Looking back, looking ahead

2011 was quite a year for FISH, and we continue to be immensely grateful for all the friends, volunteers, donors and supporters who make our work possible.

A few highlights:

• In 2011 we served more than 450,000 Pierce County residents, a 25% increase over 2010.
• We distributed approximately 7,500,000 pounds of donated food.
• We added a new food bank: Key Peninsula Lutheran Church joined our organization in April and is now Key Peninsula FISH. 
• With generous support from The Thompson Foundation and Mountain Construction, we added 1,000 square feet of badly-needed storage space at Southeast FISH. 
• Under the leadership of board member Mike Mowat, we began piloting a mobile food bank project designed to reach pockets of poverty around the county where there is high need and no nearby food bank.

And we're already planning big things for 2012:

• The mobile food bank is now serving at three different sites each week, with more to be added: Giaudrone Middle School (Mondays 4:30-6:30 p.m.), Bethel High School (Wednesdays 4:30-6:30 p.m.) and Northeast Tacoma Elementary School (Fridays 4:30-6:00 p.m.).
• Our board of directors is planning its first fundraising event. The dance, featuring the music of Daryl and the Diptones, will be held on Saturday, April 28 at the Landmark Convention Center in Tacoma.
• Thanks to a new and growing partnership with Bethel School District, we will be opening a new food bank in July 2012 on the campus of the former Spanaway Elementary School.

It's going to be another big year, so keep watching this space for more news!

More from the mobile food bank

Our partners at Grace Place Church, which is hosting the mobile food bank on Fridays from 12-2 pm, posted some video from the dedication on Oct. 14.

Grace Place is located at 3801 S. Union in Tacoma.

Take a look at our new mobile food bank

Our new mobile food bank made a very successful debut last week with stops at Grace Place Church, where Pastor Danny Thomas offered a blessing and dedication of the new mobile unit, and at Northeast Tacoma Elementary School.

The mobile unit, a converted 45-ft furniture van, is Pierce County's first completely self-contained mobile food bank and one of only a few in the country. Take a look:

Clients enter the mobile unit on the side and push their shopping cart right down the center aisle.

Ramps at the side and back make for easy entry and exit.

FISH's Debbie Price and Mike Mowat review shelf stock for the mobile food bank's first stop. 

FISH hits the road!

Beginning in mid-October, FISH will launch its first mobile food bank. This is a pilot project in attempting to reach underserved parts of Pierce County where there is high need but no food bank access. 

Under the leadership of FISH board member Mike Mowat, a 48-ft former furniture van is being outfitted with a generator, lights, propane heaters, shelves and entry/exit ramps. It will have more storage and display capacity than some fixed food banks, but will be able to move to where the need is.

Like our fixed-location food banks, the mobile food bank will operate on a walk-in, self-serve model. Inside the trailer, individuals will check in and receive a small shopping cart. They will then walk down a center aisle and select food from the shelving units on either side, just as in our fixed locations.

Northeast Tacoma Elementary School will be the first regular weekly stop on the mobile schedule.

The school’s principal approached FISH some time ago about starting a food bank in the neighborhood. Northeast Tacoma is one of Pierce County’s underserved areas, where there is high need but no access to a food bank. The closest food bank is just across the county line in Federal Way, but its funding restrictions mean that it serves only King County residents. Pierce County residents aren’t eligible to receive federal commodity food there, and the nearest Pierce County food bank is eight miles away. 

We are currently talking with potential partners to find other sites for the mobile food bank schedule. If you'd like to suggest an area of need or a prospective site for the mobile food bank, just let us know via phone at 253-383-3164 or email us.

Sun shines on the Proctor Art-a-Thon

Artist Andrea Greenfield with some of her creations

Many thanks to the Proctor Art Gallery and the Proctor Farmers' Market, who teamed up again to present the 3rd Annual Proctor Art-a-Thon at the Market on Saturday, July 23, all to benefit NW Tacoma FISH, located at Mason United Methodist Church, adjacent to the Market.
Special thanks to each of the artists who took part, donating their time all day, doing art demonstrations and creating works inspired by the Farmers' Market while they accepted donations and pledges for NW Tacoma FISH. The proceeds allow the food bank to purchase fresh produce from the Market.
From Proctor Art Gallery came Andrea Greenfield, Arvid Anderson, Bonnie Cargol, Emily Porter, Marquita Hunt, Sharon Crocetti, Tom Bona, Carolyn Burt and Gary LaTurner, along with friends Alexis St. John and Mary Wolfe. The event drew big crowds, drawn by the perfect weather.
Thanks also to Louise Andersen and Felicity Devlin from the Proctor Farmers’ Market for all of their sponsorship and hard work promoting the event.  
There were many highlights: Artists Mary and Bill Wolfe donated the wonderful Victorian style rocking horse which brought in over $100  by itself. And artist Mauricio Rubilino spent the day in the Kids’ Booth, creating two gorgeous mosaics with the children's participation. The mosaics will be displayed at the Proctor Arts Fest on Aug. 6. People will be invited to donate for a chance to win them.

Artists Bill & Mary Wolfe donated this wonderful Victorian rocking horse,
inviting donations for a chance to win the horse.

Celebrating the expansion of Southeast FISH

Pastor Peter reads the story of the loaves and fishes at the celebration

"We destroyed a perfectly good house . . . what were we thinking?" asked Pastor Peter Mohr of the volunteers, board and staff gathered at Southeast FISH yesterday.

The occasion was a celebration to mark the completion of a 1,000 sq. ft. addition to the food bank, providing badly needed food storage. In blessing the new space, Pastor Peter told the story of the house that now houses the food bank on his congregation's property. He spoke of all the other ways the space could have been used, and concluded, "Now it's only good for one thing . . . but that one thing is close to the heart of God."

New expansion at Southeast

It was only three years ago that we added 2,500 square feet of space to Southeast FISH. At that time this food bank was serving about 8,000 people each month. We couldn’t have foreseen then that the economy would take such a severe downturn and that we would outgrow that added space so quickly.

FISH director Beth Elliott with Jeff May (l)
and Jeff Stroud of Mountain Construction

Today Southeast FISH serves about 15,000 people each month. With such a dramatic increase in need, we had to find a way to maximize our available space, and so here we are celebrating the addition of another 1,000 square feet for food storage.

FISH executive director Beth Elliott and board president Dee Ebsen thanked the Thompson Foundation, which funded the expansion with a generous grant of $62,643, and Mountain Construction, which donated the framing labor, valued at $13,550. 

Volunteer coordinator Phil Membrere thanked the gathered volunteers, many of whom have been working at Southeast FISH for many years. Before this addition was started, volunteers were forced to move pallets of food outside every day just to make room in the food bank for serving clients and restocking shelves. At the end of the day they would move the pallets back inside. In inclement weather the pallets were covered with plastic tarps for protection. It was  inefficient and hazardous. Phil thanked the volunteers for their amazing dedication and patience throughout the construction process.

Book signing benefits FISH

It was an afternoon of history and fun on Saturday as Dr. Jennifer Ross-Nazzal, historian and author, presented her newly released book, Winning the West for Women: The Life of Suffragist Emma Smith DeVoe. The book signing and celebration was held at the DeVoe Mansion Bed and Breakfast in Tacoma, once the home of Emma Smith DeVoe. Attendees brought canned food donation as the cost of admission and all proceeds benefited FISH Food Banks. We'd like to thank Dr. Ross-Nazzal for her generosity in sharing the celebration of her new book with people in need here in our county.

Executive director Beth Elliott with FISH board members Sandy Roszman and Dee Dippolito at DeVoe Mansion