Our Mission
Safely rescuing quality food to feed Spokane’s hungry by nurturing sustainable community networks and charitable partnerships while eliminating food waste.
How we get the food
Every day, we get updates from local restaurants, caterers, hotels, grocers, wholesalers, farmers, and event centers letting us know they have food that needs to be rescued. Either the same day or the next day, our dedicated volunteers drive routes around Spokane in our refrigerated vans to pick up food that would otherwise be wasted.
We rescue & redistribute good food
Restaurants, caterers, hotels, grocers, wholesalers, farmers, and event centers donate leftover food that would otherwise be discarded to Feed Spokane. The food comes to Feed Spokane in food-safe containers. Volunteers then organize and redistribute the food to any of over forty food banks and charitable meal sites in our community that serve free meals to the food insecure in Spokane.
Good food moves fast
Each week, our team of dedicated volunteers redistributes an average of 35,000 lbs of food. Our current facility only has a capacity of 18,000 lbs – so we have to keep it moving!
Our volunteers make it happen
Feed Spokane is a food rescue agency and we distribute the food we rescue to food banks and pantries that are, charitable non-profit organizations that share that food and serve meals to those in need. We currently have about 30 dedicated volunteers who help us rescue, sort, and redistribute an average of 27,500 lbs of food every week.
Who we help
According to the Feed America Project, in 2018 there were roughly 65,000 food insecure people in Spokane County. This represented a 13 percent food insecurity rate. This rate has certainly risen since 2020 because of the increased poverty and unemployment due to the pandemic.
How Feed Spokane got started
In 2005 Feed Spokane started as a conversation between meal site directors, SNAP, and concerned citizens with a purpose of figuring out how to increase the quality and quantity of food for service to the homeless and food insecure in the Spokane area. Inspired by Portland OR, Fork it Over operation, willing test participant restaurants, including Arby’s, and Old Spaghetti Factory began the effort to rescue excess prepared food from local restaurants and safely distribute it to area free meal sites. In 2007 a board was formed and Feed Spokane became an official Non-Profit 501c3, thanks to a generous cash donation from the WRA to pay for filing fees.
Communication and collaboration are at the heart of Feed Spokane. Coalition partnership meetings are held for representatives to share their mission, their challenges, their successes and their lessons learned. Increasing food safety awareness and processes is a huge component of what we do. Promoting awareness to the Spokane region of the issue of hunger and its effects on our community has enabled many sites to survive through the economic challenges of the past few years. It has also made many restaurant operators aware of the cost of waste in their kitchens and enabled them to implement better business practices.
Leadership
Employees
Chrystal Ortega,
Executive Director
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
You can help
We know that we’re only rescuing 10% of the food that is being thrown away in Spokane. Feed Spokane relies on our team of dedicated volunteers, recurring donors, and grants to keep the food safe, lights on, and fuel in our refrigerated vans. Even if you aren’t able to share your time or resources with us, you can help us spread the word!