Day 3: Wednesday

Some facts about hunger:
•1 in 5 kids is at risk of hunger.
•In the last four years, Seattle Food banks have seen a 30% increase in the number of clients coming to them for help. At the same time, they've had a 31% decline in donations.

Fun Fact: Did you know that King County Nurses Association makes donations to charitable organizations? In the last year we supported the following groups helping with the issue of hunger:  Food Lifeline, Northwest Harvest, and Solid Ground Food Bank. We also donated to the following groups working with the homeless: First Place, YouthCare, the Market Foundation, Noel House, and One4One, and Real Change.

How to help:
•Donate: Make a food or cash donation to your local food bank. I frequently see volunteers collecting food outside my grocery store. It's so easy to add a few extra jars of peanut butter, pasta, etc. to my cart and give it to them when I leave the store.

 Photo from Northwest Harvest

•Volunteer: I've volunteered at the following warehouse type facilities. It's hard work and you never know what your assignment will be. You could be putting labels on cans of salmon or sorting donations or packaging frozen corn. It's fun to bring a friend or group of people and I highly recommend it! The websites list all the volunteer opportunities.

 Food Lifeline is located in Shoreline and had regular work parties for individuals or groups.  Last year they distributed more than 35 million pounds of food throughout Western Washington! They are a centralized warehouse with a network of nearly 300 food banks, meal programs and shelters.

Northwest Harvest is located in Kent and distributes to a network of over 325 food banks, meal programs, and high-need schools. They provide 1.6 million meals every month to their network.