Make sure our Seattle neighbors have meals
#allinseattle
Feed Our Neighbors Across Washington State
WA Food Fund is a new statewide relief fund to provide food for those most impacted during the COVID-19 outbreak. Funds raised through a public private partnership will be distributed to three organizations working on the frontlines of food insecurity in Washington - Food Lifeline, Northwest Harvest and Second Harvest. Food donations are down and demand is crushingly high, and this coordinated effort is designed to distribute food and supplies to food banks and pantries across our cities and rural communities. Every dollar donated helps provide food for a family in need.
Prepared Meals for those in Need
FareStart, which provides job training and other services for individuals experiencing homelessness, is rapidly increasing production of emergency meals for shelters, quarantine and isolation centers, and other facilities housing those most at-risk for COVID-19. FareStart has prepared and delivered tens of thousands of meals during this crisis to date and are positioning to scale up to more than 50,000 meals every day in collaboration with their foodservice partners.
FareStart is working with City and County governments to identify the meal needs, coordinating with community partners to meet meal demands, and centralizing food buying and meal planning to ensure efficiencies. FareStart continues to provide housing and wraparound care to students and plans to hire out-of-work restaurant employees – including FareStart graduates – as the demand for emergency meals increases.
Emergency Vouchers for Groceries
The City of Seattle has partnered with Safeway and QFC to provide vouchers to families in need to cover groceries. The program will provide $100/week for 8 weeks, to help families through this crisis. The City of Seattle has contributed $5 million, which will provide 8 weeks of groceries for 6,250 families in need.
In partnership with the United Way of King County, the city seeks to raise an additional $15 million to support the grocery needs of 25,000 families. Donate here and note “EMERGENCY FOOD VOUCHER” in the comments or contact Lauren McGowan at the United Way of King County (lmcgowan@uwkc.org).