FISH is on the move!

Starting today, Lakes Area FISH will be serving clients at its new location, United Methodist Church at Lakewood, 6900 Steilacoom Blvd. SW in Lakewood. The food bank will also adopt new hours, open Monday 2:00 to 6:00 p.m., Wednesday and Friday 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

After 35 years at Little Church on the Prairie, Lakes FISH has simply outgrown its longtime home. Over the past two years, Lakes FISH has nearly doubled in number of clients served, from 16,602 clients in 2008 to 24,834 in 2009.

Many, many thanks to the congregation of Little Church on the Prairie for all their support over the years. They've been a huge part of FISH's history. We're thrilled that they will continue to work with us in our new location.

And the moves haven't stopped! FISH Food Banks is also moving its main office from its current site in the Associated Ministries building to a larger space in First Tower, part of the First United Methodist Church in Tacoma.

Effective at the beginning of April, our new office address will be: FISH Food Banks, First Tower, Suite 202, 621 Tacoma Ave. S, Tacoma 98402.

Innovation Award

We were very excited to be named the winner of this year's Weyerhaeuser Company Innovation Award. Weyerhaeuser's Effenus Henderson presented the award to FISH board president Sandy Roszman on Wednesday at the 2010 Nonprofit Excellence Awards. FISH Food Banks was honored for its "creativity in finding new ways to meet community needs more effectively," specifically through our partnership with South Sound Outreach Services in our Connection Centers and through our partnership with Rotacare and others in the new chronic care clinic at Southeast FISH. Partners and board members came to celebrate the award with us:



Pictured, left to right: Nyla Redford, Mike Mowat, Janet Runbeck, Renee Housten, Barbara Reed, Jerry Lee, Sandy Roszman, Beth Elliott, Roberta Marsh.

More Easy Budget Recipes

We've found another great resource for low-cost, quick and easy recipes. The folks at St. James Episcopal Church in Cincinnati, Ohio have created a website and a downloadable cookbook called One * Pot Meals.

Editor Bernice Abel describes the book as "Good food for good people," and says her goal in putting the book together was to produce "a cookbook for people like me who use paper towels instead of napkins and wouldn’t know what a garlic press is if they got caught in one." Check it out!

Plan now for Hunger Action Day

On Friday, Jan. 29, the Anti-Hunger and Nutrition Coalition will host the annual Hunger Action Day in Olympia. This is a concrete way to fight hunger here in Washington state. Plan now to be part of the effort to make sure our legislators hear the voices of Washington's hungry children and families. For more information or to register, see the 2010 Hunger Action Day blog.

Happy New Year

It's barely 2010, and it's already shaping up to be a busy year at FISH Food Banks. The Lakewood food bank has outgrown its long-time home at Little Church on the Prairie, and is looking for a permanent site. Meanwhile, the food bank will relocate before March 1 to temporary quarters at United Methodist Church of Lakewood. Many thanks to the Pastor Bonnie Warren and her congregation for their hospitality!

The new permanent site should be at least 1,000 sq. ft. and have easy access for food loading. If you can suggest a possible site, call 253-383-3164 or email Beth Elliott.

Merry Christmas at Southeast FISH

It's looking a lot like Christmas at SE FISH this week. Santa has been holding court, greeting clients and volunteers alike with hugs and hearty ho-ho-hos. Parents are receiving bags of candy for the little ones at home, and kids who come to the food bank are receiving candy and toys from the big guy himself.



While most of the kids were surprised and excited to see Santa, some wanted to talk. One serious young fellow, clutching his new game, asked, "what's the hardest part of your job?" He nodded soberly when Santa told him it was when the littlest kids get scared, agreeing, "yeah, I guess that would be hard."

But the overall mood is very festive, with Christmas decorations throughout the food bank and volunteers wearing their holiday best.

Below, volunteer Marina takes advantage of a momentary lull to pose with Santa:



Five-year-old Shalisa appointed herself Santa's helper while she waited for her mom to finish shopping. She was excited to receive a new learning game and a bag of candy from Santa.

Making birthdays happy!

Production line workers at Tacoma's Birds Eye Foods held a birthday drive for FISH Food Banks as part of their company's United Way campaign. Each worker was challenged to bring in one birthday party item - cake mix, frosting, candles, birthday plates and cups, party hats and more. The workers would have a party of their own if they reached their goal of 160 items. They had plenty of cause to celebrate when the final count came in at over 500 birthday items! The party supplies will be used by the food banks to offer a "birthday in a box" package to client families. What a great way to provide a birthday celebration to kids and a little relief to families struggling just to make ends meet!

Special thanks go to all of the workers who contributed, to Birds Eye staff Andee Handeland, Cathy Kilgore and Georgiana Marzano, and to United Way Loaned Executive Mark Kawabata.