Summer brings hunger for some families

Food drives often are focused on the holiday seasons, when turkeys are on the big-meal menu. But everyday insecurity about where the next meal comes from is a year-round problem for thousands of families in Washington.

Summer is a time when most children eligible for free and reduced-price lunches during the school year don’t have ready access to subsidized meals.

Robert Coit, executive director for the Thurston County Food Bank, says it’s common to see families show up more often at the Olympia-based food dispensary during the summer as a result.

They are gathering extra ingredients for the 10 to 12 meals each week their children had been getting at school.

Finding a way to fill that niche has spurred a bit of innovation and also partnerships between state government, private industry and food banks.

One project relaunched this week for the fourth year is called Northwest Farmers Fighting Hunger. It is a partnership of the state Department of Agriculture, Food Lifeline, Second Harvest, the QFC and Fred Meyer supermarket chains, and the Washington Dairy Products Commission. Details are at nwfarmersfightinghunger.org.

Their effort coincides with the end of the school year in June..

Local efforts like the Thurston County Food Bank also benefit from this effort through their association with Food Lifeline.

Kim Eads, manager of the food assistance program at the state Department of Agriculture, said this year’s kickoff included a bus tour to east King County for food-assistance workers. The “farm-to-food pantry” tour stops included a Carnation-area dairy, a farm and a food bank.

The goal has been to raise awareness among farmers, food-aid workers and others about how they can work together for the greater good.

All told, food pantries and food banks distributed more than 138 million pounds of food from all food drives and cash donors in 2015, Eads said.

Washington dairies don’t typically donate milk directly to food banks, but Dairy Farmers of Washington has worked in the partnership to boost public awareness of the need for milk donations. The group provides help buying refrigerators for food banks needing to store dairy products, and it promotes donation programs in supermarkets, according to Jeff Steele, director of marketing for the dairy group.

A series of food drive events is planned in June around the state at Fred Meyer and QFC stores, according Zach Stratton, a spokesman for the grocery chains.

The first events are from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. June 3 at the Fred Meyer in Tumwater and at QFC in Seattle’s University Village. Six other events are scheduled later.

For those who just want to give to their local Thurston food bank, cash is always green, and donations of fresh produce from local gardens are also welcome.

Fresh fruits and peanut butter are also winners — especially if the donor’s intent is to help out families with easy, kid-friendly foods.

Coit says the demand for nutrient-dense peanut butter is so high it’s hard to keep it in stock.

This story was originally published May 19, 2016 at 6:36 PM with the headline "Summer brings hunger for some families."