F
ood for Thought
Washington Food Coalition newsletter / Fall 2019
WaFoodCoalition.org The Washington Food Coalition is a peer governed and directed coalition, united by a shared belief that no one in our communities should go hungry. We work together to find and share solutions, best practices, and innovations.
No one in Washington State should go hungry
Message from the New Executive Director Fellow WFC Members, Having just officially completed my first month on the job as the new Executive Director for Washington Food Coalition, I have to say it has been busy! We successfully held our annual statewide conference in Kennewick, WA with 165 attendees (see page 3 for more conference details). As the Executive Director of the WFC, it feels ironic that my life would bring me back here. For those who don’t know, I was here at the beginning, during the creation of the coalition and later served as one of the coalition’s first co-chairs and later as the Membership Director. I witnessed its growth, its achievements, and saw it take its rightful place in supporting and advocating for the well-being of our hungry neighbors. I have been so honored to have met and developed relationships with so many of you from across the state. I look forward to continuing to work with you and your communities in the coming years.
I FIGHT HUNGER T-Shirts (Red and Blue)
I GROW FOOD T-Shirts
I welcome a new beginning and a chance to shape and guide the direction of this coalition. I welcome your comments and ideas. Very sincerely,
(Green only)
$15/shirt Plus shipping contact Trish at trish@wafoodcoalition.org ......................................
Washington Food Coalition PO Box 95752, Seattle, WA 98145 WaFoodCoalition.org info@WaFoodCoalition.org
Trish Twomey trish@wafoodcoalition.org 206-729-0501
206-729-0501/877-729-0501 follow us:
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
Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) Food Assistance Update By Kim Eads, Program Manager, WSDA Food Assistance Programs
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• If you don’t already serve meal programs in your area consider reaching out to them. This applies to contractors.
Trade Mitigation Program -The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) is continuing to receive an unprecedented amount of food due to the Trade Mitigation Program (TMP). TMP foods will continue at least through March and could continue well into next spring and summer. The TMP food scheduled to be received in the next quarter (Oct. - Dec. 2019) include: • Cold/Fresh items: butter, fresh milk, grapes, apples
• It’s important to look at what foods are being ordered by TEFAP, NWH, FLL, and Second Harvest, before you spend your own dollars on food to ensure that you don’t purchase items that you are ready going to get from one of the above sources.
e were so happy to be able to connect with many of you at the WFC Conference in Kennewick! For those of you who missed it we thought it might be helpful to share a few WSDA updates with you.
• Frozen: beef roast, pork (chops, ham, loin roast, patties, pulled, taco filling), corn • Dry/Canned: instant milk, raisins, rice (white, brown), dried beans (split pea, navy) We know that some challenges come with all of this additional food and wanted to share with you a few tips: • Remember, you are not limited in the amount of TEFAP product you can distribute to clients. If you have an abundance of an item feel free to give as much to households as they are able to use. • Gather recipes for your food pantries that are easy for clients to replicate. This can help make those hard to move items more appealing. WSDA has a wealth of resources available on our website at: agr.wa.gov/ services/food-access/hunger-relief-resources/recipesand-nutrition/healthy-recipes • Consider sharing recipes for the slower moving foods along with samples to show how great these foods can taste. If you can’t find a recipe that works well, please let us know by emailing us at foodassistance@agr.wa.gov • If it’s realistic to expand your hours of distribution of TEFAP, please do so. For food pantries only open once a month, opening extra days will allow clients who normally couldn’t make it to the normal distribution, an opportunity to receive food. • Some food pantries are doing pop-up distributions offsite, make sure to check with your contractor that this is allowed in your area. • If your clients are currently only allowed to receive TEFAP foods once a month, consider allowing additional visits. • Harvest Against Hunger (Rotary First Harvest) and Northwest Harvest are administering a Hunger Relief Refrigerator grant initiative. The initiative provides rebates of up to $500.00 toward the purchase refrigerated and/or frozen storage units for eligible hunger relief programs across Washington. You can find additional information on this program at the following link www.harvestagainsthunger. org/refrigerated-capacity-grants/
• Meal programs are encouraged to provide additional meals to their clients.
NEW WSDA Website - Food Assistance has a new web address: agr.wa.gov/services/food-access. This new site is split into the following sections with easier navigation and is mobile friendly. • About Food Assistance: Introduction to Food Assistance and the work we do across Washington State. Links to Hunger in Washington: provides access to our data reports, Programs and Services: clientfocused information about our programs, and Contact Food Assistance: general phone, address, and email information. • Access Food Near You: 211 link to services across the state, Lead Agency Search by county. • Hunger Relief Agency Hub: Specific information for contractors and subcontractors that run federal and state programs. Access to contract compliance information, training, food ordering, and more can be found in the hub. Links to nutrition resources and the Farm to Food Pantry initiative are also located on this page. Looking for a form or publication? All forms and publications listed by program can be found at: agr.wa.gov/services/food-access/hunger-reliefagency-hub/fa-forms-and-pubs. • Hunger Relief Resources: Donation information, recipes and nutrition resources, food rescue, and more can be found on our resources page. • Food Assistance Partners: See nonprofit, government, and agricultural partner information located on the partner’s page. • Contact Us: Find contact information for your regional representative.
te! a D e h Save t onference CC F 2nd r W e 0 b 2 o 0 t 2 0-Oc 3 r e b Septem
Food Assistance Advisory Committee
Board Members WFC Chair Ken Trainor
Sunrise Outreach Center
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by Jeff Mathias, Committee Chair
WFC Immediate Past Chair Kevin Glackin-Coley St Leo’s Food Connection
s the chair of the WFC Food Assistance Advisory Committee (FAAC), I want to update the WFC membership on what the committee is working on. The committee is composed of both WFC members and the WSDA staff and is primarily charged with providing recommendations to the WFC Board on policies, procedures and structural changes to the WSDA Food Assistance Programs. Information about the committee, including meeting minutes and membership, can be found on the WFC website. Michelle Douglas is the current committee vice chair and Josh Martinez is serving as the secretary.
WFC Treasurer Michelle Douglas
Currently, the committee is working on three topics: updating the mandatory Civil Rights training, creating sub-contractor resources, and modifying our State EFAP food procurement policy.
WFC Secretary Paige Collins
If you work with TEFAP or CSFP food you and your volunteers have been exposed to the current civil rights training. You must take this training every year and it currently consists of reading and initialing paragraphs signifying that you understand the content. Our goal is to provide contractors and subcontractors with updated training tools that more closely reflect the current climate of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We envision a training that is both user friendly (potentially a video) with an online test for ease of record keeping. We are working with the USDA and other States to provide these updated tools in the next year.
WFC Vice Chair Leon Brauner
Ocean Shores Food Bank
Emergency Food Network
Council on Aging & Human Services
Anita Sailor
Rural Resources Community Action
Taine Shoemaker
Colville Food & Resources Center
Bob Mark
Upper Valley MEND
May Segle
Entiat Valley Community Services Food Bank
Scott Kilpatrick
Community Services of Moses Lake
Paige Collins
Council on Aging & Human Services
Cecilia Chavez
Toppenish Community Chest
John Neill
Fields of Grace
Jeff Mathias
Blue Mountain Action Council
Erik Larsen
Helping Hands Food Bank
We have heard from subcontractors that the Food Assistance Program procedure manuals are confusing and hard to navigate because there is a mixture of information for both contractors and subcontractors Sometimes it’s hard to retrieve the information needed in order to comply with contract requirements. The committee is working to tease out the information subcontractors need and provide a set of one page topics that can be tackled individually. Topics include: commodity management, and EFAP processes to name a few. More and more we are realizing that the way to better health is through eating whole and nutrient dense food and the committee feels that our State’s food procurement policy needs to reflect and encourage this movement. Currently, the policy is one dimensional and strictly emphasizes the priority to purchase the cheapest food available. We now have studies that link cheap food with an increase in illness and an associated rise in client healthcare costs. We envision a procurement policy that aligns with the goals of the Farm to Food Pantry purchasing program of buying whole foods from local farmers. We want to emphasize purchasing nutrient dense food yet allow flexibility for Counties to make decisions that most benefit their funding levels and local populations. There will also be language that prioritizes and encourages purchasing from small, local, and marginalized vendors. The current committee workload has come from stakeholders, like you, that see a problem and want it fixed or improved. If you have ideas about how your State Food Assistance Programs can be improved please reach out to Jeff Mathias, current chair of the committee, at jeffm@bmacww.org. We are seeking new committee members that would like to improve the topics discussed above.
Dan Lancaster
Maple Valley Food Bank & Emergency Services
Cori Walters
Issaquah Food and Clothing Bank
Ahndrea Blue
Making A Difference Foundation/ Eloise Cooking Pot
Michelle Douglas
Emergency Food Network (EFN)
Kellie McNelly
ROOF Community Services
Robert Coit
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WFC Membership Renewal Time
s we near the end of the calendar year, I know it’s a busy time for all of you with the holidays. It’s also time to renew your membership with the WFC. Renewing is quick and easy – link here to our 2020 Membership renewal form. If you know an individual or program that would like to join the coalition, please direct them to our New Member form for 2020 on our web site at www.wafoodcoalition.org. Our dues utilize a sliding scale model based on each agency’s Annual Operating Budget and it is assumed you do not need to include in-kind food donations for this amount.
Thurston County Food Bank
$25: AOB of $50,000 or less
$100: AOB of $501,000-1 Million
Alan Hamilton
$50: AOB of $51,000-500,000
$250: AOB of $1 Million +
Clark County Food Bank
Liz Cerveny
If your dues are paid through your EFAP lead, they will be contacted soon, and you will be notified when they pay on your behalf.
North County Community Food Bank
Leon Brauner
Ocean Shores Food Bank
Robert (Bob) Ryan
North Pacific County Food Bank
Chris Benson
Central Kitsap Food Bank
At-Large Members Jenn Tennant Northwest Harvest
Kris Van Gasken
Des Moines Area Food Bank
Your membership comes with benefits! • Discounted fee to our annual conference and other trainings and events • A discounted copy of valuable resources manuals– Food Safety, Special Dietary Needs, Food Banking 101, and Best Practices. • Monthly E-newsletters and printed/mailed newsletters 3-4 times/year • Training opportunities for staff & volunteers plus on-call help and assistance answering your questions about programs and services, models and best practices, and more. • Food Bank Certification course for your staff/volunteers • Access to a discounted membership with WA Nonprofits, for even more fabulous trainings that are offered both online and in person, all across the state. • Access to over 300+ other WFC members – your colleagues in the fight against hunger! • Discounted agency insurance through great American Insurance/Conover. • Your agency has a vote in the election of your district representatives.
Please join today! This newsletter is prepared with funds made available by the Washington State Department of Agriculture, Food Assistance programs. In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age.
2019 Conference View By Maria Anderson, Elk Run Farm
H 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 info@wafoodcoalition.org www.wafoodcoalition.org Visit wafoodcoalition.org and read about the latest news on our blog.
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ave you ever wanted to sit in a room filled with friends, colleagues, and strangers and weep to hear the intimate life stories of an extraordinary person? At this years Washington Food Coalition Conference, that’s exactly what happened to me. Erin Jones, inspirational speaker and advocate, gave the keynote address during our first breakfast together, and I ate my eggs as tears silently filled my eyes to hear of the joyous, powerful life she has built despite the racism that has impacted every facet of her life. Far from lingering on the injustices she has faced and overcome, she gave the room the thoughtful, emotional framework to move through the rest of the conference with a lens of justice and connection to each other. Since my first WFC conference in 2015, the three days emergency food providers spend together somewhere in the state have been a special time of the year. As hard as it is for everyone to leave their agencies behind for a few days, the learning and fellowship of the conference are a change to invest in our collective wisdom and community. I have made some of my best work friends at this conference, and deepened my relationships with all kinds of people over successive years. Even above and beyond the sessions, I value the social time (especially the field trips and dinners), as we all start finding common ground outside of our roles. Every year, I seem to be drawn into conversation with a handful of people I don’t know well, and those discussions turn into tighter connections between our organizations, sometimes leading to deep and meaningful partnerships.
Even though I don’t run a food bank, I always find interesting sessions to attend. This year I went to Erin’s followup to the Keynote (cue more crying and group activities!), sessions about making the ask o f donors and nonprofit messaging. I also had a chance to help increase attendees technical skills with three awesome ladies by presenting about Instagram, Canva, appointment systems, and Wix. Joe Gruber’s annual movie screening session (always a hit with more seasoned conference goers) made me cry, while affirming how much I love this work, and how inspiring it is to be surrounded by so many people who are brilliant at what they do. I am not normally a particularly emotional person, but something about the confluence of speakers and content this year really affected me deeply. Even though I didn’t score a district basket in the raffle, I left the conference feeling like a winner.