Then and now, Meals on Wheels just makes sense to me. Here in King County, they use volunteers to deliver healthy, nutritious meals to more than 2,000 low-income seniors. This allows them to go on living independently in their own home for as long as they can.

A ‘Why the Fork’ grant from United Way of King County will allow Meals on Wheels to replace the aging freezers they use to stage thousands of meals that are delivered every week. Just one freezer failure can cause the loss of more than $7,000 worth of food, which happened back in 2009.

Please consider a gift to help Meals on Wheels and our other Why the Fork grantees, you can click here to give. Don’t forget, every donation through April 14th will be doubled thanks to a generous matching gift!

It takes a lot of work to run a food bank; managing deliveries, tracking inventory, stocking the shelves, registering and greeting the clients and much more. Much of the work is difficult and time consuming. However, many of these labor intensive tasks can be streamlined by a simple technology upgrade called ‘Client Card”.

United Way of King County’s “Why the Fork” grant will allow six food banks in South King County region to upgrade their computer hardware and software and begin to use the Client Card system.

Executive Director of the Auburn Food Bank, Debbie Christian told us they doubled their intake of clients when they started using Client Card, cutting client registration down from four minutes to less than one.

In the past year the six food banks who will benefit from the Why the Fork grant have served a total of 6.5 million pounds of food to 48,000 individuals.

YOU can help South King County Food Banks serve even more families with a donation at http://whythefork.orgThrough April 14, all gifts will be matched dollar-for-dollar.

If you’re looking for a new volunteering opportunity, consider the Bridge to Basics program. In just a few hours a week, you can help connect low-income people with things like food stamps, utility assistance and low-cost health care.

I work full-time as a writer at United Way of King County. It’s been two years now, and it’s been a great experience. Through United Way, I’ve discovered so many programs and services available for people who need the help.  The problem lots of times is connecting those so desperately in need with the help that exists for them. 

So, when I heard about the new Bridge to Basics program that was launching in the fall of 2009, I was intrigued.

UWKC was spearheading it, and they were looking for 100 volunteers.
It wasn’t a huge time commitment—one all-day training and a few
hours a week over several months. I could do that.

I learned so much during the training—but these were key takeaways:

• The minimum income requirement for food stamps
  has been raised significantly, so that many more people are eligible and they don’t know it.
• Food stamps now come on a preloaded debit card—so much more appealing than having to deal with the stigma sometimes associated with having to pay at grocery storeswith food stamps.
• Utility companies have programs that can help people who are struggling financially to keep their power on.

We’re recruiting Bridge to Basics volunteers now! If you’re looking for a wonderfully rewarding way to help struggling low-income individuals and families, I’d highly recommend checking it out here.

It’s that time. . . time to start making promises to better ourselves in the coming year. We set lofty goals like “I’m going to get up and go jogging everyday at 5 am, rain or shine” (unlikely) or “I am going to quit consuming all of the things that are potentially harmful to my health” (what is left to eat?). Alas, only about 46% of resolutions make it past the 6 month mark. When resolutions don’t pan out, we feel like we’ve failed and resolve to stick to our resolutions next year. Well, United Way is here to help. Below are a few simple resolutions that will benefit your community AND are easy to keep.

1. Spend a buck: Or more! Buy a Real Change newspaper from one of the 400 local vendors and help end homelessness in King County. Use this handy map to find a vendor in your area http://www.realchangenews.org/index.php/site/vendor-map/   
2. Volunteer. . . at least once: You’re busy. We know. But surely you can commit to volunteer at least once in 2011. Who knows, you just might find yourself coming back for more. Hundreds of local organizations could benefit from your unique skills and talents. Volunteer on MLK Day. Check out SeattleWorks’ one day Hot Projects. Peruse the Volunteer Calendar to see what volunteer projects are coming up. Make a commitment and find a place to volunteer year round. What are you waiting for?
3. Meet your neighbors: We’ve all heard the term “Seattle Freeze.” Why not take steps to combat our city’s unsavory stereotype? You might have a neighbor who needs your help, or you might need theirs someday. Build your support network while having someone to say hi to. Down with The Freeze!
4. Buy a little extra: Next time you see someone holding a food drive outside your grocery store, add a few items to your shopping list and donate them, or better yet, donate directly to a food bank in your area.
5. Advocate!: Are you passionate about a particular issue? Let your elected officials know that you want them to take action by writing a letter. It’s fast and effective. Check out these tips from the ACLU on writing elected officials. To find out who the elected officials are for your district, visit http://apps.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder/default.aspx
6. Get social: Social media is a powerful tool, and can do a lot to raise awareness. While you’re killing time on the bus, why not share information about the causes, organizations, and issues that matter to you. Follow @VolunteerKC and @UnitedWayKC for current issues affecting our community and ways to help.
7. Grow a book worm: When kids are read to at an early age, they are more likely to become readers themselves and do well in school. By contrast, children without reading skills by third grade are unlikely to graduate. Give a book to the kids in your life.  . . better yet, read it with them. .  . even better, sign up to be a Volunteer Reader and help prepare a local preschooler for success in school and life.
8. Give props: People all around us are giving back to the community in amazing ways, and more likely than not, someone you know is deserving of some accolades. You could just say “good job” OR you could nominate them for a Washington State Jefferson Award  by February 10th. The winners will be judged by a panel of community leaders and their stories will be told on Evening Magazine the week of March 28th. One winner will represent our state in Washington D.C.
9. Take the lead: Alright, so you understand the importance of community involvement, but do your friends? Rally a group of friends, family or coworkers to participate in a volunteer project – just ask them, they can’t say no. For current group volunteer project listings, visit http://www.uwkc.org/ways-to-volunteer/ and click the orange “Group” icon.
10. Do More: Maybe you already donate, volunteer, advocate, help your neighbors and are generally engaged with your community. You rock! *High Fives* We like you. Why not resolve to do just a little more in 2011? Just a little more can go a long way

Have you been thinking about donating to your local food bank? Well, your mail carrier is about to make it a lot easier. On May 8th, you can take part in Stamp Out Hunger, the nation’s largest single day food drive. Letter carriers in more than 10,000 communities will collect food items and deliver them to local food banks to help some of the millions of Americans, including an estimated 16.7 million children who face hunger every day.

Here’s how you can help:

• Contact your local post office to verify its participation in the food drive. ( Search the USPS website for the contact information for your local post office.)
• Place bags filled with non-perishable food items next to your mailbox (donate items like canned meat, fish, vegetables, soup, juice, rice and cereal. Please do not include expired items or those in glass containers)
• Your letter carrier will pick them up and deliver them to local food banks!

For more information visit HelpStampOutHunger.com

[Fire roasted tomato and bleu cheese soup with a bacon apple and caramelized onion grilled cheese panini]

Candi Wilvang participated in the United Way Hunger Challenge with her family of three – Mom, Dad and ten year old son (with some help from her 20 year old son). Read about their experience below.

The challenge was an awesome experience for our family to take. I am the mother of two son’s ages 20 and 10. My oldest son Shattuck lives in his own apartment so we took the challenge as mom, dad, and 10 year old son, MacKenna. At first I thought $18 was pretty reasonable because I do not think we spend that much as it is. We utilize our neighborhood food banks. I was quickly reminded by dad that we can’t use anything we already have. He looked frightened after we hid all our food, condiments, spices etc… I, on the other hand, was very excited about learning from this.

We decided we wanted to price compare at 5 different grocery stores and so we would spend $18 a day, for 5 days, at 5 different stores. We spent $15.63 at QFC the first day of shopping. We went there on Sunday and we decided we would just get the basics.

By Monday we realized we had no dinner items and no coffee! “That’s ok, we will spend our next $18 tonight on dinner and a few missed luxury items” I tried to reassure dad. That night we went to Whole Foods loaded with coupons. Mondays dinner was creative, chicken breast with spinach and melted white cheddar on maple waffles and a side of fresh Mango and steamed broccoli.

Tuesday we went to Safeway and spent $17.13 Tuesdays dinner was Feta, pineapple, broccoli manicotti with fresh spinach pesto cheese sauce.

My oldest son works at Seattle Art Museum, Taste Restaurant, and wanted to come with me on Wednesday and buy ingredients so he could cook homemade fire roasted tomato and bleu cheese soup with a bacon apple and caramelized onion grilled cheese panini for us. Somebody suggested we try Grocery Outlet this time and we walked out with almost everything we needed for the amount of $17.04. My son was missing some important ingredients but it turned out fantastic!

With 4 shopping sprees behind us, I realized Thursday was our last chance to buy food. It meant we had to make the food last through to Fridays dinner. The soup went a long way for leftovers. I also used it as flavoring in Fridays “Cheeseburger Cupcakes”. Trader Joes was our final destination and we did our shopping for $19.31 It was the first time we went over budget, but still under budget over all! We deserved that ice-cream sandwich!

I was able to share this experience on Facebook and Flickr which made it all the more inspiring to make creative dishes and photograph it! I think I will continue to post recipes and cook with my children more often. Thank you for this great opportunity. It was empowering.

One of the main issues facing local food banks and the clients who rely on them is a lack of fresh produce. Commonly donated items tend to be canned and dry goods, which are great, but don’t make for a very well rounded diet.

Fortunately, there are numerous ways to help stock food banks with healthy, fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables. Programs such as Solid Ground’s Lettuce Link aim to improve access to fresh produce to low-income individuals in Seattle. Lettuce Link coordinates with local P-Patch gardeners to plant extra rows of produce for food banks and meals programs, donates the harvest of their urban farm to local food banks, and harvests fruit from backyard fruit trees to donate to food banks.

Another local organization, City Fruit, educates residents on how to care for their fruit trees so that they can give donate their surplus fruit. They even have a fruit tree mapping feature where you can map your tree and sign up to either volunteer or have volunteers harvest your tree for you.

In addition to these programs, there are numerous P-Patch gardens throughout the city that would love some volunteer help maintaining their plots.

If gardening isn’t your thing, you can also help rescue produce from Pike Place Market and other Farmer’s Markets for distribution to food banks or simply Donate your fruit tree to Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle.

With spring upon us (sooner rather than later, I hope) now is the time to start thinking about some creative ways to turn your green thumb into a tool to combat hunger in our community. Below are a few more resources and volunteer opportunities that may be of interest:

• Growing Produce For Others – What to Grow and Where to Give It
• Volunteers help homeowners with fruit trees
• Volunteer with Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle
• Recover Produce with Harvest Against Hunger
• Volunteer to Garden at Marra Farm
• Garden with Seniors in Rainier Valley
• Serve on the board of Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle

Molly Nordstrom

The Climb for the Community team spent all of yesterday on the lower slopes of Mount Rainier training in “mountaineering day school.” This morning climbers started their two-day trek to the summit.

Here’s a report from Molly Nordstrom, United Way of King County’s board chair and the only woman on the Climb:

Today we are hiking to Camp Muir. We will climb from 5,400 feet to 10,060 feet. The trek is nearly 4.5 miles and will take about 6 hours. It’s expected to be snowing along the way, and visibility is down. But the wind will be light, and we’ll likely punch through the clouds at about 9,000 feet. We’ll attempt our summit on Wednesday. It won’t be easy, but I’m confident it will be worth it. It’s beautiful, and I have great climbing company in people like Seahawks Coach Jim Mora, NFL Commisioner Roger Goodell, United Way CEO Jon Fine, and Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke. And we couldn’t have better guides than mountaineering greats Ed Viesturs and Peter Whittaker, who not only have many Rainier climbs between them, but several summits of Mount Everest.

Please give the Climbers a boost on the trail by giving $5, and asking 5 friends to do the same. With your help, the Climb will raise money to help food banks, meal delivery services, and programs that help people at risk of losing their home to foreclosure or eviction.

Or make a gift at a higher level, and you’ll get a chance at great giveaways including a First Ascent coat from Eddie Bauer, signed Seahawks gear, or Seahawks game tickets.

Thank you for your support!

We can help vulnerable families, disabled people and seniors keep food on the table, but we need your support.

Please give $5 and ask 5 of your friends to join you.

It’s a small way to make a BIG impact in people’s lives.

It’s great to have so many people in King County following Hunger Action Week as well as people outside the Seattle-area and Washington state. If you live somewhere else in the United Sates and want to get involved in taking action against hunger, feedingamerica.org is a great resource. King County residents can help by giving to United Way’s Response for Basic Needs and by volunteering.