Spokane group gets USDA money to feed hungry

SPOKANE — Two Spokane-area groups announced on Wednesday, May 13, that they would be participating in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “Farmers to Families” program to distribute food boxes of fresh produce, meat and dairy products to families in need of assistance during the COVID-19 crisis. The Inland Northwest Farmers Association and Share Farm will receive up to $1.4 million to help with the effort.

The USDA program was started on April 17 as part of the Coronavirus Farm Assistance Program, which partners with local community groups for the purchase and distribution of farm produce. Up to $3 billion has been allotted for the program throughout the country.

Getting the program to Spokane was the idea of Share Farm, a startup company whose original mission was to connect farmers market vendors and shoppers during the off-season, according to Rob Allen, president of the board of the Inland Northwest Farmers Market Association. The company was the creation of a Marine Corps veteran who was going to college. He was also working in a farmers market booth and realized that it would all come to an end at the end of the growing season. His solution was to create an app that would continue connecting farmers and vendors when the market was closed.

Since then, the business has added more elements. They partner with a chain of restaurants in Spokane and the Avista cafeteria to source fresh produce for them.

When COVID-19 appeared, Share Farm approached the Inland Northwest Farmers Market Association about the possibility of partnering with farmers market vendors.

“We have 10 farmers markets in Eastern Washington that are our members,” Allen said. “Share Farm said ‘hey, you will probably have problems getting shoppers into markets. Why not do delivery?’”

The two groups were in the process of joining forces when the USDA program was announced. Allen agreed to have the farmers market association help Share Farm with the grant writing and other administrative processes, if they were awarded the grant.

Because of the timing for the getting the grant submitted, Allen didn’t have time to ask his board for their approval.

“I said ‘go for it,’” Allen said. “If we get it, then I’ll have to ask permission from the board.”

One day Allen got a call from the director of the farmers market association saying that they had been awarded a grant for $1.4 million and that the USDA wanted the first distribution to be May 15. The phone call came one week before the first distribution was to take place.

Part of the stipulation for the grant was that the grant recipients would have to buy the food up front from farmers and submit receipts and vouchers for reimbursement. Allen went to one of the association’s existing community partners, Spokane Teachers Credit Union, for the money to get started.

“We put it all together in the last seven days,” Allen said, within a few hours of the first distribution.

While the Inland Northwest Farmers Market Association is handling the business and administrative side, Share Farm and a volunteer group known as Spokane Food Fighters are on the distribution end.

“Share Farm already had a relationship with Spokane Food Fighters,” Allen said. “They’re the heroes here.”

Spokane Food Fighters, working under the Smith-Barbieri Progressive Fund, which serves as the group’s fiscal sponsor, had already identified a number of hungry people in Spokane. Since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, they have been partnering with the Eat Good Group, a company that owns and operates restaurants in the Spokane and North Idaho area, to prepare boxes of food for families. In working together, employees of the Eat Good Group who were out of work due to the closure of restaurants by COVID-19 have been able to continue working. “We’re excited to do this,” said state Rep. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane, one of the Spokane Food Fighters. “We have nearly 400 volunteers.”

“Having that infrastructure was coincidental,” Allen said. “It made it easy for the fulfillment model to identify places where there was a shortage.”

All four groups partnered together for the first distribution of the USDA program on Friday, May 15. Overall, 300 boxes of food were distributed.

“There is a huge need out there,” Allen said.

Allen said that while this kind of food distribution is a bit out of the farmers market association’s normal scope, it fits with its mission of connecting local families to fresh, local produce.

“I’m really grateful to be a part of this,” Allen said. “You should have seen all those people packing food today.”

Rachal Pinkerton may be reached via email at rpinkerton@basinbusinessjournal.com.