Olympic Peninsula Farm to Food Bank Fund
Project: Local food purchases for Jefferson County hunger relief organizations
Request: $10,000
The Olympic Peninsula Farm to Food Bank Fund exists to do one thing well: purchase locally produced fruits, vegetables, meat and seafood, and distribute it to Jefferson County hunger relief organizations.
All contributions to the Fund go directly to those purchases. The result is better food for under-resourced community members, stronger relationships between local producers and food assistance organizations, and improved health outcomes through fresh, nutritious options.
Fresh food is the hardest food to get
High-quality, nutritious food is a basic need. But people experiencing food insecurity face particularly high barriers to accessing fresh food, and correspondingly higher vulnerability to diet-related health issues.
Emergency food systems run on what can be stored, transported and held: shelf-stable goods, by necessity. Fresh produce, meat and seafood are harder to source, harder to keep, and more expensive. So the food that does the most for someone's health is the food most challenging to reach them.
The Fund works on exactly that gap, and it works from the supply side — buying the fresh food outright from local producers. Every dollar spent through the Fund is revenue for an Olympic Peninsula farm, fisher or producer, which strengthens the agricultural economy that the whole food system depends on.
Here are the problems you can help solve
The Fund tells us that federal funding cuts, alongside increased costs and increased demand. That's the same triple queeze affecting nearly every organization in this campaign, and it lands here with particular force because the program is purchasing at market prices in a period of food inflation.
What your donation makes possible
If we meet our goal, your donation will support approximately 40% of the Fund's food purchasing budget. The Fund serves both Jefferson and Clallam counties, but this request is specifically for its Jefferson County work. All funds will be carefully tracked with documentation to reflect that — so a Jefferson County donation stays Jefferson County food.
Simple and direct. Your gift becomes produce, protein and seafood from local farms and waters, on the table of a neighbor who couldn't otherwise afford it.
