Coming Together to Make a Sustainable Difference

Earlier this week, we hosted a virtual community gathering for volunteers and supporters to learn how the current political climate is impacting the food bank and how we’re adapting to meet the needs of our neighbors.

After a brief introduction from Anthony Anderson on connecting with guests and learning about their progress towards stability and hope, executive Director Jen Muzia shared “It’s difficult when we see the news, we see all these things happening, but when I come in and I see all of you and I see the people in this space, it really reminds me that we can make a difference locally.”

The Backdrop of Federal Changes

She went on to give insights into what we’re seeing - and expecting to see - from the government shutdown and other actions at the national level. While we don’t receive federal funding and our budget isn’t directly impacted by the shutdown, we know that our community will be under extra pressure as WIC funding runs out, federal employees are furloughed and laid off, and SNAP and Medicaid cuts continue to expand. And while social security checks should continue, there’s a lot of uncertainty and confusion that impacts us all. We’re already seeing more people coming through and know it’s only the start. The harm is happening now and will continue to build over the next weeks and months.

We’re also deeply concerned by the recent announcement about ending the USDA’s Food Security Report.  For 30 years, this has measured whether households have consistent access to food and ending this will hide who in our country is hungry. This was research that informed and helped expand federal nutrition programs. It’s scary to see because we know that addressing hunger and poverty are not priorities for the federal administration.

Acting Locally to Build a Resilient Community

Locally, some good things are happening despite a not-so-positive revenue forecast. We endorse the Seattle Shield Initiative on the ballot for the November 4th election. This update to the city’s Business & Occupancy Tax would ease the tax burden on smaller businesses while bringing in more revenue to directly benefit food banks, meal providers, and other human services organizations!

We do not and cannot endorse candidates, but we encourage you to stay informed and listen to what candidates for mayor, city council, and city attorney have to say about their plans for addressing poverty, homelessness, and other human services issues. Your votes at the local level make a difference.

Executive Director Jen Muzia speaks at the Washington State Legislate about growing food insecurity

While we’re preparing for the election, we’re also watching the city budget process closely. The mayor’s draft budget included investments in programs that provide greater food access through food banks, meal programs, and Fresh Bucks. Now the City Council is deliberating their budget, and we want to make sure these investments are maintained. You can support funding for essential services by reaching out to your city councilmember about the importance of funding food banks, housing and shelter, and more. We will also share public comment opportunities over the next month, so keep an eye on your email and our social media.

How We’re Responding

Jen shared that both staff leadership and our board (several members of which were on the call) are doubling down on our mission and committing to being bold in the face of uncertainty. Our mission is to bring food and hope to our neighbors because there can be enough for everyone. The budget for our new fiscal year that started October 1st continues to invest in food and in growing and supporting our staff to have a bigger impact on our community.

Staff member Maddy and a neighbor fill out paperwork together

As a multiservice agency, we recognize that food isn’t enough to bring lasting change to people’s lives. Our best impact comes from the way our staff, volunteers, and guests work together across programs to build stability. New and upcoming hires including a third Client Advocate allow us to deepen the type of long-term support that leads to better outcomes with our neighbors in terms of housing, jobs, and other supports. We can only sustainably meet the needs of new guests when there’s a pathway for current guests to become less reliant on our Community Market over time.

We also keep expanding our food sources to bring in more. Food Access Senior Manager Ysabel Diaz manages our harvesting program which has already brought in significantly more pounds of fresh produce than last year with some of the busiest harvesting weeks – and heaviest items – to go. Ysabel and Food Access Manager Lily Cowen currently run four programs between the two of them, so they’re working to bring in a new Food Access Coordinator to focus on Weekend Food for Kids so Ysabel and Lily can devote more time and energy to home delivery, harvesting, and the mobile market program.

Still, as we continue to scale while also facing further inflation, we have to make choices – sometimes difficult ones - about what food to purchase. Community Market Senior Manager Sarah Huttula outlined how she’s working to make the best use of our food budget. Several months back, we had to pivot our spending from eggs to less expensive items that can stretch to more people. Some food banks have stopped buying meat as well. Currently, we are still buying meat. Based on feedback from our shoppers, we have increased the amount of halal meat and vegetarian proteins like tofu.

Going into the holiday season, we have decided not to buy holiday meats such as whole turkeys, hams, and whole chickens like we did in previous years. Last year, we spent well over $15,000 on these and ran out of whole turkeys in less than two days. Since we can’t have enough to fairly serve everyone, we’re pivoting to purchase meat that can go further such as ground beef, ground turkey, fish, and chicken along with other holiday staples and fresh produce.  Since our guests celebrate many different holidays with different food traditions, we’re focused on bringing in a wide variety of foods to have something for everyone!

You will see items like canned green beans and corn, dry and canned beans, squash, sweet potatoes, black-eyed peas, brussels sprouts, canned cranberries, collards, plantains, rice noodles, and more.

Kindness Café Manager Nissa Cooley shared that we will have a turkey themed feast in the café as well as other special meals for the many different holidays and cultural festivals over the next few months. She also noted that she’s seeing a lot of new faces in the café line lately. In fact, the café team has served over 1,400 meals on our busiest days recently. When we opened, we expected to serve about 150-300 meals (sandwiches at that time) per day!

How You Can Help

We’re so grateful to have you in our caring community. We rely on gifts of food, funds, and time to do all the things we do.

Most of our funding comes from individual donors with gifts of anywhere from $10 to $10,000. They all make a difference.

Our neighbor Sophia rallied the community and collected 429 pounds of donations for her food drive

Food drives are another way our community helps stock our shelves. November and December are popular times for food drives. We love to see all the involvement this time of year, and we also ask that you consider pitching in at other times of year. January and February are very slow times for food drives and donations, so we’re always especially excited about the families and groups that bring in food during that time.

And of course, we couldn’t keep any of our programs running without volunteers. We have current openings for home delivery drivers, food recovery drivers, café volunteers and more.

If you haven’t volunteered with us before, the first step is coming to an info session. Already taken an info session or or been through orientation? Check Galaxy Digital (where we publish all volunteer shifts) for a list of open spots and sign up there - we need you!

We will have some special volunteer shifts in December as we’ll be open late (until 7pm) on Monday, December 22nd and Monday, December 29th to give our neighbors more time to shop before closures that week. We will also have drop-in opportunities during those weeks.

There are so many ways to get and stay involved right now, from advocating for city funding, to washing dishes for the Kindness Café, to tabling at a grocery store food drive, to donating what you can. It will take all of us working together for the long term to keep our community fed and safe. Thank you for doing your part.