Our friends at the White Center Food Bank report on their blog that they’re working with the White Center Community Development Association, as well as with Lee’s Produce and Samway Market to create the “White Center Healthy Food Gift Certificate Program,” which will provide $5 gift certificates to food bank customers so they can purchase fresh fruits and vegetables at local produce vendors.

This program will be launched May 6th at Samway Market, which is located at 9811 15th Ave SW as well as at Lee’s Produce, located at 9435 Delridge Way SW.

Here’s the full scoop:

The White Center Food Bank, in partnership with the White Center Community Development Association, along with Lee’s Produce and Samway Market, is pleased to announce implementation of the White Center Healthy Food Gift Certificate Program. This unique program will provide $5.00 gift certificates to food bank customers that will allow them to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables through local produce vendors.

“Food bank customers often lack adequate access to fresh fruits and vegetables because of their high cost. As a result, low-income people frequently have higher rates of a variety of diet-related health problems such as type 2-diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, heart disease and stroke,” said Rick Jump, Executive Director of the White Center Food Bank.

“We’re excited to work with the White Center Food Bank to also support our two goals with our Fresh Marketplace Initiative: to increase access to healthy food options locally for residents as well support the economic development of our small businesses in White Center, “said Aileen Balahadia, Executive Director of the White Center Community Development Association.

Samway Market and Lee’s Produce were selected to participate in this pilot program because they specialize in produce that suits immigrants’ desires for traditional fruits and vegetables which are not always readily available in local supermarkets. The White Center Food Bank currently provides food for approximately 1,500 families each month, many of them immigrants and refugees.

This pilot project is funded by the WCFB, and donations to sustain it would be greatly appreciated. To make a donation online or for more information about the White Center Food Bank’s many programs, visit www.whitecenterfoodbank.org or contact Rick Jump at (206) 762-2848. Donations may also be mailed to WCFB, 10829 8th Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98146.

This program will be launched on May 6, 2010 at 10:00am at Samway Market located at 9811 15th Ave SW and at 10:30am at Lee’s Produce located at 9435 Delridge Way SW.

More info on the WCFB website here.

The White Center Blog, along with our sister site The B-Town Blog, look forward to seeing as many of our Readers and Neighbors as possible this coming Saturday, Nov. 14th, at the White Center Albertsons for a special Thanksgiving-related food drive: our 2nd Annual Turkeys N’ Diapers Fundraiser!

It’ll run from 10am to 4pm, and all donations will go to the White Center Food Bank (food) and WestSide Baby (diapers & baby stuff).

Albertsons is located at 16th Avenue SW and SW 106th Street in White Center.

We’ll be collecting turkeys and diapers (yes, that’s correct: turkeys and diapers!).

Important note about the diapers – says Nancy Woodland, Executive Director of WestSide Baby:

“We only need diapers in large sizes, Size 5 or 6 or Pull-ups in size 4T. Thanks!”

Stuffing and canned vegetables and other Thanksgiving-related food items would be greatly appreciated.

Donations in the form of cash and checks (made out to “White Center Food Bank”) will also be gratefully accepted.

The crew will be lead again this year by the blog’s own Bart Bryan, host of the recurring interview segments “Whaddaya Think?”

“We raised over $1,100 last year. Let’s double that this year!” said Bart. “Folks around here can really use the help!”

The White Center Food Bank will make available the food, as they do year-round, to nearby families in need.

The Food Bank works hand-in-hand with WestSide Baby, a nonprofit organization that collects previously-owned items for children and babies and distributes them free of charge to South King County families in need.

In 2008 WestSide Baby served more than 12,000 children.

“See you all Saturday at the White Center Albertsons!” says Bart.

Here’s year-round contact information:

White Center Food Bank
10829 8th Ave SW
Seattle WA 98146
www.whitecenterfoodbank.org
Phone: 206-762-2848

And:

WestSide Baby
10032 15th Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98146
(206) 767-1662
www.westsidebaby.org

Click image (or here) to download a printable PDF poster (feel free to print & post!)

Children from West Seattle’s Lafayette Elementary School, once attended by the White Center Blog’s own Mark Neuman, held a very successful food drive for the White Center Food Bank, with over 2,100 items donated last week.

Here’s more from their press release:

The Lafayette Elementary student council had a new idea this year while planning their annual food drive for the White Center Food Bank. They held a competition to see which class could collect the most items and kept track of the donations by teacher on a bulletin board in the front lobby. The donations quickly filled the collection barrel and started to fill the school’s front lobby.

All of the classes participated, but two classes led the competition: Ms. Rollin’s class collected the most items (251) and Mr. Beal’s class (203) came in second place.

Over 2,100 items total were collected school-wide.

Last week, the White Center Food Bank team had to make two van trips to transport all of the collected food down to their facility in White Center.

Lafayette’s student council sponsors two community service projects a year–one in winter and one in spring. James Morrison, Macy Crooks and Shelby Walker (in the photo) were the student council officers in charge of promoting the drive, keeping track of how many items were brought in, and updating a bulletin board daily to monitor our success. A huge thank you to these student leaders, Mimi Armistead (staff lead for Lafayette’s student council) and to all the generous Lafayette families who donated food.

Since this effort was so successful, Lafayette is going to continue collecting food for the White Center Food Bank (with a goal of a barrel a month) for the rest of the school year.

Lafayette Elementary is a Seattle Public School located at 2645 California Ave. SW. in West Seattle. For more information about Lafayette or their ongoing partnership with the White Center Food Bank, please contact Virginia Turner at 206-252-9500. For more information about White Center Food Bank, check out their web site at: www.whitecenterfoodbank.org; you can also donate directly online here.

Way to go kids!

[From our sister site The B-Town Blog comes this story about how and where you can help needy neighbors in the White Center/Burien area this holiday season:]

Burien/Normandy Park Fire Department’s Lt. Inspector John Zilke is at it again!

As in years past, John is coordinating the very large and important Christmas Outreach Program in the Burien and White Center areas. Our very own Burien Fire Department (King County Fire District 2, Burien & Normandy Park) has been helping needy families during the holidays for over 20 years.

This translates to thousands of families enjoying a happy holiday because of Burien’s generosity.

This year, with the help of the White Center DSHS, 73 local needy families have been identified to be recipients of Burien’s largess. Thirteen local businesses have volunteered to be drop-off locations and are accepting NEW toys, canned food, gift cards and cash. Thanks to both our local Fred Meyer and your cash donations, each family will also receive a turkey dinner.

All donations must be made by the morning of December 22. Upon final collection, John and our firefighters match the gifts with the families’ needs at Sunnydale School, where they will be loaded up and delivered by Santa Claus and others on December 23.

To help out our fire department, eleven departments within Highline Medical Center have each adopted one family. Sylvester Middle School students and teachers will be conducting in-school food drives as part of this community effort.

John knows that this is a particularly tough year to ask for donations, but adds. “Your donations bring light to the holidays for a needy family.”

Following are the local businesses where you can donate to the Christmas Outreach Program:

• Albertson’s—15340 1st Ave S. & 12725 1st Ave S.
• Boulevard Park Place Seniors Community—2805 S. 125th
• Burien Fire Department—15100 8th Ave. SW & 135 S. Normandy Rd.
• Burien Chevrolet—1440 1st Ave S.
• Burien Toyota—15025 1st Ave S. & 139 SW 150th St.
• Collins Chiropractic—619 SW 152nd
• Curves—17824 1st Ave S.
• Dooley’s General Store—625 SW 152nd
• Frenzi—218 SW 153rd
• North Highline Fire Department—1243 SW 112th & 1606 S. 128th
• Highline Medical Center—16252 Sylvester Rd SW
• Highline Medical Center—Riverton Campus 12844 Military Rd. S, & 23030 Military Rd
• North Highline Fire Department—1243 SW 112th & 1606 S. 128th
• Red Apple Market—96th & Des Moines Memorial Dr.
• YB Tubless/Economy Wiring—633 SW 148th

The video above (courtesy WCB Reader Hope Kerkof) shows how 24 students from the 5th grade class at the White Center-area’s Shorewood Christian School helped out the Burien-Highline Food Bank on Tuesday, Nov. 25th.

The 5th graders volunteered their time and helped hand out food at the Burien-Highline Food Bank in Burien. They came prepared and brought with them a huge collection of stuffed animals to hand out to children at the food bank as well.

Mike Werle, Director of the Burien-Highline Food Bank explained that the food shortage is growing worse:

“Food drives are down and there is less poundage of food coming into the bank. We’ve had about a 30% increase in the number of people that come in here per day. The number of people seem to grow daily. The number one reason people are saying they are coming to the food bank is they have been laid off from their jobs. With the current economic conditions, the food shortage at food banks are expected to grow worse as unemployment rises.”

Nicko Morris, a 5th grade student at Shorewood Christian told about his experience that day: “I like giving because I like to see the smiles on the children’s faces. They looked like they were afraid. But when Emily and I gave our toys to the children, you could tell that they were just filled with joy when they reached for the toy. That’s what we all should do! It’s better to give than to receive.”

Rachelle Kerkof, one of the 5th grade girls in the class, “It was fun to see the kids’ faces when I gave them toys. I really enjoyed this experience.”

Mrs. Mary Lesnett, the 5th grade teacher, explained, “This is our 4th year supporting the Burien- Highline Food Bank. The kids love to get involved and help others. The experience impacts them greatly. I’m sure we will be doing this for many years to come.”

“At Shorewood Christian School, our students are involved on a regular basis with giving back to our community and making a difference in this world. Our students help at food banks, visit nursing homes, clean up streets and yards, and are always involved in some sort of fundraiser for a cause other than themselves. These are lessons that these students will carry with them for a lifetime. We want these students to grow up to become world changers.”, says Tim Lorenz, Principal of Shorewood Christian School.

Shorewood Christian School, a ministry of Shorewood Foursquare Church, is located in West Seattle and is currently enrolling pre-K thru 10th grade for the 2009-2010 school year. For more information you can go to www.ShorewoodChristianSchool.org.

Volunteering at the food bank is a great project for families, schools, and churches to do together. Not only will you help someone in need, but as the 5th grade students at Shorewood Christian School would tell you, it will make impact your heart and make you feel good too.

The Burien-Highline Area Food Bank is located at 18300 4th Ave South in Burien (map below); phone: (206) 433-9900

[EDITOR'S NOTE: We at both the White Center and B-Town Blogs strongly urge all Readers to pitch in and help this holiday season, as there are more hungry and needy neighbors than ever before. It's easy to help too – we did it on Saturday Nov. 22nd and raised nearly $1,200 – if we can do it, you certainly can!]

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Just a reminder to everyone that tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 22nd) is our first-ever “Turkeys N’ Diapers” holiday fundraiser for both the White Center Food Bank and WestSide Baby!

It will take place from 11am to 4pm at the White Center Albertsons, which is located at 10616 16th Avenue SW in White Center (map below).

We’ll be accepting food donations, diapers and baby items, etc. as well as cash and check donations to benefit hungry and needy White Center and Burien-area families who are served by the White Center Food Bank and WestSide Baby.

These are wonderful non-profit groups that help people, year round, who could really use a hand.

We are kindly asking for the following donations, which can be purchased at Albertsons (or elsewhere) and left with our crew outside the front door:

• Turkeys and Hams (or Tofurkey, etc.)
• Chicken or Turkey Broth
• Gravy Mixes
• Stuffing Mixes
• Fruit Cocktail
• Whole Olives
• Jello or Pudding Mixes
• Canned Pumpkin
• Canned Cranberry Sauce
• Condensed or Evaporated Milk
• Canned vegetables
• Canned yams or sweet potatoes
• $5 or $10 gift certificates to Albertsons
• …and Diapers and other baby items (formula, baby wipes, etc.), of course!

Cash and check donations are also welcome.

See you there!

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In these tough and uncertain economic times, our friends at the White Center Food Bank would like to remind everyone of their upcoming Fourth Annual Harvest Dinner and Auction.

It’ll be Saturday, Oct. 18 at South Seattle Community College’s Brockey Center (map below).

“This Harvest Dinner and Auction is more important than ever for us,” said Rick Jump, Executive Director of the White Center Food Bank. “The economy is impacting many of our donors as well as our clients.

“We have had a fifty-percent increase in the number of clients in need as compared to this time last year.”

To reserve a ticket or table, contact Rick or his volunteer staff at the Food Bank at 206-762-2848

Master of Ceremonies for the evening will be Enrique Cerna of local public television station KCTS.

Rachel Glass will lead the live auction.

“I saw Rachel at a another event recently,” Rick said. “And she is a darn good auctioneer.”

Who does the White Center Food Bank help, exactly? They help Human Beings: infants and girls and boys. Grandparents and moms and dads, neighbors just down the street.

Details:

• Doors open at 5:30pm, when the first of two silent auctions begin
• There will be a Dessert Dash, and dinner (choice of sirloin steak, northwest salmon or cheese ravioli, or marinara/vegetable medley) will be served at 7:30pm
• There will be great local entertainment as well: “Dances of the World” with international dancers from Mexico, Vietnam & Cambodia
• Call the Food Bank right away, please, to reserve your seat or table: 206-762-2848
• Seats are $60 each and can be held with a Visa, Mastercard or Discover card

If you can’t make it to the auction, you can also easily donate directly online here.

White Center Food Bank
10829 8th Ave SW
Seattle WA 98146
www.whitecenterfoodbank.org
Phone 206-762-2848


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Sustainable Burien’s Food Pod is seeking volunteers for a “Tree Gleaning” this Sunday, Oct. 12th at 2pm.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Personally, we hadn’t heard of “gleaning” relating to food before (pardon our ignorance folks but hey, at least we’re honest) so we looked it up; here’s how Wikipedia defines it:

Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers’ fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. Some ancient cultures promoted gleaning as an early form of a welfare system. For example, ancient Jewish communities required that farmers not reap all the way to the edges of a field so as to leave some for the poor and for strangers.

As for this particular gleaning, it’s a large apple tree with lots of apples, and is located near SW 128th and SR-509.

According to Suzanne Greive of Sustainable Burien:

One of our goals was to identify fruit-bearing trees that could be gleaned and donated to local food banks.

I have been working with the West Seattle gleanit.org group since we don’t have an organized group for Burien yet.

We had one successful gleaning experience in Burien and gathered 232 lbs of apples from one of my neighbors.

I did start a blog just for our small food pod group and here is the link if you want to check it out: http://sustainableburienfoodpod.blogspot.com/

I also am a extreme couponer and take advantage of free or nearly free items for the food banks with the use of coupons and local sales. You can check my blog out out at http://suzdeals.blogspot.com/ In particular the post about couponing basics. It’s a rewarding hobby and contributes to our food banks and community.

I am a big fan of both the B-Town Blog and the White Center Blog (I live right between the two).

To volunteer or get more info, please email Suzanne Greive: suzgreive@yahoo.com

Our sister site to the south, The B-Town (Burien) Blog, is hosting a fundraiser party that will benefit both the White Center and Highline Food Banks – “Blog Party 2.0″ will take place MONDAY, AUG. 25th, starting at 6pm at Elliott Bay Brewery, located at 255 SW 152nd in downtown Burien and YOU’RE INVITED!

There’s NO COVER CHARGE, but they kindly ask that you bring at least two cans or boxes of food to help feed your neighbors in need.

Their first Blog Party (June 10th at The Tin Room) was such a ding dang hit, they decided to have another one, so please mark your calendars for what’s sure to be a fun night full of:

• NO COVER CHARGE (suggested donation of 2 cans or boxes of food is asked)
• Fundraising for Highline and White Center Food Banks!
• Giveaways!
• Live Blogging!
• Live Music (special artists to be announced soon)!
  
• Food courtesy Elliott Bay Brewery!
• Fun!
• Drinks!
• Humor!
  
• Much more, so sign up for our Newsletter so you don’t miss anything!
  

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