Food Lifeline’s Post

Great News! There is a new permanent, nationwide Summer EBT program—also known as SUN Bucks—to help families ensure their school-aged children have access to nutritious meals when they are not in school. ☀️ SUN Bucks is separate from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and provides $120 in food benefits to each eligible child. Learn more about this new program here: dshs.wa.gov/sunbucks The USDA estimates that in Washington state, this program will benefit 507,000 children. Senator Patty Murray played a crucial role in making this program permanent as the longtime sponsor of the Stop Child Summer Hunger Act. This new program was also supported by the efforts of school districts, hunger relief and community organizations, and community members, who saw the need to ensure children receive nutritious food, even when the school bell rings for the last time. We continue to advocate for policy proposals and community-led solutions to solve summer hunger.

Huge thanks to Fred Meyer and Quality Food Center for their incredible support in our mission to end hunger! Go Ms!! #EndHunger #zerohungerzerowaste #Kroger #FoodLifeline #SeattleMariners

Save the Date! 📅 Our annual celebration and fundraiser Dress Down Hunger is October 19th! We are excited to welcome you to our warehouse for a night of food, games, and fun! 🎉 Subscribers to our email list will get a special discount code for tickets so make sure to sign up today to get access to our early bird pricing! https://lnkd.in/gPDAwKWy

Join the amazing Jen Mueller for a festive evening of food, drinks and BINGO to raise money to support our work here at Food Lifeline! 🎉 June 27 5:30-9:30 at the Axis Event Space in Seattle. Purchase tickets here: https://lnkd.in/gY3f7RX8 Read the 425 Business article about Jen's idea for the Birthday Bash here: https://lnkd.in/gZmqnN_x

Heading into a sunny weekend on some good news - The Universal Free School Meals movement is growing! As one of our advocacy priorities, we worked with other hunger advocates to expand access to free school meals in Washington this legislative session, and will continue to push for universal free school meals. From the NYT article: “In total, more than 21 million American children now attend schools that offer free meals to all — a tenfold increase from 2010. “Schools did not want to go back to charging some kids,” said Crystal FitzSimons, the director of child nutrition programs and policy at the nonprofit Food Research and Action Center. “They saw the huge benefits of providing free meals to all students: supporting families, supporting kids, changing the culture of the cafeteria.” Interested in this work? You can join our advocacy list to help win policy proposals - like universal free school meals - that alleviate poverty and hunger: https://lnkd.in/grnRk_ta

Nominations are due June 14 for the Hunger to Health Collaboratory (H2HC) 2024 Prizes for Innovation! The Prizes identify and highlight innovative food and nutrition work that offers promising, upstream models and replicable, scalable solutions that significantly advance health equity in communities throughout the U.S. H2HC will award two $100,000 prizes, and winners will be introduced at the H2HC Fall Summit in Boston. To learn more or submit a nomination visit: bit.ly/H2HCPrizes24. 

📢 Our May 2024 Issue of #QuickBites Stamp Out Hunger, Farm Bill Update, National Older Americans Month - Check out our May Quick Bites!

Is your company or organization looking for a fun way to give back this summer? Put together a team and join us for Food Frenzy in July! 😎 Food Frenzy is a creative competition to help feed kids facing hunger when schools close for the summer. For two action-packed weeks, July 12-26, businesses host food drives, volunteer at the Hunger Solution Center, and host fundraisers that benefit Food Lifeline. Last year, 67 teams collected enough food and raised enough money to provide 2.4 million meals for kids and families experiencing hunger. Learn more about how it works in this video: https://lnkd.in/gYDevQMU Thank you to Sound Community Bank for returning as our Presenting Sponsor, and to all our sponsors: State Farm, Greystar Apartments, Cushing Terrell, Seed IP Law Group, Fox Rothschild, Summit Law Group, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, KPFF Consulting Engineers, Symetra, JPC Architects, PitchBook, and Hoffman Construction Company. For more info and to register a team go to: https://lnkd.in/gUyepFV Join the fun this summer and help ensure all kids have the foods they need to learn, grow, and thrive!

UnitedHealthcare is joining Food Lifeline in making a commitment to Western Washington communities experiencing hunger. A generous grant from the healthcare company is now empowering Food Lifeline to better address food insecurity among Western Washington’s most vulnerable populations. The $300,000 grant is funding a two-pronged approach to addressing the root causes of hunger that create food insecurity among our most underserved communities. The first prong of this program is the sourcing and distribution of culturally relevant foods to those most in need. These are nutritious foods that meet the diverse tastes and needs of customers based on their cultural identity. The second prong of this program is providing funding for Food Access Specialists who work directly with individuals and community groups that represent underserved communities across King, Skagit, and Whatcom Counties. See a complete video of the program: https://lnkd.in/gsiH5_dz Read more on our blog: https://lnkd.in/gK23fzRS