By Paige Teeny, Member Service Director
Last week on Monday August 12, the members of Seattle Food Committee jumped on a van together, and headed around the city of Seattle to visit other food bank and meal programs. The group started off at HIP (or Hunger Intervention Program) at the Lake City Presbyterian Church. HIP has an amazing backpack and summer meals program. Every week, HIP has dedicated volunteers put together healthy lunches for students all around Lake City. Additionally, they have Cooking Demonstrations at North Helpline to help clients prepare healthy meals with the food available at the food bank. Moving on to the Rainier Valley Food Bank, HIP put a little pip in our steps!
Next, we headed to Rainier Valley Food Bank. This small but important food bank is one of the most diverse in Seattle. With only three staff members and numerous volunteers, Rainier Valley FB serves over 11,000 clients each month! Though the space is small, they are working a client card system that they hope other food banks will soon be able to use. Clients will be assigned a number, which will keep lines short and help keep people move. After learning that much of their produce comes from Seattle Community Farm, we headed their next!
Seattle Community Farm is a hop, skip, and a jump away from Rainier Valley Food Bank. However, once in this piece of paradise, South Seattle feels very far away. Growing more types vegetables than I can remember (Think as if the Garden of Eden was placed two blocks from MLK), the members of SFC were schooled in sustainable farming by farmer Scott (pictures right). On this 1/2 acre farm run by Solid Ground, it grows an astounding 9,600 pounds of food, most of which are donated to Rainier Valley Food Bank. One part that I was particularly interested in (besides the mouth watering tomatoes, peas, squash...) was the small rain garden at the bottom of the farm. For more information on what is a rain garden, click here. Anyone from clients to volunteers are welcomed to help harvest the garden, and even take home some of the beeeeauuutiful produce.
Moving further up Seattle, we headed to Seattle Indian Center. Among the many programs, there is a food bank, meal program, and men's hostel. While all are welcomed, Native families are given priority here. During our time there, we got to meet the Chef of the meal programs, who is known for his fresh and delicious food. Anyone is welcome to come to breakfast or lunch, so I know where I'm going this week! The men's hostel was clean and welcoming. While it is known as transition housing, guests have stayed up to a year in this safe environment.
The last leg of our trip, and our neighbor, was University District Food Bank. Our neighbors to the south...and the left of us (their office sits right next to us, and the food bank below) was perhaps the smallest food bank we saw, but very efficient. UDFB recently changed their hours to help clients (and their wait in lines!) Joe, the director (pictured on the left), comments that once they showed clients that no matter what time they came, the type and quanity of food would be the same, clients came in on their on time. It saved time in line but also room in the food bank. UDFB is in the middle of an exciting capital campaign to expand and are expecting a brand new MUCH bigger food bank in the next couple of years.
Thank you to ALL the wonderful food banks that allowed us to visit this year. To see more information about each food bank, simply click the link to their name!
Last week on Monday August 12, the members of Seattle Food Committee jumped on a van together, and headed around the city of Seattle to visit other food bank and meal programs. The group started off at HIP (or Hunger Intervention Program) at the Lake City Presbyterian Church. HIP has an amazing backpack and summer meals program. Every week, HIP has dedicated volunteers put together healthy lunches for students all around Lake City. Additionally, they have Cooking Demonstrations at North Helpline to help clients prepare healthy meals with the food available at the food bank. Moving on to the Rainier Valley Food Bank, HIP put a little pip in our steps!
SFC Committee gathered to talk about HIP and other projects
Next, we headed to Rainier Valley Food Bank. This small but important food bank is one of the most diverse in Seattle. With only three staff members and numerous volunteers, Rainier Valley FB serves over 11,000 clients each month! Though the space is small, they are working a client card system that they hope other food banks will soon be able to use. Clients will be assigned a number, which will keep lines short and help keep people move. After learning that much of their produce comes from Seattle Community Farm, we headed their next!
Staff Member explaining the amazing capabilities of Rainier Valley Food Bank
The *small* but well organized warehouse space.
Beautiful produce waiting to be picked!
Moving further up Seattle, we headed to Seattle Indian Center. Among the many programs, there is a food bank, meal program, and men's hostel. While all are welcomed, Native families are given priority here. During our time there, we got to meet the Chef of the meal programs, who is known for his fresh and delicious food. Anyone is welcome to come to breakfast or lunch, so I know where I'm going this week! The men's hostel was clean and welcoming. While it is known as transition housing, guests have stayed up to a year in this safe environment.The last leg of our trip, and our neighbor, was University District Food Bank. Our neighbors to the south...and the left of us (their office sits right next to us, and the food bank below) was perhaps the smallest food bank we saw, but very efficient. UDFB recently changed their hours to help clients (and their wait in lines!) Joe, the director (pictured on the left), comments that once they showed clients that no matter what time they came, the type and quanity of food would be the same, clients came in on their on time. It saved time in line but also room in the food bank. UDFB is in the middle of an exciting capital campaign to expand and are expecting a brand new MUCH bigger food bank in the next couple of years.
Thank you to ALL the wonderful food banks that allowed us to visit this year. To see more information about each food bank, simply click the link to their name!
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