EMERGENCY FEEDING PROGRAM OF SEATTLE & KING COUNTY
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Mission Statement
We are the Emergency Feeding Program of King County. Since 1977, our mission is to provide a nutritional response to people in need of immediate food assistance to ensure that no one will go hungry. We service 240 food distribution hubs from Everett to Olympia along the I-5 corridor. We currently work with a number of local grocery stores, natural food markets and the largest online distributor who all donate collectively between 60-80 pallets weekly of fresh produce, organic meat, household products, toiletries and shelf-stable goods. Due to our warehouse and infrastructure, we are able to service a variety of partners like local food banks, churches, daycares, social workers, colleges and school districts (Seattle, Renton, Highline, Kent, Federal Way, Tacoma and Bellevue) who rely heavily on our food to serve their members, staff, students, and families. Because of the recent Covid-19 pandemic, we have seen a massive spike in foot traffic of people coming to our hub to receive emergency groceries. We have also been flooded with requests from our current partners and new ones for more food. To service more people, while following the guidelines of the CDC for Covid-19, we have implemented a drive-thru grocery pick-up, where we pre-pack bags filled with eggs, fresh produce, milk, cheese, bread, organic meat, protein bars, frozen items, toiletries, and canned goods. We run our normal programming Monday-Wednesday in addition to a dedicated day to serve our senior and elderly community. Currently, with the recent demand, we provide 1300-1500 pre-packed bags a week. Each of those bags provides 12 meals. We're sourcing 15,600-18000 meals a week for people through our drive-thru and home delivery program. We have food, we have storage, we have the distribution network and we have the infrastructure to fulfill the surge in requests but we are in desperate need of funding to help continue our operation. To help with our logistics and distribution network, we are very excited to be building out our partnership with Big Brother, Big Sister of Puget Sound who will be providing their trucks, logistics technology, and staff members. To help fulfill the demand for the food we are now able to • Increase our food pick-ups to 80-100 of pallets and distribute them to our fresh market satellite partners around king county. • Partner with Seattle Public Schools and other local school districts satellite hubs for student lunch programs to drop off pre-packaged groceries with fresh and shelf-stable foods for families. • Implement our delivery service for seniors and disabled people who are in desperate need of food and do not have the means for transportation or are self-quarantining. • Continue to run our drive-thru grocery program on Monday-Wednesday and Saturday’s
About This Cause
History The Emergency Feeding Program of Seattle & King County was established in 1977 following a University of Washington study done of local food banks that, in retrospect, discovered two not very surprising things. The first was that the quality of food available in food banks tended to depend on the affluence of the neighborhood in which the food bank was located – the more affluent the neighborhood, the better the available food. Secondly, because of the uncertain stream of foods arriving at food banks, it was often impossible for an individual or family to obtain what they needed to prepare a nutritionally-balanced meal. The UW graduate student in charge of the study contacted two local ecumenical organizations – the Black United Clergy for Action and the Church Council of Greater Seattle – for their help in creating a food program that would address both of these issues. Their vision was of a program that would prepare nutritionally-balanced, nonperishable grocery bags and make them available to struggling individuals and families at a variety of convenient locations, furnishing struggling local households with an emergency response that provided everything they needed to provide adequate nutrition for their families. EFP was born. The first distribution centers were in local churches where three different bags were available – small, medium and large. Soon, however, the program expanded to include bags designed for service recipients who had dietary restrictions – people suffering from diabetes, or restricted to a low sodium diet, for example. And the distribution centers were also expanded to include social service agencies, food banks, schools, and public health clinics. In January of 2005, EFP began operation as an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation carrying on the vision and tradition of service of those who first saw the need and crafted a unique program to fill it. EFP Today The ugly fact is that hunger continues to be a major problem in our communities. According to the latest information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nationally, more than 50 million people live in households that struggle to keep adequate, nutritious food on the family table. Locally, in 2008 the number of households in Washington State reporting that they were forced to skip meals - to simply go hungry - in order to get by stood at 88,000. During the past three years, this number nearly doubled to a staggering 160,000 households. Nearly one in every five households in our state suffers from what is called "hunger insecurity," meaning that their budgets often don't allow for enough food. And it's even harder for households with children where nearly one of every four live on budgets strained so close to the breaking point that they cannot really know if they will be able to feed their families. That's an estimated 400,000 children. For far too many of our neighbors, any unexpected expense—a larger than normal heating bill, a sickness or injury that requires a doctor’s visit or medication, a car repair bill, or even something as basic as the need for new school clothes can force a family into having to make an impossible choice: Do they pay the bill or do they put food on the table? Making these impossible choices unnecessary is the mission of the Emergency Feeding Program of Seattle & King County. Established in 1977, EFP annually distributes more than Established in 1977, the Emergency Feeding Program of Seattle & King County annually distributes more than 24,000 nutritionally-balanced emergency food bags—the equivalent of more than 350,000 meals—to over 65,000 of our hungry neighbors, making a real difference in the lives of needy, often desperate, individuals and families throughout King County. Over the course of its more than three decades-long history, the Emergency Feeding Program has challenged the Puget Sound community to come together to combat the problem of local hunger. It has done this by developing a truly unique model of service. Because no two households are the same, EFP packs and distributes 15 different varieties of emergency food bags. The majority of these bags contain enough groceries to provide a household with a two-day supply (breakfast, lunch and dinner) of high-quality, nutritionally-balanced food. Because households vary in size, three sizes of basic packs—small, medium and large—are prepared. And because each recipient is unique, with individual nutritional needs and food preferences, EFP also makes available bags designed for those requiring low-sodium, low-sugar and vegan foods, in addition to Latino, Asian and East African bags, “no-cook” packs for homeless individuals and families, and the popular “Snack Pack” developed for and with the help of homeless teens. EFP’s two varieties of infant bags—one packed with iron-enriched infant formula and the other with jars of strained fruit, vegetables and meat, and rice cereal—are designed to provide a full week’s nutrition for a growing baby. All of EFP’s bags were developed in consultation with qualified nutritionists. EFP bags are made available through a network of more 240 social service agencies, schools, and faith communities located throughout King County. These are places where hungry families can go not just to receive emergency food, but also places where a knowledgeable staff can help a family address the underlying causes of their crisis—be it unemployment or underemployment, the need for additional services such as energy or rent assistance, or something even more tragic such as a domestic violence situation—so they can be directed to other community resources that will help them get the help they so desperately need. Access to an EFP food bag can really be the first step on the road to a more successful, secure, and self-sufficient future. Vision for the Future The so-called “Great Recession” has created huge challenges for far too many in our community. EFP recent economic downturn and lingering recession of the last couple of years has resulted in EFP receiving a historic number of requests for food assistance from our distribution partners. Between 2007 and 2010, the program saw a 45.8 percent increase in the number of households served. With high unemployment and underemployment expected to continue and with devastating cuts being proposed to many of the government programs that the most vulnerable in our community rely upon for their most basic needs, requests for local food assistance are expected to remain at historic levels for the foreseeable future. In addition to its long-established mission, EFP has been approached by staff working in Seattle elementary schools who are concerned that the large number of students who qualify for free or reduced cost school lunches during the week might not have the nutrition they need for the weekend. In response, EFP is designing a pilot program that will work within local school districts to identify children who are at risk of coming to school hungry. Nutritionally-balanced groceries will be sent home ensuring that when they return to school, students will have the energy they need to be engaged and successful learners. And in order to eliminate any stigma or embarrassment, the food will be given out an ordinary backpack – one that looks just like those carried by everyone else. Awards In 1999, the Emergency Feeding Program received the Phillip Morris Regional Helping the Helpers Award; in 1998, the Na¬tional Council of Churches Recogni¬tion Award for Ecumenical/Interfaith Service; in 2001, the Seattle Human Services Coalition Outstanding Program Award; in 2009, the “Mayor’s End Hunger Award” as Outstanding Food Program from the city of Seattle, and in 2010 the Community Service Award from the Loren Miller Bar Association for “exceptional contributions to Seattle’s African American Community.” Glenn M. Turner Executive Director Emergency Feeding Program Seattle/King County