced in FY11.Additional funding supporting school food service programs in the Education Reform Budget is sufficient to satisfy federal matching requirements maintained by the National School Lunch Program, and those programs have now been transferred to the School Food Services budget.

Media on the State Food Assistance Program:

Here’s a link to an op-ed from Neal Philip of Lawyers Helping Hungry Children that was published in today’s TNT:

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/02/02/1526835/we-cant-afford-not-to-feed-hungry.html

And the news from SeattlePI.com about a federal judge ordering the program’s continuation:

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/434589_foodbenefits.html