The Rotary Club of Gig Harbor Midday has a long relationship with Food Backpacks 4 Kids on the Key Peninsula and offers this local food bank ongoing support in many forms. Recently, the club initiated a project to secure extra food for Food Backpacks 4 Kids, which provides essential food items for local families with food insecurity. The project’s objective was to help mitigate food insecurity in the region, particularly during March and April, which are considered the worst months for organizations relying on food donations.
Midday Rotary Community Service Chair Lonna Calas coordinated with Food Backpacks 4 Kids Executive Director Zaida Woodworth to purchase and deliver essential food items. Woodworth identified the Bremerton WinCo as the best location based on her local store pricing research. For those not familiar with the area, WinCo and Food Backpacks 4 Kids are 21 miles apart. The manager at WinCo, Kyle, was extremely helpful and scheduled food orders and pickup dates and times a few days in advance. Then Midday Rotary volunteers would pay for the orders, pack them into their vehicles and deliver them to Food Backpacks 4 Kids, where their volunteers would help unload and shelf.
Over the course of two months, the club made a total of four purchases, pickups and deliveries to the rural food bank, which provided much-needed support to 200 families in the region. In total, the Midday Club purchased and delivered over $4,000 worth of staple food supplies. The club had a $2,000 budget for the purchases, and with a matching grant from Rotary International District 5020, the original budget was doubled.
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