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These are rocky times. Money is short, resources are strained, and client numbers are increasing rapidly.
These are problems the emergency food community has faced for years, but they have accelerated in recent years.
During this time, it has become increasingly clear why the Washington Food Coalition is so important.
What organization in Washington State wholly and specifically represents the interests of emergency food sites and their clients?
Only the Washington Food Coalition.
Our Mission
The Washington Food Coalition actively educates and networks with organizations that strive to alleviate hunger throughout Washington
Our Vision
The Washington Food Coalition is the unified voice for a strong emergency food system
Food for Thought
WaFoodCoalition.org
No one in Washington State should go hungry
Meeting the Future
Washington Food Coalition Newsletter / Fall 2014
Washington Food CoalitionPO Box 95752Seattle, WA 98145
Support our work at wafoodcoalition.org/donate
current resident or
NON-PROFITU.S. Postage
PAIDOlympia, WA
Permit No. 238
This newsletter prepared with funds made available by the WA Dept. of Agriculture, Food Assistance Programs No person shall on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, national origin, age, citizenship, political affiliations, belief, veteran status or sexual orientation, be denied employment or benefits or be discriminated against as a participant, administrator or staff member under this program.
Our annual conference never fails to provide a premier training experience, full of
opportunities to learn, network, and enjoy oneself. This year, we returned to Wenatchee and added many new features with the goal of creating the best event yet!
The first day of tours delighted attendees, with a highlight being a guided tour of a local award-winning Farm to School program.
Our two keynote speakers set the tone for a compelling and content-rich event. Joel Berg of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger began Thursday with biting wit and the passion of a lifelong activist.He showed us how practical, systemic solutions for hungry Americans will ultimately benefit America’s economy and all of its citizens.
Janet Poppendieck, renowned
expert and author on food security, invited us to understand the past in order to illuminate the way forward. She provided an overview of food assistance in the U.S. since its inception and identified the factors that have made food assistance far more acceptable than “welfare”.
This year’s workshop learning opportunities featured five unique learning tracks, packed full of carefully designed and targeted learning objectives. The tracks included Advocacy & Policy, Best Practices, Expert, Food Banking Certification, and Washington Nonprofits.
Our ever-popular Thursday evening dinner event was hosted for the first time this year at Pybus Public Market. With an all-inclusive registration price this year, everyone joined in on
this wonderful evening event full of great food and fantastic conversation. Pybus provided a delightful atmosphere and a connection to the local food movement in the Wenatchee area.
Attendees also gathered in District Meetings this year to collaborate on hunger solutions specific to their geographic area.
This year’s attendance level broke through any previous records and the energy was palpable as a result. This invigorating 3 days are positioned as a starting point for measurable change in the fight against hunger in Washington State. Join us next year for our annual conference in Yakima on September 30th-October 2nd, 2015.
Food Banking CertificationDeveloping skilled professionals to effectively combat hungerAt this year’s conference, we launched our very exciting all new Food Banking Certification course. Participants interested in receiving a Food Bank Certification attended 5 consecutive workshops in a carefully designed learning track, and the learning track concluded with a competency exam at the end of the conference. Upon completion of the learning track and passing the exam, participants received a certificate to proudly display that verifies their knowledge as a competent food bank manager.
The workshop lineup for this track included:
√ Organizational Basics
√ Food Banking 101
√ Volunteer Management
√ Forms Training
√ Food Safety
The feedback received from participants in this pilot training program was excellent. Plans are being put together for future Food Banking Certification opportunities. Please contact us if you would be interested in hosting or sponsoring a certification training.WFC professional series of manuals are available to increase competency of emergency food providers, including Best Practices, Food Banking, Food Safety, and Special Dietary Needs.
William Maier of Immanuel Community Services received the very first Food Banking Certification in Washington State
Is This address correct? If not,
please let us know!
Washington Food Coalition’s Annual Conference 2014presented by
Washington Food Coalition’s Annual Conference
Food for Thought A publication of the Washington Food Coalition
P.O. Box 95752 Seattle, WA 98145-2752
P 206.729.0501
F 206.729-0504
www.wafoodcoalition.org
Board of Directors
WFC Chair Helen McGovern Emergency Food Network
WFC Immediate Past Chair Kris Van Gasken Des Moines Area Food Bank
WFC Vice Chair Joe Gruber University District Food Bank
WFC Treasurer Yvonne Pitrof Vashon Maury Food Bank
WFC Secretary Jim Beaudoin FISH Food Banks of Pierce County
Dan Speare Rural Resources Comm. Action
Kitty Burton Hunters Food Bank
May Segle Entiat Food Bank
Karan Mitchell Entiat Food Bank
Peny Archer Comm Services of Moses Lake
Scott Kilpatrick Comm Services of Moses Lake
Suzy McNeilly Council on Aging & Human Serv
Susan Peterson Greenhouse Community Center.
JoAnn Rushton Hope Source
Lisa Hall Northwest Harvest
John Neill Tri-Cities Food Bank
Kuki Benson Tri-Cities Food Bank
Kathy Covey Blue Mountain Action Council
Gail McGhee Blue Mountain Action Council
Michael Frazier Helping Hands Food Bank
Elizabeth Grant Snohomish Community Food Bank
Kevin Glackin-Coley St. Leo’s Food Connection
Kellie McNelly ROOF Community Services
James Fitzgerald Clark County Food Bank
Lisa Chavez Lower Columbia CAP
Vicki Pettit Coastal Community Action Program
Anthony Airhart Coastal Harvest
Jennifer Hardison South Kitsap Helpline
Bonnie Baker Northwest Harvest
David Bobanick Rotary First Harvest
Robert Coit Thurston County Food Bank
Kim Jones Operation Sack Lunch
Earl Hall Yakima Food Bank
Scott Milne Hopelink
August marked the beginning of a three year process to track healthier foods being distributed by food pantries and meal programs across the state. Governor Inslee’s Results Washington report sets a goal to increase healthier foods, being distributed by food pantries and meal programs, by 5% through 2017. This goal was not “mandated” by the Governor but rather a way for the emergency food system’s role as a contributor to healthy and safe communities to be highlighted. To track this indicator all EFAP food pantry and TEFAP meal program subcontractors will track foods being distributed by their programs through the Healthier Food Options Report.
Last month all programs began tracking for a baseline survey that will be followed by quarterly reports in November, February, May and August. The Healthier Food Options tracking form is set up in a couple different ways to make it easy for programs to track the foods they serve. Programs can estimate or weigh foods to determine the percentage, on a single day or over the course of a month, in the predetermined categories which includes tracking healthy options such as fruit and vegetables or less healthy options including donuts or other sweets.
“With guidance from WFC staff, the West Seattle Food Bank was able to complete our baseline survey form in a matter of minutes. “We provide a shopping model for our families where they can select food from a table where we provide a wide variety of choices. To complete the report we grouped the food we distributed that day into the categories outlined on the tracking form. We then estimated the weight, which then was converted into percentages, for each food category. We did
this by looking at the weight on each package, can or box and estimated the weight of fresh produce.
We wrote it down and totaled it for each food category. It was helpful to see the percentage breakdown of the various foods in a typical bag we distribute. This information will assist us in identifying gaps in our service delivery especially in regards to the nutritious food products we distribute.” ~ Steven Curry, West Seattle Food Bank
To view a video tutorial on how to complete your report form, visit www.wafoodcoalition.org and click on ‘Videos’ under the ‘Resources’
button.
If you have questions or need more information regarding the Healthier Food Options tracking
form please contact the Washington Food Coalition at 206-729-0501 or
WSDA at 360-725-5640.
Visit wafoodcoalition.org and read about the latest news on our blog.
Find us on YouTube, Facebook & Twitter
Lunch ‘n Learn: Ongoing TrainingsJoin Washington Food Coalition for our upcoming monthly Lunch ‘n Learn webinar trainings. These will focus on specific skill trainings and will be presented online on the second Friday from noon to 1 pm.
Date Topic Presenter Co-Presenter
10/10/14 HFOR Assistance Trish Twomey Kim Eads
11/14/14 Working With Farmers Stephanie Kardos Benjamin Rasmus
12/12/14 Purchasing From Farmers Stephanie Kardos Max Morange
1/9/15 Volunteer Management Stephanie Kardos Suzy McNeilly
Login to join at https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/132747493
BackgroundEvery day 22,886 Washingtonians receive food from a food bank.
Emergency Food Assistance Progam (EFAP) dollars from the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) help food banks meet that need through crucial funding for food purchases, staff, transportation and infrastructure needs. This is a time of record need, when even more cuts to other safety net services are very likely. These cuts are leading more families through food bank doors, making it paramount the state continue its strong support of EFAP.
Growth in Demand, Loss of Resources:Together, as an emergency food system, we do amazing work. All of the hunger relief agencies working with WSDA provided over 134 million pounds of food to clients in the 2013-2014 fiscal year. This is the equivalent of almost 90 million meals to feed Washington’s hungry.
But as we have seen, it never seems to be quite enough. We’ve continued to see an increase in visits in 2013-2014 of 4% over the previous year, or 45% since 2007.
When we look at how those pounds of food spread out across client visits, we see that the amount we are able collectively to offer people is going down. Compared to the previous year, the pounds per client available with each visit decreased in 2013-2014 from 15.84 lbs to 15.41 lbs. For an average family of 3 making 6 visits per year to their local food bank, that means 6 fewer pounds of food per year.
This reduction in quantity of food is a clear indicator that the support for hunger relief has not kept up with the demand of hunger growth in Washington State. Our RequestWe believe no one should go hungry in Washington. Our state is blessed with an abundance of food, yet Washington is the 15th hungriest state in the nation. We, as part of the emergency food system, are struggling to keep up with demand, which has remained at unprecedented high levels, while federal food programs have seen cuts and local food donations have dwindled.
We want to see our state continue its investment to local hunger programs in Washington so that we can help meet the growing need, but our ability to do so is threatened by cutbacks and shortfalls. Cuts to programs, including EFAP, have been proposed because there is not enough revenue to meet the need for services and comply with court-mandated investments in our basic education system. We are urging continued strong support of the WSDA Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP) with a request to protect EFAP funding from cuts and strengthen the program by continuing the $800,000 per year increase in the 2015-17 biennial budget.
Continue our state’s increased investment to local hunger programs in Washington so they can help meet the growing need. Continue strong support of the WSDA Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP) by maintaining the $800,000 increase provided in the 2014-2015 supplemental budget.
This proposal essentially transitions the one-time allocation of $800,000 awarded in the 2014-2015 Supplemental Budget into ongoing base funding. Even with the additional $800,000 allotted for the current fiscal year, when comparing this year to last year, there is about 1 pound less of emergency food available to an average family per visit to their local food bank. This additional funding provides about 2.1 million meals per year for our most vulnerable Washingtonians and also enhances the ability of food banks to provide not just more food but more nutritious food.
In the midst of talks around cutting programs at the state level, we may find ourselves fighting for current funding while pushing for the state to strengthen our ability to respond to hunger through EFAP. Our state has already cut over $12 billion from our budget since 2008 and recent poverty data shows that cutting more is not the answer: Washington is one of three states where poverty grew over the last year. Fighting to protect support for our programs will mean speaking up for other solutions to our revenue shortfall. To stand up for our hungry neighbors, we will need to speak up, together.
We need your help! Washington Food Coalition, together with our members, is leading this request to maintain the additional $800,000 per year as part of the base budget for EFAP. Contact your legislator now to ensure their support of this critical funding for the work we do for our communities!
“The Healthier Food Option tracking form was easy to complete and is really informative as we work to increase healthy food options at our food bank.”
Update on Results Washington Healthier Food Options Report (HFOR)
Support Funding for Food BanksUpcoming legislative request for EFAP funding