Companies pledge to Second Harvest during March Ag Month

QUAD CITIES – March is Ag Month and what better time and place to bring food to the forefront of life’s other basic needs of air, water, and shelter. In The Quad Cities and Okanogan County, 2023 has been off to a rocky start where food supplies are concerned. Second Harvest food deliveries were suspended to Okanogan County among other recipients by January, the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) emergency allotments (EA) ended in February, and a Bridgeport Food Bank unexpectedly closed its doors in March. Before the situation could get any worse, it began to improve…somewhat.

Food supplies to the area from Second Harvest in Spokane and Northwest Harvest in Yakima have resumed, though with a caveat. Rena Shawver, Executive Director of the Okanogan County Community Action Council (OCCAC) told The Quad last week that her organization now must pick up the food supplies from both locations.

“The Chelan Douglas Community Action Council (CDCAC) is helping us out by bringing the Northwest Harvest supplies from Yakima to Wenatchee and we pick it up twice a month there,” Shawver said.

OCCAC must arrange for transportation from Spokane. Lacking a truck of adequate size to handle the volume has left the agency with the problem of covering the cost of hiring transport that can cost from $900 to $1,100 per load.

Second Harvest (www.2-harvest.org) was founded more than 50 years ago as an emergency food warehouse for Spokane food pantries in Spokane. Today it donates to some 250 partner food banks from Spokane and the Tri-Cities.

Northwest Harvest formed in 1967 in Seattle now serves every county in the state with warehouses in Yakima and Spokane.

The end of SNAP EA benefits average about $85 a month lost for eligible recipients, the majority of whom are elderly, disabled, or working poor. With high food costs inching even higher many of those food budgets were already unable to cover food costs even with the extra payment.

The Bridgeport Food Bank kept 150-200 families supplied with weekly and later twice monthly distributions. Without a suitable building to house another pantry city officials hope to find a mobile food delivery truck that can park in the city and distribute from there.

$15,000 matching donation

A pair of agriculture service companies, AgWest Farm Credit (AgWest), a financial cooperative in Spokane, and Northwest Agricultural Consultants (NWAG) a Kennewick full-service ag lab, are partnering with Second Harvest with a $15,000 donor-match during Ag Month this March.

A media release issued by the two companies said that all this month – including National Ag Day on March 21 – Second Harvest is honoring the agriculture community, highlighting its contributions on social media and at Hunger Solutions Centers in Pasco and Spokane.

“We are so fortunate to live in a region that provides a cornucopia of healthy food,” said Jason Clark, president and CEO of Second Harvest. “Our friends at AgWest and NWAG are leaders in understanding what it takes to provide food from field to plate.”

AgWest (agwestfc.com) is contributing $10,000 and NAWG (nwag.com) $5,000 to match the first $15,000 donated to Second Harvest to purchase food for people in the region facing food insecurity.  To donate visit 2-harvest.org/agmonth.