The reality of hunger in this nation of plenty is staggering.  The latest statistics available from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture show that, nationwide, 35.1 million people—including 12.4 million children—experience hunger or the risk of hunger every year.  Despite efforts such as the food stamp program, local food banks, and hot meal programs, in the state of Washington alone some 88,000 people simply go hungry each year.  Another 251,000 people are stretched so close to the edge financially that on any given day they can’t be sure whether they can afford to go to the grocery store and buy food for their families.

Rising gas, heating and housing costs further limit the ability of local families to purchase adequate food. For far too many of our neighbors, a large heating bill, a sickness or injury that requires a doctor’s visit or medication, a car repair bill, or even something as basic as the need for new school clothes can force a family into having to make an impossible choice: Do we pay the bill or do we put food on the table?

Making these impossible choices unnecessary is the mission of the Emergency Feeding Program of Seattle & King County. Working through a network of over 120 partner agencies, schools and faith communities, EFP annually distributes more than 20,000 nutritionally-balanced emergency food bags—the equivalent of 340,000 meals—to some 57,000 of our hungry neighbors, making a real difference in the lives of needy, often desperate, individuals and families.

Because no two households are the same, EFP packs and distributes 14 different varieties of high-quality, nutritionally-balanced emergency food bags. Bags are sized according to family and include options for people with individual nutritional needs and food preferences.  In addition to our three sizes of standard bags, we offer bags that feature: Low-sodium foods, Low-sugar foods, Latino foods, Asian foods, Vegan foods, No-cook foods for the homeless, Baby formula and baby foods, and a “snack pack” developed for and with the help of homeless teens. All of EFP’s bags were developed in consultation with qualified nutritionists.

Perhaps the most unique aspect of the Emergency Feeding Program’s model of service is that the program is specifically designed to provide people in need with the same reliably nutritious, high-quality food regardless of the affluence of the neighborhood in which they live.  Because EFP emergency food bags are both healthy and nutritionally-balanced, recipients are not forced to get by with low-cost options that lack the energy and nutrients they need.  And because EFP food bags are made available at no cost to social service agencies and faith communities throughout King County, individuals and families that might otherwise be facing disaster instead find the help they need.  They find something else, too.  They discover that, through this program, the community in which they live—the same conspicuously prosperous community from which they might believe they have been excluded—is in reality standing beside them, reaching out a steadying hand in their time of crisis.

To find out more about how you can help the Emergency Feeding Program reach out to our hungry neighbors, please contact us at 206-329-0300 or www.emergencyfeeding.org.

To make a donation to the Ministry of the Month, please place donation in a pew envelope and mark the “Ministry of the Month” box. Donations may then be placed in the Offering.