SPOKANE, Wash. — Volunteers at Second Harvest welcomed a massive food donation from a local congregation, as a semi-truck delivered 40,000 pounds of non-perishable food items including pasta, rice and beans.
The donation from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arrives at a critical time for the food bank, as Second Harvest’s Spokane warehouse shelves are at their barest this time of year.
“Typically, during the year about January, it starts to really slow down,” said Mike Thomsen, director of food sourcing at Second Harvest.
Holiday food drives have ended, and most fresh produce is out of season, making shelf-stable donations particularly valuable during the winter months.
“We can always use donations, especially shelf stable,” Thomsen said.
The semi-truck arrived from Salt Lake City carrying the substantial donation, which will help feed hundreds of Inland Northwest families. Forklifts immediately began removing pallets of food to be weighed, tagged and added to Second Harvest’s warehouse inventory.
Tim Cobb, president of the Spokane Stake Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said the flexibility of the donation allows Second Harvest to distribute food based on immediate needs.
“It can be on the pallet maybe to be distributed that day. Or it could stay up to a year here,” Cobb said. “It allows a lot of flexibility for Second Harvest to be able to fill the needs that they have.”
This marks another chapter in the ongoing partnership between the church and Second Harvest. Cobb described it as part of a cherished history with the food bank.
“They help funnel it into other food banks and pantries and allow for real needs to be met on a pretty large scale,” Cobb said.
The donation comes as many food pantries continue recovering from increased demand following the temporary lapse of SNAP benefits in November. During that period, agencies saw significantly higher numbers of people seeking assistance.
“During the shutdown, a lot of our agencies were seeing double the numbers of people coming asking for help. So it’s calmed down a bit.,” Thomsen said. “But again, given everything going on, it’s still up there.”
The donated food won’t remain in the warehouse long. Second Harvest expects the items to reach families in need quickly.
“It will be in the hands of people in need by the end of next week,” Thomsen said.
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