SPOKANE, Washington – Second Harvest has worked hard to provide food to families who want it most, dramatically intensifying their efforts once the COVID-19 pandemic began.
4 News Now contacted the nonprofit to find out how it was doing.
Second Harvest said that by the end of their fiscal year, on June 30, they had distributed 43 million pounds of food, 11 million more than last year, which is enough to supply 35.8 million food to other hungry people in eastern Washington.
The nonprofit produces an average of approximately 10,000 emergency food crates and 12,000 boxes of agricultural products, dairy and boxes combined.
The organization says the “continued interruptions” in the food materials they donate make monetary donations more than ever.They say these contributions increase fuel, freight and buy prices to fill stock gaps.
As a result of the pandemic, the need for its volunteers has increased, however, their number of volunteers has had to be limited due to social distance patterns.
At the site, Second Harvest says it has a maximum limit of a dozen volunteers, which in a general year would have about two dozen.
This lack of volunteers was largely filled by members of the State National Guard.
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