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Resource Report - 32 Thurston County Food Bank · Resource Report

0:20
Hello and welcome to Resource Report, where we
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share with you important information about local
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nonprofits and resource organizations that support
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the community we share, produced by Pathways
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to Agency. I am your host, Rainmaker. Today's
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guest is the Executive Director of the Thurston
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County Food Bank, John Ficker. I am here at
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the Thurston County Food Bank warehouse down
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Mottman Road with Executive Director John Ficker.
0:59
How are you doing, John? I'm doing great, thanks.
1:01
Awesome. Can you reintroduce yourself, your position,
1:05
and how did you come to be here? Yeah, well,
1:08
my name is John Ficker, and I have the honor
1:10
of serving as the Executive Director here at
1:12
the Thurston County Food Bank. Um, I started
1:15
this job back in July, so I've only been on the
1:17
job for about eight months, a little more than
1:19
eight months now. Um, I have lived in this community
1:23
for about 35 years. I came down here to go to
1:26
college in the early nineties and just never
1:28
left. Um, Over the course of the last 30 plus
1:31
years, I've had the opportunity to work for a
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variety of nonprofits and human services work
1:36
that led to the opportunities to do management
1:39
and leadership. And when the opportunity came
1:42
to work at the Thurston County Food Bank, honestly,
1:44
I was somewhat ambivalent about the opportunity,
1:46
but recognized the need that this community has,
1:52
recognized the opportunity, and also knew that
1:54
at the time I was entering in July of 2025, there
1:59
were some meaningful challenges that the food
2:01
bank was going to face. Even during my interview
2:04
and application process, I kept seeing newspaper
2:06
articles. I remember a Seattle Times article
2:09
that I think four or five different friends texted
2:11
it to me because they knew I was interviewing
2:13
for this job saying, are you sure? Are you sure
2:16
this is what you want to do? But one of them
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came with a tagline that says, Hey, John, I think
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they're going to really need an advocate. And
2:23
that really spoke to me, like the opportunity
2:25
to ensure that our community had the resources
2:28
to feed everyone. For sure. What is the mission
2:33
of Thurston County Food Bank and what is the
2:36
history? Yeah. So the Thurston County Food Bank
2:38
was first established in 1972, which means this
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is our 54th year as an organization. It started
2:47
out like many food banks do in a church basement
2:49
as an idea that a couple of people had that they
2:52
could help their neighbors by gathering up food
2:55
and creating an opportunity for folks to come
2:57
and pick it up. It remained in that church basement
3:01
for about 20 years. And in 1993, they bought
3:04
what is now the downtown Olympia food pantry.
3:08
That food pantry, actually that building itself
3:10
will turn 80 years old this year. And that pantry
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has been serving us again since 1990, I think
3:16
1993. And pretty much for the next 20 -ish years,
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that was really the only. physical presence of
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the Thurston County Food Bank. In the early part
3:27
of 2014, so really around 2013, there was an
3:33
opportunity to develop the property that we're
3:35
on now, this warehouse and distribution center.
3:38
And that was a really important shift for the
3:41
Thurston County Food Bank because it allowed
3:43
us to go from being one food pantry to being a
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warehouse and distribution center that allowed
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us to contract and work with groups like Food
3:52
Lifeline and the Washington State Department
3:54
of Agriculture. One of the things I think is
3:57
a little misleading about the name Thurston County
3:59
Food Bank is because of those contracts and because
4:01
of this warehouse, we actually serve and support
4:04
food banks in Thurston, Lewis, Mason, and Kitsap
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County and have some informal relationships even
4:10
out in Grays Harbor County. So, and then of course
4:13
our Last piece of property and kind of the most
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recent one that we opened in 2019 is our Lacey
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food pantry. That's a very... special property
4:23
in my mind. It has three distinct buildings.
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When you're driving along Martin Way, what you
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see from the road is what we call our farm stand
4:30
building. It's about 1 ,700 square feet. And
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the intention of that building was, is that in
4:36
the summer or throughout the year, we could open
4:38
that building on weekends. We work with so many
4:41
community gardeners and local farmers that we
4:44
basically wanted to have our own Lacy version
4:46
of a of a farmer's market right there in that
4:50
building. And we did that for a number of years.
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Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how
4:55
you look at it, the amount of produce we received
4:57
was so much that we no longer fit in that little
5:00
1 ,700 square foot building. So we've moved our
5:02
farm stand activity to our main pantry building,
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which is just behind the farm stand. And that's
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a 5 ,500 square foot warehouse and food pantry
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with some office space as well. And that's where
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most of our food during the week, when we're
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doing food distributions in Lacey, that's happening
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in the big food pantry building. Staff have offices
5:19
in that building. And the last thing I'd mention
5:22
about Lacey is that in the back of the property,
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we have a large garden space. We built that garden
5:28
space with the intention of being able to grow
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food and move it directly into the food bank
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and the food pantries to distribute out. I'm
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very excited to share that just a couple months
5:37
ago, we signed a memorandum of understanding
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between the Thurston County Food Bank and the
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Thurston County Veterans Court. And the veterans
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who are utilizing that system and being deferred
5:47
for other legal action are now going to have
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the opportunity to volunteer in that garden.
5:51
So they're going to be able to go from a court
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situation to a garden situation, from a problematic
5:57
situation to where they're actually growing food
5:58
and producing it for their neighbors. Wow, that's
6:01
awesome. So what are your food bank locations?
6:05
Right. So the food pantries that we operate as
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a part of Thurston County Food Bank include the
6:10
Olympia and the Lacey Food Pantries. Additionally,
6:14
we actually have 19 other satellite sites all
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around the county that provide opportunity for
6:20
people to get food in slightly different models.
6:23
So in our pantries, it's a shopping model. People
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can come in, they check in at the front, they
6:29
get a cart, and they're allowed to go through
6:31
and pick what they like. The 19 different satellites
6:34
are all a little different. Some of them have
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a shopping model. So, for example, the Evergreen
6:39
State College has a food pantry that is opened
6:42
on two Tuesdays during the month, and that allows
6:44
a shopping mall. It's a Basic Needs Center, isn't
6:46
it? That's correct. Yeah, exactly. And that,
6:49
like I said, is open a couple of Tuesdays a month,
6:51
and people can go in there and shop. But we also
6:52
have other models where local churches or senior
6:56
centers are also participating in satellites.
6:58
Some of those are more of a drive -through model
7:01
where you might pull up in your car. and someone's
7:03
going to put a box of food in your trunk just
7:06
to help keep people getting access. Our satellites,
7:09
again, are all over the county. From Little Rock,
7:12
Rainier, we have one out in Shelton, Tumwater,
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et cetera. And oftentimes when we're opening
7:17
satellites, we're trying to fill a gap. Maybe
7:20
we're trying to get to nights or weekends or
7:22
a portion of the county where our food distribution
7:24
isn't happening regularly. Okay. How does a person
7:28
access the food banks? What are the criteria
7:32
that they would need to be able to do so? I think
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one of the things that often surprise people
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as I talk to them about the work of the food
7:39
bank is that the criteria for getting food from
7:42
our pantry is that you're willing to wait in
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line to get food from our pantry. When someone
7:47
comes to the Thurston County Food Bank, they
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do have to wait in line. And when they get inside
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our shop, we do a brief check -in with them.
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We're going to ask them some questions like their
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name and their address. But if people are uncomfortable
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answering that question, that's okay too. We're
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still going to make sure that you get the food
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that you need. After the brief check -in, someone
8:06
can begin their process. And one of the reasons
8:09
we check folks in is because we do have some
8:11
limits on the amount of visits that we can allow.
8:14
We also like to know the size of your family
8:16
because, for example, a Full visit allows an
8:19
individual to come into the pantry. If they check
8:22
in, we'll say, okay. You're here for your Full
8:23
visit today. That gives them access to every
8:26
portion of the food pantry. Now within each section,
8:30
for example, if there's a canned protein section
8:32
where maybe we have some tuna or some chili,
8:34
we may have a limit on the number of cans based
8:37
on the family size. But you're still going to
8:39
get an opportunity to hit each and every one
8:41
of our stations. Produce, eggs, dairy, deli.
8:47
proteins and fresh produce as well. And then
8:49
additionally, a Supplemental visit might be that
8:52
someone's coming back. Maybe every other, if
8:55
you're doing a Full visit every other week and
8:57
a Supplemental on the off weeks, the Supplemental
8:59
is intended to replace some of those more perishable
9:01
items, the fresh produce, bread, dairy products,
9:05
things that maybe aren't going to last the full
9:07
two weeks between two full visits. So that's
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how we've kind of tried to structure those visits
9:11
to make sure people continue to have access to
9:13
food, but also making sure that we are able to
9:17
provide enough food through our pantries to successfully
9:19
provide both types of visits for everyone. So
9:22
what I'm hearing is, like, you don't necessarily
9:28
have to be on food stamps because you said all
9:32
you got to do is stand in line and wait. Yeah.
9:35
We certainly are not looking for verification
9:38
that you qualify for SNAP benefits. We're not
9:40
doing any kind of income eligibility verification,
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nothing like that. So when it comes to like checking
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in and you said, you know, you don't have to
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provide your name and address, but it is more
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like we need to know at least your family size,
9:54
right? And so it's also a little bit like on
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an honor system, too. Yeah, for certain. I think
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as people come to utilize the food bank, they
10:04
realize that the staff and the information that
10:07
we gather is really intended to help us do a
10:09
better job of serving those individuals. Knowing
10:11
their family size allows us to be prepared. If
10:14
we have a regular family of six or eight that
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shop, we'd like to know that so we can make sure
10:19
that we have adequate supplies in each of our
10:21
pantries and our satellites. Additionally, I
10:25
would also mention that, you know, There's certainly
10:27
folks who come into our system and might give
10:30
us a name like Mickey Mouse and an address like
10:32
123 Main Street, and that's fine. As long as
10:35
you can remember that you're the Mickey Mouse
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that lives at 123 Main Street, that'll work out
10:39
for us. But if we know more about you really
10:42
and your family, that allows us to provide additional
10:45
supports. For example, we know our families well
10:49
enough that if we know we have an expectant mother,
10:52
that we are then able to work with local quilters.
10:56
We might set aside a little baby formula, make
10:58
sure that we can put together a bag that's really
11:00
going to address the needs of this family that's
11:02
growing. Or we know that when kids have birthdays,
11:06
that's a big deal. We are going to make sure
11:09
that that family leaves with a cake mix and some
11:12
frosting and some candles to normalize that birthday
11:15
experience for that family as well. And some
11:17
families have special dietary needs too. And
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a lot of the time, the gluten and dairy -free
11:24
stuff is hard to find. Yeah, that has been challenging
11:27
for us to source. We always try to have a section,
11:30
and we're successful at both of our pantries
11:32
of having some section of foods that are specific
11:35
for individuals living with dietary restrictions
11:37
or perhaps have religious beliefs that limit
11:41
the foods that they eat. But we're certainly
11:44
trying to be responsive to both food allergies,
11:48
religious needs, culturally appropriate foods.
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Matter of fact, we spent a lot of time really
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trying to understand more from our clients about
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what that means and what that needs and what
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would best support them. Right on, right on.
12:07
So I asked about where are the locations of the
12:10
food banks, but what about the hours? Yeah, great
12:14
question. So the hours of the food pantry in
12:17
Olympia, they're open on Monday, Wednesday, and
12:20
Friday from 10 am...ah no, from 10 :30am to 3 pm. And
12:25
out in Lacey, our food pantry is open Tuesdays
12:29
and Thursdays from 10 am to 2 pm. Lacey
12:33
also does one late night Wednesday service. So
12:36
on the second Wednesdays of the month, they're
12:38
open from 4 to 6 p .m. So those are our pantry
12:43
hours and then our satellites, as I mentioned
12:45
before, really cover a wide gamut of many different
12:49
days of the week, including weekends, afternoon
12:52
and evening hours as well. And are those frequently
12:56
updated on the website if you need to find out
12:59
where those are and when those are? Yeah, the
13:02
website's the best source. If someone's looking
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to know exactly when and what is open, I would
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encourage someone certainly to go check out tcfb
13:09
.org. We have a calendar on there that lets you
13:12
know. So, for example, earlier this month, we
13:14
closed for a full day in order to do some staff
13:16
development. And so those things happen or we
13:19
get holidays that we're not always open for some
13:21
of the more federal holidays or when those Mondays
13:23
come along. We're also closed. Yeah. Are there,
13:28
um, paper publications with all of those hours
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and locations as well, uh, for people who may
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not have web access. Sure. Yeah, absolutely.
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I know that, um, we keep copies of all of our,
13:41
uh, hours and flyers available, um, at our warehouse
13:45
here, um, at most of our satellite locations.
13:48
So my assumption is, is that down at the cab
13:50
building at the Evergreen State College, you
13:52
could find some flyers on us, or any of our buildings
13:57
in Olympia, Lacey, or Tumwater. I believe I have
14:00
seen those at the Basic Needs Center on campus.
14:03
And going through DSHS over there in Tumwater,
14:08
and you're going to go and get your food stamps
14:10
and your Medicaid and whatever, I know that they
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issue those pamphlets out there as well. Yeah,
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I've been surprised as I've... But learning this
14:19
job and going out and visiting other community
14:21
organizations, I am not surprised, I guess, but
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just delighted to see how frequently I run into
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literature on the work that we're doing, so I
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appreciate the great community partners we have
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out there spreading the word. Yeah, for sure.
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And I know that when people go through the WorkSource
14:37
and WorkFirst program, they get a folder and
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those information flyers are going to be in those
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folders as well. You are listening to Resource
14:55
Report on KAOS. After a brief message, we'll
14:58
be right back. The Thurston County Food Bank
15:00
serves the community in need. The Food Bank can
15:03
always use donations, whether it's your time,
15:04
extra food, or a financial contribution. Donations
15:07
are accepted from 8:30 a .m. to 3:30 p .m. Great
15:10
donations include high -protein foods like chili,
15:12
peanut butter, beans, canned meat, soup, canned
15:15
fruit and vegetables, as well as fresh fruit
15:17
and vegetables that store well. Donations of
15:19
homegrown produce are also welcome. Financial
15:21
donations can be made online at thurstoncountyfoodbank
15:24
.org or in person at their main location, 220
15:28
Thurston Avenue in Olympia. Welcome back to Resource
15:31
Report on KAOS. Let's return to my interview
15:34
with Thurston County Food Bank Executive Director,
15:37
John Ficker. Let's talk about the different services.
15:47
You have like the food services. You mentioned
15:50
the satellites already, but you also have a FOR
15:53
Kids Backpack program, the Federal Foods, the
15:57
Lacey Farmstand you mentioned. Maybe you could
15:59
talk a little more about that? Sure. Then you
16:01
have a Summer Lunch. Yeah. We have a variety
16:03
of smaller programs that really try to target
16:06
particular populations or particular areas. I
16:10
think the first one I would want to mention is
16:12
a program that we refer to as CSFP, which I think
16:17
stands for something like Commodities and Supplemental
16:20
Food Programs. It's a very uninteresting name.
16:22
That's correct. Is it? Did I get it right? Okay,
16:23
good. Yeah, thanks. particular program is actually
16:29
designed for senior citizens. So individuals
16:32
do need to qualify for that program. And it's
16:34
a pretty low barrier. If you're a senior citizen,
16:36
I believe the age is 60 years old. And there
16:39
are some income guidelines because for those
16:41
particular programs, we are actually supplied
16:43
with all of the food and the resources to do
16:46
that from the federal government. And when I
16:48
say all of it, I mean. about 80%. And the rest
16:51
we do through donations and support that come
16:53
directly from us. But what this program allows
16:55
us to do is we build boxes of food, about a 35
16:59
to 40 pound box of food that would include shelf
17:02
stable items, as well as fresh produce, frozen
17:05
protein. cheese, dairy, and eggs whenever we
17:09
can. And those are actually delivered to around
17:12
900 senior citizens throughout Thurston, Lewis,
17:15
and Mason County. These are folks who might not
17:18
be able to independently come in and navigate
17:20
the shopping. And so this is a way that we can
17:23
make sure that those folks have access to food.
17:25
Yeah. And I did see on your website that it is
17:29
possible for someone to go and pick up food for
17:34
someone else. Exactly. Wow. Yep. Because we recognize
17:38
that in some homes, the situation, they don't
17:40
necessarily need us to deliver, but perhaps they
17:42
have a caregiver or a spouse or a loved one who
17:44
is going to be able to come in and do that shopping
17:46
on their behalf. We certainly welcome that opportunity
17:50
to get food to the right people. Right on. Tell
18:01
me about the FORKids Backpack Program. Yeah,
18:04
the Four Kids Backpack Program is one that I
18:06
have to say I'm just in awe of what we're able
18:09
to accomplish through this because this particular
18:11
program is completely unfunded, meaning this
18:14
is a genuine labor of love from the community
18:17
to make this happen. And what this is is that
18:19
we work closely with the elementary schools in
18:23
Tumwater, North Thurston, and Olympia School
18:25
District to identify if there are families or
18:28
individuals that would benefit from being able
18:31
to take on Friday a bag full of food home for
18:34
the weekend. We recognize that many children
18:37
get their basic nutrition, their breakfast and
18:39
lunch, as a part of the free and reduced lunch
18:41
programs at their schools. And we are concerned
18:44
about what's going to happen for them on the
18:46
weekends. In fact, we're coming up on spring
18:48
break here in those school districts, and so
18:51
we're actually preparing larger bags that they'll
18:53
be able to take home for that spring break week.
18:56
But between those three school districts with
18:58
the multiple schools, what happens is we order
19:01
food, volunteers come in and they build these
19:04
bags, and then volunteers help us deliver them
19:06
out to the elementary schools where they're delivered
19:09
to school counselors who then make sure they
19:10
get into the hands of the right folks. On an
19:13
average week, we are distributing close to
19:15
2200 bags of food. Wow. And that goes along with
19:20
the summer lunch program, too, is often paid
19:28
for through a contract with the Office of Superintendent
19:30
of Public Instruction. So when they're not serving
19:34
lunches through the schools, they're supporting
19:38
us in serving those same lunches. And what we
19:41
do is we go out to neighborhood centers, apartment
19:45
complexes, and bring lunch. Um, I went out on
19:50
a couple of those, pretty new last summer, but
19:52
I did a couple of summer lunches and we'd go
19:53
out park in the parking lot. We'd have a cooler
19:56
full of sandwiches and chips and water and all
19:58
kinds of stuff for lunch fruit. Um, and the kids
20:01
would come, they would, we'd pass out food. Um,
20:04
the Anna Min who runs that program for us had,
20:07
I think a hula hoop and some hot scotch for us
20:09
to play with the kids while we were hanging out
20:11
and making sure that everybody got lunch. But
20:13
that's a great way for us to engage those same
20:16
families in the off season. Wow, that's awesome.
20:20
And then you talked about the veterans earlier.
20:24
You go into that a little bit more? So specifically
20:27
if we're talking about the garden situation in
20:30
Lacey, when that was built originally back in
20:35
around 2019 when they started that project, the
20:38
idea of the garden was always that it would be
20:40
a veterans garden. Lacey is certainly a military
20:44
community, a large percentage of our neighbors
20:46
in that are active or retired military. And
20:51
we recognize that we want to give back to them
20:54
as a part of our community as well. And so when
20:56
we built that garden, the idea was we would have
20:58
veterans working on it. And we work closely with
21:00
the Lacey Veterans Hub. It's one of our satellites.
21:03
But recently the excitement was, is that the
21:05
Veterans Court wanted to really take a leadership
21:07
role with regard to that garden because we had
21:10
missed the summer and no one worked in that
21:13
last summer. So it was pretty overgrown out there.
21:16
But this group has really taken ownership of
21:19
it. We signed an agreement saying that they would
21:21
access that we would support them and they would
21:23
support us with the food that is produced there.
21:26
And they've already really got it cleaned up.
21:29
And, you know, as we're getting into spring here,
21:31
it's starting to look ready for planting. And
21:33
I am, I'm hopeful that by the end of this summer,
21:35
we will be talking about how much food we were
21:38
able to harvest on our own property to put right
21:40
back out into the community. That's awesome.
21:43
That's awesome. And you also have the Full Other
21:49
Bank and the Partial Other Bank. Yeah, I can
21:53
tell that you read that from our website. There's
21:54
actually an update to this. So Other Bank is
21:57
non -food items. Other Bank really focuses on
22:00
the idea that we are providing folks with personal
22:03
hygiene items, cleaning supplies, other ways
22:07
to help them kind of reduce their costs. For
22:10
a while, we used to do other bank on the second
22:13
week of the month where people could come in
22:14
and get a Full Other bank visit. But we recognize
22:17
that that really limited opportunity for some
22:20
families. And so we always have a goal of lowering
22:23
barriers and increasing access. So we determined
22:26
that instead of having another bank visit on
22:31
that one limited opportunity, that we would just
22:33
make it a part of a Full or a Supplemental visit.
22:37
So that's where you start to see this kind of
22:38
language changing around. So I'm hopeful, we're
22:42
hopeful. We've only been doing this for a few
22:43
months and we started at the beginning of 2026
22:45
and we're really trying to monitor it because
22:47
by making it available more often, obviously
22:49
that's going to move more product for us. And
22:53
so we're paying a lot of attention to what that
22:55
looks like, but so far we feel really good about
22:59
the idea that we're going to be able to make
23:00
that more accessible and still provide a meaningful
23:03
support for people. Awesome. And what kind of
23:07
non -food items do they have at that other bank?
23:11
Yeah. So, for example, I know we just got a huge
23:15
donation from a company called Ecos. They provided
23:17
us with laundry sheets. This is laundry soap
23:20
that comes, almost looks like, they look like
23:22
dryer sheets, but they're soap. Wow, like the
23:23
True Earth and stuff like that. Exactly. They
23:27
provided us with a whole pallet and we have folks
23:29
repacking those. So laundry soap is something
23:31
we're certainly got in there now. We are really
23:33
trying to pay attention to certain items like
23:35
paper towels, toilet paper. When we can, as many
23:41
personal hygiene items, we get lots of donations
23:44
of things like toothbrushes, razors. And those
23:47
are things that we find are. generally available
23:49
in the community for folks. So we're really trying
23:52
to pay attention to more cleaning supplies and
23:54
personal hygiene items that we don't find as
23:56
frequently through other opportunities. The Other
23:59
Bank is something that the Thurston County Food
24:02
Bank took on, I think in 2019. It was... run
24:07
by the YWCA for many, many years. I was going
24:09
to ask you about that because I did interview
24:12
Allie Mewing with YWCA and she had mentioned
24:16
OtherBank as well and I wondered if that was
24:18
the same thing. It is the same Other Bank. I don't...
24:21
personally know the history of what transitioned
24:23
it from that organization to this organization.
24:25
But it seemed like a good match for us. We have..
24:28
we're able to dedicate some warehouse space to
24:31
it and actually able to use some donor dollars
24:33
to go out and purchase whatever items we're not
24:36
able to necessarily get in through that donation
24:38
space. And hopefully it's getting to the right
24:41
people at the right time. And you have the newborn
24:45
bags, blankets and hats, baby supplies, birthday
24:48
bags and school break programs. Yep. So the School
24:52
Break program, that's what I was talking about
24:54
with regard to like, for example, the upcoming
24:55
spring break. Our bags will be a little richer,
24:58
a little fuller. We do the same thing around
25:00
the winter holiday break- Spring and Winter Activity
25:03
Bags. Exactly. So we try to provide. a little
25:07
more food than we would for a standard weekend
25:09
bag, but also try to provide some activities.
25:11
If we can, we'll add school supplies or other
25:14
items so that the kids feel like they have something
25:17
to do during that week as well. Awesome. The
25:19
other ones you mentioned? Yeah, you've got the
25:22
newborn bags, blankets and hats, baby supplies.
25:27
Yep, and that's what I was talking about too.
25:28
As we get to know our families, and we're just
25:30
so lucky that this community just cares so deeply.
25:34
I know that there's a group out of Panorama City
25:36
that does a lot of quilting, and they provide
25:39
us with little baby blankets, booties, hats.
25:41
So when we do have newborns, we're able to pass
25:43
those along to those families. And then the birthday
25:47
bags, I think, was the other one you mentioned,
25:48
which I did talk about just briefly, which is
25:50
really just us trying to be mindful and attentive
25:53
to the families that we serve. And, you know,
25:56
one of the things we talk about a lot around
25:58
here is service, you know, and what that really
26:00
means to be of service. And something like the
26:03
birthday bag gives us an opportunity to step
26:05
out in front of the need and really try to support
26:08
the family in a way that maybe they weren't even
26:10
necessarily expecting, but that we hope is meaningful.
26:14
Yeah. And I had interviewed the Family Support
26:17
Center previously as well. And I know that they
26:22
have a similar thing where they're doing like
26:27
birthday stuff and they've got like blankets
26:31
and things for babies and whatever. And I ran
26:35
into Maija Glasier-Lawson down there working
26:39
with the volunteers as well. And so I'm wondering
26:43
if there's a connection there. Yeah, I think
26:45
one of the things that we're really trying to
26:47
do now, too, is really look at who else is providing
26:50
services and how we support each other. You know,
26:53
we hear a lot of terms like a community hub,
26:57
and we do have a resource hub, for example, here
26:58
in Thurston County or the Veterans Hub out in
27:01
Lacey, you know, where someone can kind of come
27:03
in and get full wraparound services and all the
27:06
supports they need. And we know that's probably
27:08
not realistic for any one organization to be
27:10
successful at all of it, nor would it make a
27:13
lot of sense. So things like our birthday bags
27:15
and our baby support is really on the periphery
27:20
of what we do. And if somebody really needed
27:22
more assistance with that, then the Family Support
27:25
Center would probably be a better referral than
27:27
would the Thurston County Food Bank. But we know
27:29
we've got you there. You're here picking up your
27:31
groceries. Let us give you a little extra so
27:33
we can make sure you get that support as well.
27:35
Okay, right on. You have a Regional Distribution
27:50
Organization, Gleaning program, Agriculture programs.
27:55
What's up with all that food rescue? Yeah, well,
27:58
let's start with the agricultural stuff because
28:00
that's kind of fun. So locally, the Olympia Kiwanis
28:03
Club has multiple properties, including some
28:07
space on the Capitol campus and a couple other
28:09
acres on the West Side and in East Olympia, where
28:12
they are growing food specifically to donate
28:15
to the Thurston County Food Bank. Last summer,
28:19
the Kiwanis Club of Olympia produced just short
28:21
of 60 ,000 pounds of produce that we were able
28:25
to distribute through our farm stand, our satellites,
28:28
and our pantries. That is so much food, I
28:33
mean, that we didn't have to go out and purchase.
28:34
And when you think about 60 ,000 pounds of things
28:36
like peas and carrots, you get an idea about
28:38
how much food this really is that we're talking
28:40
about. So that's been a really important connection.
28:43
We also have had contracts in the past, and this
28:46
is one of the things that unfortunately I think
28:48
is changing as we're seeing our federal and state
28:50
funding shift, but we had contracts that allowed
28:53
us to purchase directly from the farm. What they
28:55
were talking about was farm to food bank, farm
28:57
to food pantry contracts, where we're utilizing
29:00
local Washington -based farmers to purchase
29:03
things like milk and eggs and protein, and then
29:06
being able to bring that straight into the food
29:08
bank. And we were really grateful for those programs.
29:12
On the agricultural front as well, you asked
29:14
about gleaning. Thurston County Food Bank previously
29:18
did have a formal gleaning program where we had
29:22
staff that were actually out looking at farms
29:25
and large community gardens, and we're able to
29:28
access food and then bring in whatever wasn't
29:31
going to get sold from that farm. That's kind
29:34
of fallen away. We don't have as much of the
29:35
agricultural support as we used to in that category,
29:38
but we have great community interest in a gleaning
29:41
program. And so we're actually right now kind
29:43
of trying to figure out what that's going to
29:44
look like. But we're going to be relying, I think,
29:47
on volunteers to really help support us gleaning
29:50
from both commercial farms, but also from local
29:53
gardens. Just one more example, St. Mark's Church
29:57
out on College Street, Lacey, has large community
30:00
garden space. And kind of one of their deals
30:03
is if you want to grow, if you want to get some
30:05
space in that garden, that's fine. You can do
30:07
that, but you have to also commit to working
30:10
this other plot that is specifically for the
30:12
Thurston County Food Bank. And so they produce
30:14
a lot of food for us through this kind of shared
30:16
program with all their members of their congregation,
30:19
and actually, according to.. I was talking to the
30:21
pastor of that church, it's really some from
30:24
the congregation, but largely folks from all
30:26
over the community who just want to come in and
30:28
help grow food. That's awesome. That's awesome.
30:38
Where do you get all of your food? Yeah, great
30:42
question. So our food really comes primarily
30:45
from... three different sources. One of that
30:48
is the government. And I'd say that covers probably
30:50
about 25 to 30 % of the food that we receive
30:53
comes directly from government contracts. So
30:55
I meant that CSFP Senior box, they send us probably
30:59
about 80 % of the food that we actually end up
31:01
going into those boxes where it comes directly
31:03
from those programs. And that also would include
31:07
things like what they call The Emergency Food
31:09
Assistance Program, or what we refer to as TEFAP,
31:11
which are specific foods that the government
31:13
is buying either directly from food manufacturers
31:16
or from retailers to help push out into food
31:21
banks across the state. In addition to the government
31:25
supplied food, we also have food that is really
31:27
donated, and that quotes about, probably close
31:29
to 60 % of our food. The 60 % of our food that's
31:33
donated, a lot of it comes from the community
31:35
where we might have somebody who keeps a barrel
31:37
out of the store and they're just donating food
31:39
to us on a regular. But it also includes our
31:41
partners at Northwest Harvest and Food Lifeline,
31:45
where we might get food. Actually, with our partners
31:48
at Food Lifeline, for example, we receive multiple
31:51
truckloads of food on a weekly basis. And you
31:54
had also asked about the Regional Distribution
31:56
Organization? Because we have this large warehouse
31:59
and we have this relationship with Food Lifeline,
32:03
that donated food that comes in from Food Lifeline
32:06
is then distributed out to that four -county
32:08
area in addition to being a part of the food
32:11
that we distribute. And then the last place the
32:13
food comes from is we have to purchase it. And
32:16
that's why when people often ask, how can we
32:18
support the food bank? And we're always grateful
32:20
for people doing food drives. We're always grateful
32:23
for people who want to volunteer their time and
32:25
their energy. But at the end of the day, money
32:28
allows me to purchase and fill in the gaps because
32:31
maybe this month Food Lifeline is going to send
32:33
me a whole bunch of produce and fruit, but maybe
32:36
they're not going to send me eggs and butter.
32:38
So maybe I have to go out and purchase whatever
32:39
it takes to ensure that every station on the
32:43
floor of our pantries and every box that we
32:45
deliver through a satellite has the full cadre
32:48
of foods that somebody would expect to receive.
32:51
Awesome. And what are those counties again, those
32:53
extra counties? Yep. So we have formal relationships
32:56
with Thurston, Lewis, Mason, and Kitsap counties
33:00
where we're distributing food either for Food
33:02
Lifeline or for the Washington State Department
33:04
of Agriculture. And so those counties are also
33:07
going to use that that they get from you for
33:10
their food banks as well. Right. Those partnerships
33:14
actually... so we are, as Thurston County Food
33:16
Bank, two food pantries and 19 satellites. But
33:20
when I add up all the other partners that receive
33:22
food, that's another 48 ways that food is being
33:26
distributed across that four -county region.
33:29
Wow. Wow. You're talking about collaborating
33:34
with different organizations. Have you worked
33:37
with GRuB at all? Sure. One of my first people
33:42
to reach out to when I started this job was to
33:43
reach out to Deb over at GRuB just to kind of
33:47
understand, you know, how they're working and
33:49
what they're growing and supporting and where
33:51
do we cross over. I know we both had it.. concerns
33:55
back in July when I'd started because SNAP education
33:59
was eliminated from the federal budget as a part
34:02
of HR1, where we both had staff at that time
34:05
that were reliant on those dollars for their
34:07
position. And I know we've had to make hard choices
34:09
as a result of those changes. In addition to GRuB,
34:12
I would also toss out the Olympia School District's
34:15
Freedom Farm. I don't know if you're familiar
34:17
with those guys, but there is actually high school
34:19
programming happening on a farm in Olympia. And
34:23
people are spending their full day on that farm,
34:25
learning to grow food and getting all of their
34:27
high school credits so they can graduate at the
34:29
same time. Oh, wow. It's a really impressive
34:31
and very cool program. Yeah. Yeah. And are you
34:35
familiar with... It's this gentleman, Chris Hyde
34:39
of Super Sunday, the Food Source Foundation?
34:42
Yeah. Chris and I have traded many emails. We
34:44
actually sat the other night across the table
34:46
from one another and chatted about how and where
34:49
our opportunities to partner really are. One
34:52
of the things that I think about, you know, I
34:54
mentioned our mission statement is to eliminate
34:57
hunger in the spirit of neighbors helping neighbors.
35:01
Eliminating hunger doesn't necessarily always
35:02
mean a food pantry. And there's a certain portion
35:05
of this community that if I gave them a bag of
35:07
groceries, that's not going to mean as much to
35:09
them. What they need is a meal. What they want
35:11
is ready to eat foods. And I think we can collaborate
35:13
with organizations like the Super Sunday folks,
35:16
like the food source projects to really say,
35:18
let's do this kind of assessment of where we
35:22
are, where the needs are, and are we meeting
35:24
them in the best way possible? Are there ways
35:26
we could be more efficient? Because I don't...
35:29
When I see all the different groups out there,
35:30
and it surprised me a little bit as I got into
35:32
this food security work, like there's so many
35:34
different groups out there that it's not hard
35:36
to step on each other's toes. Yeah, there's a
35:39
lot of crossover. I had interviewed Gabbi with
35:43
Gabby's Kids. And at that time, there's Hugs
35:46
QT Food Pantry, LGBTQ space upstairs there.
35:52
They're doing a food distribution. Yep. Exactly.
35:55
And it's great that we have all these different
35:57
groups doing this. But I believe that if we are
36:00
all more attentive to one another and we get
36:02
to know each other.. So I'm on a... I've been here,
36:05
like I said, for about eight months and I've
36:06
spent really the first, large portion of that
36:08
getting to know the organization, really focused
36:10
internally, getting to know the staff, getting
36:12
to understand how things work here. But as I've
36:15
kind of started to have that better understanding,
36:16
I'm really excited about building some of those
36:19
external communications and really figuring out
36:22
how we partner with everyone from the cities
36:24
and the jurisdictions, the neighborhood associations,
36:27
organizations like Super Sunday, really anybody
36:30
who wants to help us address food insecurity,
36:32
I want to be at that table too. Awesome. And
36:35
you also give out pet food. Yeah. Yeah. We have
36:39
a relationship with the Thurston County Humane
36:41
Society, which allows us to access quite a bit
36:46
of pet food, dog and cat food. And when folks
36:48
come through our pantry, you know, when they
36:50
come in for that Full or Supplemental visit, one
36:52
of the stops that they're going to get is at
36:54
the pet food counter. And if they have needs,
36:57
we're happy to help make sure that their pets
37:00
get fed first. And we know that, and I know for
37:02
myself, if I was in that situation and it was
37:04
a question of me or my best friend, I'm going
37:07
to make sure that my puppy eats too. Yeah. Yeah.
37:11
That's definitely people's animals, when you're
37:15
in a low income survival mode situation, your
37:18
animal is like a lifeline for you. So that's
37:22
really important. Absolutely. Yeah. Let's see.
37:26
Y 'all are on Mottman Road. And just down the
37:30
street a little ways from you is New Horizons,
37:33
Quixote Village. I'm wondering if y 'all are in
37:38
communication, if y 'all work with each other
37:41
at all? Absolutely. I don't know if we consider
37:45
them a formal satellite site or if we consider
37:48
them an informal satellite site, but we certainly
37:50
have. been supporting the efforts of the folks
37:55
who are trying to keep that community going and
37:57
making sure that the folks who are staying there,
37:58
living there, transitioning through there, have
38:01
what they need to make it. So yeah, we're certainly
38:04
engaged, at least through being able to provide
38:07
food and access to food for folks living there.
38:09
Yeah, they're working on doing their own growing
38:12
their food as well, so I thought about
38:15
that. I'd mention this one too then, just a little
38:18
further around the corner is the Juvenile Detention
38:20
Center. Oh, really? And the juvenile court and
38:22
the family court, they also have a huge garden
38:24
that grows a bunch of food for the Thurston County
38:26
Food Bank. And we are fortunate to have them
38:28
as laborers as well. That's so lovely and productive.
38:33
They say that the kids who get engaged out there
38:37
from the detention center into the gardens are
38:39
the ones who they don't see problems for. Once
38:43
they have that sense of purpose and that sense
38:44
of opportunity to give back, then it really is
38:47
a great program for them, as well as obviously
38:49
providing food for us. That's awesome. Okay.
38:52
Community Hub. One of the things that is kind
38:56
of exciting is our project out in Lacey, that
38:58
farm stand building out in Lacey. We recently
39:01
received a grant from the Department of Housing
39:05
and Urban Development at the federal level. And
39:08
that grant is intended to help us make some capital
39:10
improvements and physical improvements to that
39:12
Lacey property. And so the big thing we want
39:14
to do is we want to transform that farm stand
39:16
since it's not the right size for actually distributing
39:19
food, we want to turn that into a community hub,
39:22
which would mean that when someone comes out
39:25
to the Lacey food pantry to do some shopping,
39:27
that hopefully we would have in that building
39:29
right next door, additional resources. So, for
39:33
example, I could imagine that during open enrollment,
39:35
perhaps the Washington Health Benefits Exchange
39:37
is out there tabling and helping people sign
39:39
up for benefits. If it's a housing provider or
39:42
additional services through DSHS or whatever,
39:45
that we're able to kind of make our property
39:48
and their trip to the food bank a one -stop shopping
39:52
opportunity. Oh, yeah. And y 'all do help people
39:56
with their EBT food stamp application paperwork,
40:01
too. One of the things I'm super proud of to
40:04
have learned that we have here at the Thurston
40:05
County Food Bank is a team of client advocates.
40:09
And as I've looked at other models, not every
40:11
food bank and food pantry have this kind of dedicated
40:14
positions, but we're fortunate to have these
40:16
positions where really the client advocacy team
40:19
stays up to date to the best of their ability
40:21
with all of the resources across the county.
40:24
They're regularly having meetings and connecting
40:26
with other nonprofits and human service organizations
40:29
so that when a client does come in if they express
40:32
any kind of need that we would have the opportunity
40:34
to direct them to those right resources additionally
40:38
that that team is bilingual that they have again
40:43
the depth of knowledge and they are just a really
40:45
compassionate group of folks who really are dedicated
40:48
to making our mission move forward. That's awesome.
40:53
You have online community resources library.
40:56
It's like kind of a list of different resources
41:00
that y 'all have there. So we participate as
41:03
an organization in an event called Well Fed,
41:06
Well Read, where we partner with the South Sound
41:09
Reading Foundation. And we raise both books that
41:13
they get to distribute and food that we get to
41:15
distribute. In fact, one of my favorite days
41:17
is to go out to the Lacey Pantry when the South
41:21
Sound Reading Foundation is there, because they
41:22
will actually set up a table in the pantry, and
41:25
as families come through, you know, actually,
41:28
it's kind of funny because the where the books
41:31
are is kind of right at the beginning, which
41:33
is also kind of where you end if you walk through
41:35
there, and so sometimes we'll see a family come
41:37
in and the kids will all disappear into the books.
41:40
The mom or dad will walk around the rest of the
41:43
shop and come back and pick up the kids when
41:45
they're done and maybe a couple of books for
41:46
them to take home. Oh, that's really nice and
41:48
convenient. Yeah. I like that. Ya'll offer
41:51
recipes. Yeah. So I mentioned that GRuB and ourselves
41:55
had kind of suffered some losses when the
41:59
SNAP education funding went away. And we used
42:02
to utilize the SNAP education funding to have
42:05
staff on site that were doing really nutrition
42:07
education. And so they would look at recipes
42:11
in general for folks, but also really paying
42:13
attention to recipes that might be pertinent
42:15
to the food that we actually have to distribute
42:17
today. A great example of that was at one point
42:21
we received a large donation of Danish squash.
42:23
And I don't know if you know what a Danish squash
42:25
looks like. I didn't, but they're large. dark
42:28
acorn looking things that are probably about
42:30
the size of a football. Now I'll tell you, if
42:33
I had seen one sitting there, I would have walked
42:34
right past it in the grocery store. I had no
42:36
idea, but our educators went out and they figured
42:39
that out, if you cut one in half and bake it
42:41
with some brown sugar and some butter, it's fantastic.
42:44
And so they did that and they had it out there
42:46
for people to try as they were coming through
42:48
the pantry. And of course we had the squash,
42:50
we had the brown sugar, we had the butter. It's
43:00
really good that y 'all are able to help people
43:04
regardless of whether or not they are on food
43:08
assistance or SNAP programs, because some people,
43:12
they make too much to qualify for food benefits,
43:17
but not quite enough to be able to buy the food
43:20
that they need at home. So this is a really great
43:23
backup. Yeah, that's certainly how we see it
43:26
as well. I mean, low barrier is baked into
43:29
everything that we do. But I think it's really
43:31
is important to recognize that even somebody
43:34
working a full -time job... I- after I took this
43:37
job, I got reached out to by a friend of mine
43:39
who I've known as a professional her whole life,
43:43
but she was describing to me when she was younger
43:45
and had her three sons at home and still was
43:48
trying to make ends meet, that like when one of
43:51
them wanted to play football in high school,
43:53
she recognized that the only way she was going
43:55
to be able to do that was to reduce her bills.
43:57
And the way she was going to do that was by utilizing
43:59
her local food bank. So she wanted to share that
44:01
story with me just so I could understand kind
44:03
of the ripple effect of what the opportunity
44:06
to reduce that food... And the other thing I would
44:08
mention too is that even in Lacey, last year,
44:12
I saw for the first time ever, uniformed military
44:15
personnel in line to get food at our food bank.
44:19
This is when the SNAP suspension and the government
44:22
shutdown was occurring. And so I don't think
44:25
there should be any limitation if someone feels
44:27
strongly enough that they need food, that they're
44:30
willing to come stand in our line and go through
44:32
our check -in station, that they need food. That
44:35
should be the qualification. For sure. Do y 'all
44:37
have any upcoming events? Are y 'all going to
44:41
be at Arts Walk? We are going to be open for
44:43
Arts Walk this year. We're very excited about
44:45
that. We'll be open on just the Friday night
44:47
of the spring Arts Walk. We're going to open
44:48
up and we'll have art from some of our, I believe
44:52
from some of our customers as well as from some
44:53
of our volunteers. And if all goes well, there
44:57
might even be a Thurston County food band playing
45:01
in the corner, which if we get around to practicing,
45:04
that is. Yeah, I look around in here and I see
45:07
a guitar and I see some little banjo. What is
45:12
that? Is that a banjo? That is a three -string
45:15
cigar box banjo, yes. Oh, wow. You've got some
45:19
awards over there on the wall. You sound like
45:23
you're an Arbutus folk school kind of guy. I
45:27
have spent some time at Arbutus! You're doing the
45:29
Old Time Fest thing. I've been to Oly Fest (Old Time Oly Fest). I used to
45:32
go to Arbutus open mic. I think they just restarted
45:34
them recently. I should pick that back up. That's
45:36
awesome. Okay. We're going to jam with the executive
45:39
director. Yes, I'll look for him. And you have
45:43
a Hunger Walk coming up in May. Yep. In May,
45:47
I believe it's May 3rd. We have the Hunger Walk
45:49
coming up, and that will be held out at the Regional
45:51
Athletic Complex in Lacey This is really an opportunity
45:56
for the community to come and help support not
45:59
just the food bank, because we partner on this
46:00
event with Catholic Community Services Community
46:03
Kitchen. They're folks who do meals for folks
46:06
who are in need. And we work together to have
46:08
this walk. It used to be known as the Crop Walk
46:10
here in Olympia. It was a huge event that would
46:12
happen on that first Sunday in May. It's transformed
46:15
quite a bit. We call it the Hunger Walk now, and its
46:18
at the park out there in Lacey, and what folks
46:21
do is they can sign up to participate in the
46:23
walk. They can do that where they make a choice
46:27
to donate as a part of their walk, or they can
46:29
go out and get folks to sponsor them as they
46:31
walk. We're currently working with local businesses
46:33
to sponsor the entire event. And when folks come
46:36
out there, it should be kind of an exciting day
46:38
of people gathering, hearing a little bit of
46:40
information about what this effort is for, who
46:43
we're going to be helping and supporting. And
46:45
then we'll have an opportunity to take a nice
46:47
long walk around the park and hear- and I think
46:50
there is going to be music out there. I think
46:52
we'll have a marching band.. that might even be
46:53
a part of it. So it's a pretty fun day of really
46:57
kind of celebrating the community coming together
46:59
to help one another. That's awesome. And you're
47:01
going to be announcing more about that when
47:04
it gets closer to the day? Yep, I believe right
47:07
now we have on our website a Save the Date for
47:10
the 3rd of May, but as we get a little closer,
47:14
we'll have more information there about how you
47:15
can register for the walk or how you can donate
47:18
if that's what you're interested in. Now, how
47:21
can people get involved? So that could be, we
47:25
talked a little bit about donating food or money
47:28
or stuff for Other Bank, but what is the process?
47:33
Yeah, that's great. So it's a really good question.
47:36
And I'll tell you that, you know, I mentioned
47:38
our kind of the second half of our mission statement
47:40
is in the spirit of neighbors helping neighbors.
47:42
And that I can see demonstrated all across this
47:45
community when I look at the kind of support
47:46
we receive. First thing that I would mention
47:49
is, you know, time. In 2025, we just got these
47:52
numbers, we clocked over 50 ,000 hours of volunteer
47:56
time from the community. That's the equivalent
47:58
of... 280 full -time employees that were just
48:02
donated to us and we have volunteers who are
48:05
incredibly consistent. You know the ones who are
48:08
going to run the egg counter every week at that
48:11
pantry on that day. That's their station. We're
48:13
super grateful for them. So that's an important
48:15
thing. We have volunteers who come and pick up
48:16
the bags that get delivered out to the schools
48:19
or come build the boxes that get delivered out
48:21
to seniors. We have volunteers. We have a group
48:24
of volunteers that I really appreciate who are
48:27
mostly retired state employees who were kind
48:30
of spreadsheet nerds that help us with our data
48:33
input as well, so it's great to have all those
48:36
kinds of different volunteers from all the variety
48:38
of ways that they can engage. with us. In addition
48:41
to time, of course, food is what we do. And so
48:44
we've had a number of different organizations
48:46
locally that are putting together food drives
48:49
that are out there trying to build up... and oftentimes
48:52
if folks really want to do a food drive, I'd
48:54
encourage you to think about reaching out to
48:56
us and ask us what we need, because then we can
48:58
make sure that we're lining up that food with
49:02
the community need as well. And I can say, you
49:05
know, in general, we always need things like
49:07
canned proteins. We always need help getting
49:12
things that maybe fall into some of those dietary
49:14
restriction categories, culturally appropriate
49:17
foods. If you have things that you believe would
49:19
be helpful to certain communities, we would love
49:22
to be able to distribute those kinds of things
49:24
as well. So that's some of the ways that people
49:27
can do food drives. And then, of course, money,
49:29
you know, because to donate to us, again, allows
49:33
us to kind of fill in those gaps, as well as
49:36
oftentimes governmental contracts or grants don't
49:39
always cover the full cost of things. They're
49:42
happy to pay for the food, but maybe not as happy
49:44
to pay for the labor that's going to stock that
49:46
food on the shelf. So we talked a lot about what
49:49
food y 'all do provide and are able to receive
49:54
in donation, but what kind of food are y 'all
49:58
not able to distribute? Sure. Yeah. So the food
50:03
that we distribute, I mean, we have folks who
50:05
bring in produce directly out of their own garden
50:07
and we're able to redistribute that. We're not
50:10
necessarily able to redistribute if you were
50:12
to bake a loaf of bread in your home without
50:15
it being in a commercial kitchen. So produce
50:17
is a little different than say something that
50:19
you were going to cook or bake. Things that maybe
50:21
you canned or jarred are things that we're not
50:24
going to, because we won't have an expiration
50:25
date necessarily on those. They're not commercially
50:28
produced. What if a person happened to have a
50:33
Cottage Food license? that would be a very different
50:36
story then. That would be okay then. I believe
50:39
so. I'd want to double check with our process.
50:43
But yeah, I mean, that's exactly, we just need
50:45
some kind of oversight to say that this food
50:47
was appropriately prepared, was appropriately
50:49
packaged, and we can feel solid about giving
50:51
out that food through our plan. Okay. And then
51:01
volunteering, what are all the different positions?
51:05
How does one become a volunteer? Great question.
51:10
So certainly if someone's interested in volunteering,
51:12
they can go to our website or they can come by
51:15
any of our locations and there will be opportunity
51:17
to learn more about volunteer positions. In
51:22
our pantries, we need folks to help us from setting
51:25
up at the beginning of the day, helping customers
51:28
navigate and work their way through the shop,
51:30
restocking shelves.. we have volunteers that help
51:33
with parking both downtown and in Olympia or
51:36
in Lacey, helping support people as they go get
51:39
their car, bring it back and help load their
51:40
groceries. So that's some of the pantry work
51:43
that we do in the warehouse. There's so much,
51:46
there's always something going on. What did we
51:48
see? Three volunteer groups as we walked up here
51:51
today, building our Ready to Eat bags, building
51:54
our Basic Food bags, building those Senior boxes,
51:57
the FORKids programs, driving food from one
52:00
location to another, helping get those out to
52:04
the schools, just being that kind of. conduit
52:07
between our warehouse and our satellites. Those
52:09
are some really important volunteer jobs. And
52:11
I should mention that all of the 19 satellites
52:13
are volunteer run. So that's another great group
52:17
of folks who are supporting us that way. People
52:19
at the Evergreen State College, I don't know
52:21
what the volunteer need is at your satellite
52:24
food pantry, but I would imagine there's always
52:26
some level of need. Do you have any paid jobs
52:29
and internship positions? Yeah, so we do. We
52:33
have a couple of internships, unpaid internships
52:35
that are happening. right now with students,
52:37
I believe, from the Evergreen State College.
52:39
We have a couple of AmeriCorps positions that
52:42
we have filled, and we will soon be launching
52:44
some more as we get toward this later in the
52:48
spring and early summer. We'll be putting out
52:50
announcements for those. And we do employ 32
52:52
individuals in a variety of roles, from myself
52:55
as the executive director to a team of drivers
52:58
that help move our food around the county and
53:01
everything in between, from Lacey operations
53:04
to Olympia operations, warehouse management,
53:07
human resources development, all the things you
53:10
would expect in an organization. And, you know,
53:12
in my time here, which has been pretty brief,
53:15
we have posted and hired for I'd say three or
53:20
four positions just because of natural turnover
53:23
or retirements. So certainly if someone's interested
53:27
in the work that we're doing, you know, pay attention.
53:30
We don't get jobs all the time, paid jobs all
53:32
the time, but there certainly are opportunities.
53:34
I did notice on the website there's a volunteer
53:38
training. Right. Actually, that's a great point.
53:40
So if you are interested in volunteering, we
53:42
do try to hold a couple of volunteer orientations
53:45
every month, either in Olympia or Lacey or sometimes
53:48
here in our warehouse. But it's just an opportunity
53:50
for folks to come and learn more about what it
53:52
would mean to volunteer. It's usually about an
53:55
hour, hour and a half. And one of the volunteer
53:57
coordinators just kind of walk through in greater
53:59
detail. And they're just smarter about this than
54:01
I am about what are the actual tasks that are
54:04
happening on the day. So like an info session.
54:07
Yeah, exactly. And at the end. of that session,
54:09
I'm sure they'd be happy to help you get signed
54:11
up. We do have an online tool called, I think
54:15
it's called Volunteer Local, where we ask folks
54:17
to register. And then when you come in and you
54:19
sign in for your shifts, it's kind of like a
54:20
little time card. It just allows us to make sure
54:22
that we're clocking those hours as in -kind contributions
54:25
to the organization. Y 'all are a large organization.
54:29
There's a lot of people and moving parts to keep
54:32
track of. So I could see why you have it that
54:35
way. Is there anything else you would like to
54:45
share? Well, I think we've covered, you know,
54:48
a lot of the work that we do here at the food
54:50
bank. I think what's been interesting for me,
54:53
you know, settling into this role is really recognizing,
54:57
like you were saying, how much we're doing. I
55:00
mean, it's more than just a food pantry. When
55:02
I tell people I took a job with the Thurston
55:04
County Food Bank, they're often confused and
55:06
think I work for the county, which we don't.
55:08
We're a standalone 501c3, or they assume that
55:11
I must work in that downtown Olympia food pantry.
55:13
which is again, only one of the three buildings
55:16
that we operate. So I think, you know, kind of
55:19
the one thing I would really want to say to the
55:22
folks who are going to hear this interview is
55:24
thank you. This community has done such a great
55:28
job of supporting our work. We only get to do
55:32
what we do because the community cares, because
55:35
there are investments from local government,
55:37
because there's from state government, and that
55:39
people show up on a regular basis to support
55:42
the work that we do. Somebody asked me after
55:45
a couple of months if I knew what the job was
55:48
yet. And I said, I'm pretty convinced that my
55:51
job right now is to stand in awe and wonder
55:55
at the amazing things our staff and volunteers
55:57
make happen every day. That's awesome. Thank
56:02
you so much, John. My pleasure. I really enjoyed
56:11
the tour John gave me of the giant Food Distribution
56:14
Warehouse down Mottman Road. You can see a few
56:17
pics on our social media and check out more pics
56:20
and info at tcfb.org for pantry times, days, and info on satellite sites,
56:39
volunteering, donating, and more. That's it for today's resource
56:43
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56:46
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56:49
and support to achieve their goals and thrive in their communities.
56:52
Our mission is to bridge the gaps in understanding,
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57:02
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57:10
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57:13
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57:22
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57:25
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57:28
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