On the second Friday of each month, the Edmonds Food Bank partners with the Korean Community Services Center to distribute food to families in the community.

Although this program started recently, in November 2021, with 25 households served, the food bank is now reaching 100-plus families, and is expected to be serving 125 families in March. The food bank hopes to expand the program to twice a month. The program has been a success thanks to the efforts of the Korean Community Services Center (KCSC), which greets all customers in Korean to make sure they feel comfortable and welcome. The Edmonds Food Bank also makes a point of ordering culturally-appropriate and healthy foods that families can cook and eat together — an important part of the foundation of a healthy lifestyle.

As the Edmonds Food Bank staff member who works with KCSC staff and volunteers to serve customers as they drive through the pop-up food distribution, I’m impressed with how well-organized and efficient these events always are. At our February distribution, we served 100 families in just over an hour. As a whole, the team of volunteers always has high spirits and smiles, even when we’re trying to direct traffic in the pouring rain.

Both the Edmonds Food Bank and KCSC are excited to see the heights to which this new partnership will take us after such a strong start, and we at the food bank are especially glad to be reaching more of the community that is experiencing food insecurity.

If you’d like to learn more or get involved with food distribution events around Edmonds, please reach out to Andrew Brokaw at programs@edmondsfoodbank.org.

— By Andrew Brokaw, Edmonds Food Bank