Food donations still needed during summer months
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald Steve Capella loads food for transport to the Soap Lake Food Bank. The Moses Lake Food Bank serves as a distribution center for local food banks. Food bank usage goes up in the summer, but donations go down.
MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake Food Bank director Peny Archer said there’s a pattern to food bank donations. People think about the food bank in November and December – but not so much in July.
It’s getting cold in November and December; there’s a lot of discussion about less fortunate families. But it’s the height of summer in July, it’s warm and sunny and people are thinking about other things.
People need help from the food bank year-round, though, Archer said. “The community – they rock, helping our less fortunate,” but food bank donations go down during the summer. Food bank usage tends to go up during the summer. “We still have to do our best to help feed (people),” Archer said.
During the summer – like winter – the food bank needs donations of foods that are “kid friendly.” Many kids do have access to breakfast and lunch programs, but even if the kids eat lunch at a meal site, “basically, you’re still talking one meal out of three.”
And besides, kids are kids, and they’re still growing. Even with three meals, “it’s never enough with kids.”
Summer foods that are most kid-friendly include peanut butter and jelly, along with soups, pasta and other items that can be heated in a microwave with minimal fuss. “Grab and go,” Archer said.
Summer is the time for fresh fruits and vegetables and the food bank takes donations of garden produce, Archer said. It’s still a little early for garden harvest, but sooner or later some gardeners must confront the fact they underestimated the production capacity of some crops. The food bank accepts garden overflow.
The Moses Lake Food Bank serves customers from Moses Lake and Warden only, Archer said. But Moses Lake is a distribution center for 33 food banks in five counties, Grant and Adams, along with Yakima, Lincoln and Benton.
On Tuesday morning a volunteer from the Soap Lake Food Bank was picking up a load of donated food, including bread and canned goods. Steve Capella, driving the Soap Lake Food Bank truck, said volunteers visit Moses Lake about once per week to pick up food.