Quarterly Newsletter | Summer 2021 |
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FAST FACT!
"Nearly nine out of 10 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants face barriers in providing their household with a healthy diet throughout the month, based on a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) study released today" ( Source).
The Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank strives to provide healthy food & produce to our shoppers. Learn more about the steps we've taken to help supplement fresh and healthy food -despite these barriers - in the "Hurdles to Healthy Eating on SNAP" article below.
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Directors Note: Washington Ready
By Cori Walters
Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank is definitely ready for COVID-19 and Delta variant restrictions to lift! But then again, who isn't?
We are in 100% support of Washington State and Governor Inslee's Washington Ready, Safe Start plan. Since the start of the pandemic, we have followed state guidelines, CDC recommendations, and are continually observing how other nations, communities, and food banks have been riding the pandemic wave. This has played a huge role in keeping Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank staff, volunteers, and clients safe.
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Client Story: Jack Sweeney
By Claire Lee
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When we think of “food banks” we often think of people going to their local food bank to get groceries to feed themselves and their families. But what if there’s something inhibiting one’s ability to physically go to a food bank?
Jack Sweeney has been utilizing Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank resources since 2016 after hearing about our services from some neighbors at the YWCA Family Village in the Issaquah Highlands. “ I was on a very tight food and clothing budget, so any help in these areas was necessary to live without struggling.” He used to come to the food bank in-person to do his shopping, sharing... READ MORE. |
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It's time to CELEBRATE! Can you believe that our East King County community has been doing this amazing work for 50 years? Join us for a fun and inspiring look back at this local icon built by compassion and driven by community. Together, we've come a LONG way since 1971!
Here are four different ways you can participate:
Live-Streamed Breakfast
Tuesday, September 28, 2021
8:00-8:30 a.m.
Live-Streamed Lunch
Tuesday, September 28, 2021
12:00-12:30 p.m.
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Host your own private event!
You pick the day, time, and location
and Cori Walters, Executive Director, or
Bonnie DeCaro-Monahan, Development Director,
will join you and your guests for a casual, impactful gathering!
Please contact Bonnie for more details and to plan a date and time that works for you!
Create your own fundraising page
Help us expand our reach by inviting people to join you
in this effort. You can invite them to watch a live-stream event,
attend your private event, or just give from wherever they
Don't miss out on your FREEBIE! Breakfast attendees will receive a Caffe Ladro gift card and lunch attendees will be mailed a Village Square Cafe gift card. Both cards are good for multiple locations across the Puget Sound region. Enjoy!
Recipe for Hope is a fundraising event to raise support for critical resources in East King County. Please help us expand our reach by sharing with others and inviting them to join you in support of this very worthwhile and effective effort to reach our $250,000 fundraising goal! Thank you!
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Open Garden Tours - This Saturday 8/21! |
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We have just one more day of Open Garden Tours coming this weekend! You can visit one or both of the two tours happening this Saturday. Come by the May Valley Garden in Issaquah and the Heritage Garden in Sammamish to stroll through beautiful outdoor landscaping created by Art Converse and the Sammamish Botanical Garden Society, respectively. Your visit will help support the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank with a suggested donation of $10 per person.
"Awe inspiring, eclectic design, surprises at every turn! Beautiful!" - Norb
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Have a landscaping project or interested in learning more about gardening? All donors giving $100 or more toward this fundraiser will be entered into a drawing to receive 2 hours FREE consulting with Master Gardener, Art Converse! He can help you plan a landscaping project, troubleshoot a problem area, or teach you something new!
Give here and visit our website for addresses and more information!
We hope to see you Saturday!
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Thank you to the Issaquah Schools Foundation and all the donors who contributed to Tools 4 School's success this year! 488 students have already received brand new backpacks and supply packs and another 230 students will pick up theirs at their local schools to help kick-start and prepare for the upcoming school year.
"Thank you so much for all that you folks do for all of our families.
You guys and all the donors are TRUE BLESSINGS in our lives!"
- Parent of elementary and high school students
A big shout-out to all of our volunteers who braved the heat to ensure distribution ran smoothly. We also want to thank Friends of the Library and their Bookshelf programs for providing a wide variety of fun and educational books for different reading levels to participating families!
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Champion Spotlight: The Huang Family
By Lisa Haynes
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"I feel like I do a small part to help nourish my community and bring smiles to the clients’ faces."
- Dennis Huang
We are immensely grateful for the support we receive from all our volunteers; we couldn’t do this work without you.
This month we are highlighting Dennis, Brendan, and Stephanie Huang!
Dennis became involved with the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic. He volunteered at the emergency drive-thru distribution, distinguishing himself as a lead role right from the get-go. In November of last year, he volunteered more frequently and recruited his wife, Stephanie, and son, Brendan to join as volunteers.
When asked about why he got involved...READ MORE.
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Lake Sammamish Fireworks Show Success! |
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What an amazing community effort! Thank you to everyone who contributed to supporting our youth feeding programs through the Lake Sammamish Fireworks Show fundraiser!
Through this fundraiser, we were able to raise $31,000 and, with the generous $25,000 match from event sponsors, John Kritsonis & Karl Lindor of Windermere Real Estate, we raised a total of $56,000 to help fund our fight against childhood food insecurity in East King County!
A big congratulations to the winners of a night at TreeHouse Point, Susan & John Sercu, who joined in this fundraising effort! It takes a village and we have an amazing village!
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"What a pleasure and honor it has been for the entire
Kritsonis Lindor team to partner with both the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank and our community to help meet the needs of those facing
food insecurities. To see this thoughtful and caring community
that we all call home rally to meet this community need has
been so inspiring. Thanks Cori and team for all you do!"
- Karl Lindor, Windermere
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Hurdles to Healthy Eating on SNAP
By Rebecca Rice
"Today's report makes clear we still have work to do to ensure all Americans not only have food to eat, but access to nutritious foods." - Tom Vilsack, USDA Agriculture Secretary
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we did something crazy at the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank. We took all the limits off our non-perishable foods. This means a person can take as much soup, tuna, peanut butter, crackers, rice, etc (you get the picture) as their family needs. This is a big departure from pre-pandemic, where every single item had a specific limit, making shopping feel complicated and challenging.
Why can we afford to allow people to take as many non-perishable items as they want? Well, while the canned and dry goods... READ MORE. |
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Spring Lunch for the Break!
This year's Spring Lunch for the Break helped to feed over 400 children living in the Issaquah School District!
The Issaquah Schools Foundation generously donated grocery gift cards to give to participating families this year and with funds from you - our donors - we were able to supplement the gift cards with bags of fresh produce, cheese, and bread to ensure nutritious food for their school-age children.
Thank you to the Issaquah Schools Foundation for partnering with us and to all the donors who continue to support this wonderful youth feeding program! To learn more about Lunch for the Break, please visit our website.
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Pea Patch Love
By Claire Lee
We love our Pea Patch partners and our shoppers truly enjoy all the locally-grown produce they provide, especially during the summer months! The Providence Point Pea Patch has gotten really creative with a fun new project, adding a market concept where all the funds raised for fresh produce purchases go directly to the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank.
The Providence Point Pea Patch project has raised over $3,000 in donations so far, raising $500 in July alone! Dave Olson, who has been volunteering with the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank for six years, is actively involved in this project and the many efforts to support the food bank through the Providence Point Pea Patch.
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Dave solicits donations from gardeners and "minds the store". In past years, Dave coordinated a weekly collection of Pea Patch gardeners surplus of produce and fruit for delivery to the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank, totaling 804 lbs. during their best harvest in the Summer/early Fall of 2019. Dave understands that, while produce is a huge plus to our shoppers, cash donations allow the food bank to leverage it’s buying power to do even more. Thus the Providence Point Pea Patch market idea was born. “I've been on cloud 9 witnessing what has happened this summer”, shared Dave.
Other similar programs such as the community gardens, individual gardeners, harvest programs, and other Pea Patches in our community have generated 980 lbs. of produce on our behalf. The Issaquah Farmer's Market itself has donated 2,691 lbs. of produce over the years!
Fresh produce has become extremely popular at the food bank and we're so grateful to have programs like our Pea Patch partners to help provide nutrient-rich food for those who are struggling to put food on the table.
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Summer Lunch is coming to an end and we want to thank all the donors and volunteers for making it possible to distribute nutritious, kid-friendly, supplemental food to almost 300 families in our community throughout the summer!
Summer Lunch is one of three different youth feeding programs designed to supplement meals for school-age children during the long summer breaks and other times when free and reduced school lunches are unavailable. We distributed breakfast, lunch, and snack foods, as well as fresh produce, dairy, and deli options - all kid approved - through our outdoor, no-contact, drive thru distribution system this summer.
Thank you to all of our donors who contributed to Summer Lunch and to all our volunteers who have given of their time and energy. You are all making a positive impact on children struggling with food insecurity in our community!
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We're Full!
After many months of distributing emergency boxes of canned goods and other non-perishables last year, our shopper’s pantries are full of these staples and we’re finding that these items are in extremely low demand for now. The community has also provided significant clothing donations for our clothing bank events held at our partner location, Eastside Fire & Rescue.
This, combined with government assistance and our incredibly generous community responding to our Emergency Needs list requests for staple items, has resulted in a packed warehouse with a very robust inventory of non-perishables and clothing. With such limited space in both our warehouse and at the food bank, we must be very strategic about how we plan our inventory to remain as safe and efficient as possible.
What are in high demand by our families are the higher priced, perishable items like fruits, vegetables, meats, and dairy products that are harder to stretch SNAP benefits for. For these reasons, we’ve had to drastically scale back our list of non-perishable items on our Emergency Needs list and reduce the number of donation drop-off dates for the time being.
In the interim, we welcome financial donations to help us purchase the high-demand, perishable items or sought-after non-food items such as shoes, detergent, and feminine products. We are evaluating all avenues for resolving our capacity constraints, both in the immediate and long-term.
For clothing donations, we are able to accept only select items to be delivered directly to our warehouse at specific dates and times. Thank you for not leaving donations on our front sidewalk.
We will continue to keep our Emergency Needs list updated with specific items that are needed to fill inventory gaps based on demand. We hope to resume more regular donation offerings and drop-off dates in 6-9 months, so be sure to watch our website for updates on when those changes occur.
Thank you for your patience, understanding, and partnership to help us resolve this issue so that we can be responsive to community needs while
also prioritizing safety and efficiency!
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Support the Food Bank using Amazon Smile!
Do you shop on Amazon? If so, you can help support the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank using Amazon Smile! Select the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank as your non-profit of choice, and a portion of all of your purchases will automatically be donated. Thank you!
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Issaquah Sammamish Food Project
Are you looking for ways to donate food items or get more involved during the pandemic?
Join dozens of neighbors in their efforts to collect and donate food through the Issaquah Sammamish Food Project! Visit their website to learn more.
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