During the 2012 growing season, the gleaning program in Yakima re-packed and distributed an estimated 730 lbs. of seeds to food banks, meal programs, community gardens, and community partners. Volunteers re-packed donated 40-50 lb. bags of seed into half envelope seed packets..
U-pick orchards are a great gleaning resource because they are easy to access and often have harvesting materials on-site for your use. Also, U-pick growers can be a great asset for volunteer management because they work regularly with inexperienced pickers. The Yakima Valley Produce Harvest has used u-pick orchards to diversify both the type of growers..
The Yakima Valley Produce Harvest gleaning program, hosted at Northwest Harvest’s Yakima warehouse, started in 2009. The Yakima Harvest VISTA position has been the driving force for the development of a produce recovery project and has primarily focused on resource capacity-building..
If planning to grow starts for a food bank first check in with the managers to see what the interest level is for the food bank receiving the plants. Will the plants be given out to clients on a normal food distribution day? Are they being received to plant in a food bank garden?
Project Harvest is a first year gleaning program at Volunteers of America Western Washington, providing local produce to the Snohomish County Food Bank Coalition. Volunteers of America Western Washington is the home of the Snohomish County Distribution Center, a centralized warehouse which distributes food to the 20 partners of the Snohomish County Food Bank Coalition before it is given to families and individuals in need..
A new type of “gleaning” has been emerging in the WSU Extension Program. Because of the local abundance of gardeners and farmers, calls have been coming in from donors offering extra vegetable and fruit plant starts. The food banks have expressed a desire in handing these out to their clients in order to pique an interest in local foods..
There are several community gardens in northeast Washington. The two largest are in Colville and Kettle Falls, which are both towns with very active food pantries open four days a week. The community garden in Colville is owned and operated by a local church. This year they saw a continuing decrease in the number of individuals renting gardening plots..
The Providence NEW Hunger Coalition is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization of 13 food banks and 14 partner organizations in rural northeast Washington working towards stabilizing and strengthening our emergency food system while addressing the root causes of hunger in our communities..
The Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) program encourages community members to dedicate a row (or more) of fruit, vegetables and/or herbs in their garden to help feed those in need. PAR was spearheaded by Jeff Lowenfels, a garden writer for the Anchorage Daily News and former Garden Writers Association (GWA) president. The idea was implemented as a national program by the GWA soon after..
There are many home gardeners in the greater Moses Lake area and asking them to help feed their neighbors was easier after receiving seed donations. A few letters to seed companies yielded 220 pounds of garden seeds from across the nation. Two-thirds of these seeds were distributed to food bank clients..