Local organizer, Jim Anderson decided to move organic produce from Chinook Farms to the Snohomish Community Food Bank to answer this challenge. The produce was gleaned early in the morning and carried to the river on wheelbarrows where they were loaded onto two canoes and a rowboat.

Now, mind you, Chinook Farms is five-and-a-half miles out of town to the south by way of the Snohomish River and the Food Bank is another 1.8 miles from the boat launch where they landed at Cady Park. Volunteers who walked, jogged, rode bikes and pushed strollers to get the produce from the Park to the Bank, brought in 438 pounds.

More volunteers from Home Depot picked another 103 pounds of fresh blueberries at the Blueberry Blossom Farm and walked to the food bank pulling the fruit behind them in wagons.

The packs were distributed on Monday, August 29^th, at the MAC Campus with the participation of volunteers from Windermere, Grainger and the Food Bank. The Snohomish Public Library, Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts and the Boys and Girls Club were on site to provide parents with information on their services.

This year, the donations were so kind, organizers were able to extend the offer of a free backpack with supplies (including a scientific calculator) to high schools students! Sponsors included Grainger, St. Johns Episcopal Church, Christ the King Church, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Craftsman Roofing and Construction, as well as many individuals who give of their time and funds.

“However, our stock is depleted for the 2011-2012 school year, so we are so grateful that the Zion Lutheran Church is holding a fundraiser to purchase backpacks at the clearance prices.  We will be able to restock backpacks needed in the future,” said Program Manager, Sue Koch.

The brunch will be held at the Zion Lutheran Church on Sunday, September 18^th from 10:00am – 1:00pm. The menu includes pancakes, French toast, breakfast casserole, fruit, assorted pastries, bacon, sausage, ham, biscuits and gravy, juice, coffee, tea and hot chocolate. The suggested donation is only $10.00 per person or $25.00 for a family of four. Come over after church and join your friends and neighbors for a fine meal in support of a worthy program. The Thrivent Lutheran Services has pledged a 50% match to all of the funds raised that day for this Backpack Program.

The Thrivent Lutheran Services has pledged a 50% match to all of the funds raised that day for the Snohomish Community Food Bank, specifically for the School Supplies in a Backpack Program, which provides backpacks with required school supplies to the kids in the Snohomish School District who need one.

The menu includes pancakes, french toast, breakfast casserole, fruit, assorted pastries, bacon, sausage, ham, biscuits and gravy, juice, coffee, tea and hot chocolate. The suggested donation is only $10.00 per person or $25.00 for a family of four. Come over after church and join your friends and neighbors for a fine meal in support of a worthy program!

If you want to encounter a group of cheery and selfless people, make a trip out to the Snohomish Community Food Bank. Last week Washington Food Coalition was able to make a trip up to Snohomish and was warmly welcomed into the Food Bank. Each volunteer greeted me with an outstretched arm and a smile. It felt as though I was entering the home of a close family.

With a herd of friendly and dedicated volunteers, the SCFB distributes Tuesdays from 3-7 pm and Fridays from 10-3 pm (open for donations 6 days a week including Saturdays from 10-1). As stated on their website, “This life-giving resource exists to provide basic foods and services to qualified recipients in a caring, dignified and humane manner. The Food Bank serves every qualified applicant within the boundaries of the Snohomish School District and is supported solely through donations and community volunteers who solicit, manage and distribute it’s reserves. Since 1985, local citizens have screened beneficiaries, collected and distributed food, and provided social services on a weekly basis.” SCFB prides itself on giving clients a dignified shopping experience, complete with shopping cards and the ability to make decisions as they walk through the food bank. Volunteers oversee each station and greet clients as they make their way through the store. Numbers on the front of the shopping carts indicate the size of each family to inform volunteers how much to provide each person. All food is presented in an appealing and accessible manner to make the process as enjoyable as possible. SCFB is also able to provide baby food, formula and diapers to families with small children thanks to a local Kiwanis Club. In the back of the food bank you can also find shelves of food for “special diets” such as diabetes.

During the recent “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive, SCFB had a record number of donations and completely filled their storage area, reaching above the heads of most volunteers (pictured below). Donations totaled 24,542 pounds!

Elizabeth Grant, Director of SCFB, beamed as she explained one of their newer programs to feed homeless teens. Every Friday bags of food are dropped off at local high school for specific students who have been reported as homeless or “couch surfing”. Some of these teens are pregnant or mothers and so the weekend food supply is altered to meet their specific needs. According to SCFB

“This year, through the generosity of Morgan Stanley and Food Lifeline, we are able to run this program on its own. Program Manager, Dana Gibson collects the food, packs it into two grocery sacks per person and delivers them to the local high schools for weekend meals for 14 students. Seven students have babies, so this funding provides the infant care, as well”. SCFB also provides backpacks filled with school supplies to elementary aged children each fall.

The Snohomish Community Food Bank is continually looking for ways to improve their operations and engage their community in feeding the hungry.

*Information provided by SCFB website and Elizabeth Grant, Director of SCFB.

The reminder post cards are going out this week and the blue bags will be delivered to every mailbox by May 12^th. Recipients of these sacks are asked to fill the bags and leave them for pick up next to their mailbox on Saturday, May 14^th. Each postal worker picks up the food from their route, returns it to the post office where it is weighed in and sent off to the Snohomish Community Food Bank.

The concept is to hold the biggest food drive of the year through the support of the entire community. Last year, the Snohomish Post Office collected over 26,000 pounds of food. “This year, let’s go for 28,000,” said Acting Postmaster Brian Zinser. “We’re also asking the public to fill the bags the night before, but not to put them out until 9:30 on Saturday morning. It’s a cautionary process to avoid theft,” Zinser explains.

“We have a tremendous volunteer staff ready to off-load, sort and stock the generous donations this community provides,” said Elizabeth Grant, Director of the Snohomish Community Food Bank. “It was like clockwork last year and we are bracing for this May 14^th with great anticipation. Our numbers are up over 30% and this collection is what gets us through the summer and part of the fall, when the school food drives start up again.”

After the bounty is harvested, we will happily accept fresh produce at the Food Bank, Monday through Friday, 9am – 2pm. Currently, the Snohomish Community Food Bank is serving 250 – 300 families every week and, through the generosity of this community, we manage to provide a nice selection of food. During the season of fresh fruits and vegetables, we especially enjoy offering good, healthy, wholesome foods.

Supplies are limited, so please stop by soon to pick up your packet! Seeds are courtesy of the Snohomish Fred Meyer and NorthWest Harvest.

In years past, holiday food drives brought in plenty of canned pumpkin, canned cranberry sauce and green beans, but other items were missing and the food bank would have to shop for the difference. The organization fed more families this year and had to ensure each family would receive the same fare.

The food bank contacted school groups, churches and civic clubs, asking them to help provide a week’s worth of food for the organization’s 300 families for Thanksgiving and again for Christmas.  Instead of the usual request of “Please hold a food drive”, the food bank asked each group for one item, but in quantities of 300. This was the new “Sponsor a Holiday Product” Program.

“This program worked so well over the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays, that it is beginning to continue on its own for the Easter service! We are so thankful to Food Lifeline for this award and for such a giving community!” said Elizabeth Grant, Executive Director of the Snohomish Community Food Bank.

The Snohomish Community Food Bank won this award for its excellence in collaboration, which is given to a Food Lifeline member agency that demonstrates exemplary approaches to ending hunger by pulling together the community, agencies, organizations or the government to end hunger.

Food Lifeline presented the Agency Excellence Awards at its Annual Agency Conference in Shoreline, on March 21. The conference hosts expert leaders from Food Lifeline’s nearly 300 member agencies from all throughout Western Washington, connects them with each other and offers educational and informational workshops. The awards, presented to four individual agencies excelling in their mission to feed hungry people include:

• Excellence in Community Resource Development
• Excellence in Collaboration
• Excellence in Food Resource Development
• Excellence in Client Service

“These awards allow us to recognize those programs that are making a tangible difference in the lives of others, and they help strengthen the ability of the Food Lifeline network as a whole. Our member agencies are using their creativity and the support of a generous community to continue to find ways to serve the increasing number of hungry people we are seeing as a result of this difficult economic time” says Food Lifeline President and CEO, Linda Nageotte.