Representatives of the Clark County Food Bank spoke to the crowd at the Clark County Fair grandstands ahead of a concert on Friday, Aug. 1, about a $5,000 donation Fred Meyer made towards the food bank’s efforts.
As the Clark County Food Bank strives to alleviate hunger and its root causes throughout the county, a key part of that is keeping the lights on in the food bank’s facilities. Clark County Food Bank President Emily Straw said the $5,000 donation will go towards the general operating budget.
“We do have to keep the lights on at this place and we have to pay our warehouse staff,” she said. “So we have two main warehouse distribution centers and then another brick and mortar food pantry that we operate so it’ll go to ensuring that we can keep the lights on and keep our warehouse staffed up and paid so that we can distribute food out to the community and to places like the North County Community Food Bank.”
The Clark County Food Bank receives roughly 10 million pounds of food per year through multiple efforts. Straw said they even grow their own fresh produce and distribute it through the community with a network of partner agencies, like the North County Community Food Bank in Battle Ground. Straw added that they partner with around 50 nonprofits and 130 distribution sites throughout Clark County to provide a total of 10 million pounds of food to people in need.
Distributing food is part of Clark County Food Bank’s mission No. 1, with the second mission working towards the root cause.
“To alleviate the root causes is a little bit more complicated,” Straw said. “Root causes are complicated. People’s lives are complicated. So addressing those, we hit it at a few different angles.”
One angle is by educating community members on nutrition, including growing one’s own food supply on a budget, shopping on a budget, cooking on a budget, and providing meal planning tips. Straw said the program is a six-week curriculum with folks being able to go on a grocery store tour.
“It’s really interactive and they always have a meal and a community moment, as well,” she said.
With the donation from Fred Meyer going towards operational funding, Clark County Food Bank partners with Fred Meyer and Kroger in other ways, such as donating food directly to the food bank. The food bank also makes roughly 30 grocery store pick-ups each year and recovers around 2 million pounds of food through that.
“Kroger is a huge partner for that,” she said. “So we appreciate their partnership in many different ways.”
Clark County Fair Manager John Morrison highlighted the importance of the donation occurring on the grandstand stage ahead of the opening night concert.
“For years, the Clark County Fair and Fred Meyer have partnered for community support, and this year Fred Meyer has made a commitment to help eliminate hunger and food insecurity,” Morrison said, “and so they have partnered with the food bank to receive a donation that will help support that. The fair was an obvious and logical place to do that because it’s such a community event, and they are supporting the community so strongly with that donation.”
For more information on Clark County Food Bank, visit clarkcountyfoodbank.org. The food bank is located at 6502 NE 47th Ave. in Vancouver and can be reached by calling 360-693-0939 or by emailing info@clarkcountyfoodbank.org.
