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I’m Grace Yang and I am an AmeriCorps member serving as food rescue coordinator VISTA at FISH Food Bank in Ellensburg, WA. I coordinate surplus food donations from local businesses, the farmers market and local garden gleans. Recovering surplus food donations not only brings more food into the pantry but also saves good food from being wasted. I aim to increase food security and access to fresh, local foods in Kittitas County.

This June I gained new knowledge about food systems from visiting various food aid organizations in central and western WA. First, my colleague Elsa and I visited Oxbow Farm in Carnation, WA to participate in a radish glean. Here we were able to get our hands dirty and meet other gleaners and farmers. It was interesting to hear about other gleaners’ experiences and all the possible ways to use radishes. For example, radishes are popular on the west side where there are high Russian populations. It was at Oxbow, I connected with the folks at UV Mend from Leavenworth in person.

Continuing my west side site visits, I visited North Helpline in Lake City, Seattle to visit the food distribution site. I met Ash of North Helpline at a HAH event and one of my friends volunteers there.  It was really interesting to see how their distribution system, warehouse, and volunteering roles work. I was also able to use my Mandarin speaking skills there which was fun. 

On the east side of the mountains, I visited Leigha and Jennifer from Hopesource in Cle Elum to learn about their pantry and how we can work together to glean upper Kittitas County. I plan on inviting them on future gleans in the area.

Then, I visited UV Mend in Leavenworth to better understand gleaning processes and how to be able to support each other as fellow central Washington gleaners and food security organizations. I was able to learn how they did their ladder training, their signage, and communications from Orlando, the gleaning coordinator.