I started my day with Cherry Street handing out apples. The layout of the distribution is fairly simple: clients come through the courtyard on the left, choose either a sack lunch or a distribution line with grains, beans, and soups and then proceed to the produce line for vegetables, potatoes, and bread before departing the courtyard on the right. At my station, each client chose two apples from a box containing a variety of slightly bruised, abnormally small, or otherwise undesirable apples. This ran quite smoothly as each client filed past and dutifully picked the perfect imperfect pair of apples. It ran smoothly, that is, until the little old Asian women came along. Anywhere you go, the people that are in need of food assistance are a tough group. Those in the Cherry Street line looked tougher than normal. These are people that are rough around the edges; tattered and worn down from months without the certainty of a shelter or hot meal. Many are missing teeth, sport menacing tattoos, and have uncertain mental instabilities. For the most part, all of these clients mastered the art of picking two, and only two, apples from the bin. But the sly, Asian women, all of whom were under five feet and looked innocent and grandmotherly, would stealthily take three, four, even five apples from the bin. I would firmly ask them to return their stolen apples but they would smile unknowing, gap-toothed smiles and slink away. There are many ways in which appearances can be deceiving.
Northwest Harvest is unique in its firm commitment to open accesibility. No one who comes to Cherry Street is required to answer any questions. Their presence in the line is enough; they will receive food that day. To uphold this mission, Northwest Harvest cannot receive any government funding because government-funded organization are required to implement client screening. I find this model and the passionate way in which the staff and volunteers at Northwest Harvest defended to be quite surprising. At the Hunger Coalition, we never refuse anyone food, but we maintain an intimate relationship with our clients through check-ups, goals, and referrals. For Cherry Street and its 3,000 clients per day, six week check-ups and one-on-one time with clients would be impossible. Yet, I would have liked to see more data about the number, ethnic makeup, and reason for hunger of the people Cherry Street serves. From my own observations and my talks with the volunteers and staff, I would say the clients are 40% Asian, 35% Caucasian, 20% African American, 3% Middle Eastern, and 2% Native American. Many are homeless, many have serious mental disabilities, and many are addicted to drugs and alcohol. Yet, nearly every client seemed comfortable with the volunteers and the set-up of the distribution. They recognized and interacted with volunteers and thanked us repeatedly for helping. A note on volunteers: Cherry Street inspires incredible loyalty in its volunteers. I talked to one woman who has been volunteering for them every week for twenty-two years. Others, when asked if they were a long-time volunteer, would shrug and say, "Not really, I have only volunteered for five or six years." This sort of commitment astonishes me. All of them cited the efficiency, clear mission, and constant appreciation that the receive at Cherry Street as the reason for their repeated return to the site. In total, Cherry Street requires 200 volunteers a week to stay afloat, or the equivalent of twenty-five full-time employees. Currently, they have a lengthy waiting list for volunteer openings.
Around 11:30, I moved inside to spend a few hours bagging coffee. As I said above, Northwest Harvest distributes food to more than 300 food banks across Washington. They have four warehouses across the state and transfer incredible quantities of food. I spoke with Mike, the wizard of a man responsible for obtaining all of the food for Northwest Harvest. His goal is to obtain and distribute twenty million pounds of food this year. Twenty million pounds. That is a mind-blowing number. Much of the produce is donated directly from local farmers who have slightly damaged or too much produce. Mike invented a system of transferring whole truck loads of frozen goods into freezers quickly enough that the food doesn't thaw. Previously, Northwest Harvest had to deny millions of pounds of frozen goods each year because they could not transfer them off the truck and into the freezer quickly enough. Now, an entire truck can be unloaded and transferred in a fraction of the original time. Mike has hundreds of stories about the clever solutions and magical transfers he has created. When he walks through the food bank, staff and volunteers alike gaze at him with adoring eyes. The grapefruit-carrot story, recounted to me by at least three people, is legendary. A few weeks ago, Northwest Harvest had a million pound surplus of frozen carrots. The clientele in Washington overwhelmingly dislikes carrots. Mike found a grapefruit and orange distributor in Arizona who would exchange a million pounds of carrots for a million pounds of grapefruit and oranges and provide the transportation for both shipments. The ingenuity and dedication of people like Mike keep the non-profit world and the people it serves alive.
The staff at Cherry Street Food Bank was wonderfully kind. Each member, from the food bank manager to the program director, took the time to ask about my project and answer all of my questions. They also referred me to a plethora of other organizations in the Seattle area. Tomorrow morning, I will once again battle the Seattle bus system and spend the morning with Cherry Street. Next, I will head to Saint Mary's Food Bank to see what a smaller, more religious food bank looks like. For now, to bed to dream of millions of pounds of grapefruit and carrots...
Volunteers inside the warehouse working at the soup and grains table.
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