La Pasta!

 

This month brought more delightful neighborhood finds! I enjoyed my recent purchase of carrot cake granola from a nearby farmers’ market, but couldn’t get to the market to pick up more the following week. Happily, I discovered that not only is it available at a store just 1.5 miles from my home, but the store also carries many other locally made products I enjoy. 

That store, a tiny little place called La Pasta, makes various pastas (it’s in the name 😀) from scratch right there on site. My husband brought home smoked salmon ravioli, and it cooked up beautifully. A lot of ravioli will split open on the sides as it boils, but not La Pasta’s!

Back to the granola that I love, I picked up some locally made cherry apricot along with hazelnut espresso and peanut butter chocolate chip from the Camano Crunch Company. All of them are so delicious with Greek yogurt. The current seasonal special is winter spiced apple, which I'll be sure to try.

I was also delighted to find the elderberry tea that I’ve been looking for since I got it at another farmers’ market several months ago. Shrub vinegars are another beverage that I enjoy, and at La Pasta I found some new shrub flavors that are made locally.

 

How wonderful to have locally made and grown nutritious food so close to home!

Can breakfast get any better? Yes, those are full-size chocolate chips in the peanut butter chocolate chip granola!

It's HIP!

  

I often walk around my neighborhood admiring flowers and fruiting plants as I get some exercise and fresh air. One recent Friday a delicious aroma coming from a church along my path had me very interested in what they were doing. In their parking lot I saw two vans for HIP, Hunger Intervention Program. 

A shelter meal packed for delivery

Once home, I searched for the HIP website and learned they have many volunteer opportunities from cooking meals for shelters and seniors to serving and delivering meals. I filled out a volunteer interest form right away. 

 

The next week I was volunteering as a dish washing assistant. Hey, it’s a necessary part of making meals! Two days later I was preparing meals for delivery and serving at HIP’s free lunch for seniors.

Senior meal

The food is indeed as good as it smells and the next week I was helping to prepare the seniors’ lunch by slicing green peppers, cilantro,and red onions. The latter was a tear-filled experience. 😂 All meals include a main dish such as orzo with sausage and vegetables, a fresh salad, fruit, and often a freshly baked cookie for dessert.

With the daily volunteer opportunities available and being less than a mile from my home, I’m ready, willing, and able to help several days a week! 

I enjoyed these beautiful tulips along my walk and was inspired to plant bulbs in our yard for blooms next spring.

 

The Heart of Personal Shopping

 

 

I loved my volunteer shifts in the food bank’s cafe every Tuesday and Friday. But when the food bank’s website featured a brief video on the cafe, there was a rush of volunteers and I was crowded out of my regular shifts. 😞

Bags and boxes filled by the personal shopping volunteers

So, I switched back to an earlier role I had as a personal shopper for the home-bound. This job starts with a list of foods that each individual fills out with dietary restrictions and food preferences. The volunteer shopper then takes a grocery bag or two and fills it with the specified food choices. It’s not easy because of the limited supply of food we have to choose from. We do the best we can to fill a bag at least half full.

Sentiment in some of the cards

I enjoy doing my best for each client. This past Wednesday I brought in handmade Valentine’s cards to slip into the grocery bags for women. , ,Since these clients are home-bound, I wanted to let them know I care about the food I'm selecting for them.  The cards included sentiments like the one at the top of the page and at left.

Once we’ve done our best to shop for an individual’s food, the bags go onto four-tier racks while they await pickup by volunteer drivers who deliver the groceries to clients. Not only do volunteers drive cars and trucks, but we also have bicycle delivery teams. The bicyclists are provided with carts they pull behind them, and given how hilly Seattle is, this can’t be an effortless task!

 

On Wednesdays, the food bank is only open for the personal shopping volunteers and we have no interaction with clients. However, like the work we do in the cafe, I'm still able to provide individualized and personal service to those facing food insecurity. 

 

Hungry?

  

Three Challenges Facing Food Banks

This isn’t a post about recipes, though it is about food. According to Feeding America, 10% of U.S households are food insecure.

Feeding America is a national organization helping food banks across the U.S through food programs and food rescue.

 

My local food bank regularly relies on Feeding America for many items. Hundreds of local food banks fill a large and growing need in communities throughout our country. My university also has a food pantry for students, staff, and faculty. Much of the produce comes from our university farm.

I was able to volunteer at a local food bank for years and greatly look forward to returning when I retire this year. The food bank provides

pantry staples, a small amount of pet food, and a few hygiene items to needy individuals and families weekly. It’s more than just food--it’s also a resource for community services such as health care, laundry and shower facilities, and housing. 

In addition to being a regular food bank donor and soon a volunteer, I’m happy to participate in a local little pantry that provides so much. The neighborhood pantry fills a need not only for unsheltered adults, but also local school children. Yes, it is sometimes abused and a few neighbors will complain, but most patrons are respectful and grateful.

Students from the nearby high school did an excellent video on the nearby pantry. Many of them benefit from the pantry and help maintain it. In the video, one grade school girl said the peanut butter and crackers she can pick up after school help fill her tummy on the hour drive  home with her mother. She often gets extra packs of crackers for her younger brother and her mother.

The experience of volunteering at the food bank and seeing the plight of so many has woven itself into the book I am currently writing. I’m a romance writer, and what better place for generous hearts to meet than at a food bank during the holidays?

Until I can resume volunteering, I can at least live it through the book I’m working on.*

* All proceeds from my first book go to a local organization that provides free pet care for low-income families or the unsheltered. Proceeds from the next book will go to my local food bank.