44.7 F
Seattle
Wednesday, February 19, 2025

City Of Seattle Partners With National Guard To Meet Growing Hunger Need During COVID-19 Crisis

A member of the Washington Air National Guard closes an emergency food box packed at the Food Lifeline temporary site in Seattle. Members of the Washington Air and Army National Guard are supporting food banks around the state during the COVID-19 pandemic response. Photo/U.S. National Guard photo/Joseph Siemandel..

For many communities facing food insecurity, COVID-19 has made a challenging situation even more difficult with meal and food bank programs impacted by the crisis. A number of food banks have reduced hours or their volunteers are not able to come in to help like they did before. Other programs face shortages of food resources.

The City of Seattle is committed to meeting this community need. The Seattle Human Services Department and Office of Sustainability and Environment have been working to find ways to ensure these important food programs can continue to operate during this time of great need in communities across Seattle.

In recent weeks, the City has been working with the National Guard—which can deploy hundreds of servicemembers to help work at food banks and deliver supplies—and service providers to meet this growing need in Seattle and surrounding communities. These servicemembers are often deployed to natural disasters to offer a helping hand. The National Guard is doing just that in Seattle by stepping up to fill in the gaps in our food network. (The City is not directly managing the deployment of the National Guard service people and the support they are providing to food banks was upon request of the service providers).

Food Lifeline, who partners with both Northwest Harvest and Second Harvest organizations, has received the assistance of 252 National Guard members in the past week in its 160,000 square foot distribution center, located in SODO. And starting the week of April 27, the National Guard have been present at 10 food banks, including Solid Ground, a key anti-hunger partner that supports the Seattle Food Bank Network. The National Guard has also assisted in serving meals at Edible Hope at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church near Ballard Commons since April 29. Here is a list of the additional food banks assisted by the National Guard:

- Advertisement -
  • Byrd Barr Place
  • St. Vincent de Paul Georgetown
  • White Center Food Bank
  • Queen Anne Food Bank
  • Salvation Army – Capitol Hill
  • Ballard Food Bank
  • West Seattle Food Bank
  • Puget Sound Labor Agency
  • U District Food Bank
  • Solid Ground

Placements will continue through May 29, 2020.

Must Read

Department Of Education Threatens Federal Funding Cuts Over Race-Based Policies

The Department of Education issued a "Dear Colleague" letter warning that federal funding will be revoked from any academic institution that considers race in most aspects of student life, prompting legal challenges.