Gerald Lewis New Executive Director of the Washington Food Coalition

The Washington Food Coalition is pleased to announce Gerald Lewis as the new Executive Director. Gerald is a successful business owner and nonprofit executive with 40 years of leadership experience in both the private sector and international relief and development.  He was born into an entrepreneurial family with a diverse range of businesses, including purebred cattle ranches in Oregon, Washington and Montana.  He launched two successful enterprises serving national and international clienteles, achieving market-leading brands by the age of 30.

In their humanitarian service, Gerald and his wife Vicky were privileged to reside with their two children in Central America, Middle East, Africa, Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and the USA. Gerald has served as a national director in three countries, and as a regional vice president for major international relief and development agencies. 

Gerald's work has taken him to more than 130 countries, designing and implementing large scale emergency response initiatives in zones of conflict or disaster affected populations, as well as diverse integrated development portfolios spanning water and sanitation, nutrition, heath, education, agriculture, and economic development. Including large food security relief food initiatives serving hundreds of thousands displaced persons, refugees, and populations living in was zones.

For the past decade Gerald served in a succession of innovation focused roles with World Vision International (WVI); five years as the global director for partnering and collaboration, and most recently as the senior advisor for global innovation and collaboration.  

With a primary focus on cross-sector partnering and the role of the private sector in sustainable development, Gerald helped spearhead groundbreaking global research in 2008 on Business-Nonprofit partnerships in collaboration with Accenture Development Partnerships and International Business Leaders Forum. 

In 2013 Gerald with four partners launched a social enterprise company, Point Innovate LLC, to provide solar energy solutions to combat energy poverty in developing countries, with a primary focus on Africa, where more than 80% of the population have no reliable access to electricity.  

Gerald and Vicky reside on a small ranch near Enumclaw, WA. 

Gerald-

"My greatest passion is for people. I have been described as someone who has no strangers, only friends I haven’t met yet. My greatest joy is in mentoring and growing new leaders, and I believe that building and empowering others is the only legacy one leaves behind. This passion has also enabled me to lead large organizations through a transformation process to become truly externally oriented, excelling in engagement with all stakeholders - at the highest levels of government, international businesses, or in the local community. I am keen to explore how I can contribute my skills and passions with Washington Food Coalition’s board, staff, member organizations and other stakeholders to make great strides in eliminating hunger in Washington State."

Share Your Food Bank Story Today!

Status in Olympia, WA:

The final weeks of the legislative session are approaching- there could even be a budget this week! So now is the time to share your stories about fighting hunger.

Each chamber has released their budgets, so now they are working to find a compromise. The House proposed a budget with sustainable revenue sources and strong support for hunger programs. The Senate budget did not include this support due to dramatically less revenue generation. Learn more about the budgets here.

This week it is essential for us to remind our legislators of how we want the budget to support our communities. The best way to do this is to send them a quick story. 

Step 1: Check who represents you! Click here to find your legislators and their contact information. Special folks to reach out to sit on these committees:

House Leadership     

Senate Leadership

House Appropriations

Senate Ways & Means

Step 2: Craft your quick story. This is your chance to paint a picture of what fighting hunger is like on the ground. It is always best to empower the voices of those most marginalized in our communities.
If you can, share a food bank client story.

If not, provide a testimony from your experience. See here for an amazing message from Suzanne at the Ferndale Food Bank and check out this powerful testimony from Joe Gruber of the University District Food Bank.

Step 3: Share that story! It should only take a few minutes to either call or email your legislators.

Be sure to include:

• Who and where you are (a constituent in their district? Or you serve their constituents?)

• Facts about your work: client numbers, lbs of food, ect. (numbers/impact work well in the policy world)

• Anecdotal importance of your work (why fighting hunger is so crucial)

Please let us know if you reach out to your legislator by emailingadvocacy@wafoodcoalition.org. We will let WFC's Lobbyist Brynn Brady know, so that she can follow up with your legislator.

Thank you for the amazing work you do, we are honored to facilitate a unified voice for the emergency food system in Washington. Your partnership is essential in the fight against hunger in our state.

State Budgets and Hunger in Washington: Take Action!

Two Very Different Visions for Hunger in Washington

Washington's Senate and House of Representatives released their budgets this week. One budget includes new ideas for fair and sustainable revenue and restores and enhances our food safety net. The other puts low-income families at risk because it does not include priorities for food and nutrition programs and cuts cash assistance to help families with children pay for basic necessities (housing, hygiene products, utilities, etc.) while parents are working towards gainful employment. Read more

What You Can Do:  Now is the time to contact Senate and House budget negotiators and urge them to come to an agreement on a budget that makes the best investments for families: a budget that has sufficient, fair, sustainable revenue to make important investments in both basic education and basic needs.  Your calls and emails are important, especially if you are a constituent! Be sure to include personal stories about hunger to illustrate the need for restoring our food safety net and other basic need services. Find contact information and names of legislators to call below: House Leadership      Senate Leadership House Appropriations Senate Ways & Means

Tip for Our Partners:  Watch this video of Joe Gruber from the University District Food Bank do a fantastic job of providing testimony on EFAP and hunger issues at the Senate Ways & Means Committee hearing on the budget. A message from: