2014 Summer Newsletter

These are rocky times. Money is short, resources are strained, and client numbers are increasing rapidly.

These are problems the emergency food community has faced for years, but they have accelerated in recent years.

During this time, it has become increasingly clear why the Washington Food Coalition is so important.

What organization in Washington State wholly and specifically represents the interests of emergency food sites and their clients?

Only the Washington Food Coalition.

Our Mission

The Washington Food Coalition actively educates and networks with organizations that strive to alleviate hunger throughout Washington

Our Vision

The Washington Food Coalition is the unified voice for a strong emergency food system

Food for ThoughtWaFoodCoalition.org

No one in Washington State should go hungry

Hunger Leaders SummitIdentifying and detailing opportunities in Washington’s Emergency Food SystemBy Stephanie Marin, WFC Advocacy Assistant

Washington Food Coalition Newsletter / Summer 2014

Washington Food CoalitionPO Box 95752Seattle, WA 98145

Support our work at wafoodcoalition.org/donate

current resident or

NON-PROFITU.S. Postage

PAIDOlympia, WA

Permit No. 238

This newsletter prepared with funds made available by the WA Dept. of Agriculture, Food Assistance Programs No person shall on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, national origin, age, citizenship, political affiliations, belief, veteran status or sexual orientation, be denied employment or benefits or be discriminated against as a participant, administrator or staff member under this program.

In response to the ever- changing environment of the Washington emergency food system, WFC brought together Board Members and other leaders in the

Washington State anti-hunger effort for the first “Hunger Leaders’ Summit” on April 4, 2014.

The Core Summit Process

The goal of the Hunger Leaders’ Summit was to start an open conversation around issues and opportunities within the Washington hunger relief network. With this in mind, WFC invited representatives from Nourishing Networks to share their meeting model. The Nourishing Networks model encourages breaking down hierarchical barriers and sharing gifts all in the name of a common cause so that people are encouraged to offer help in areas they would like without the pressure of assignments. By discussing this model at the beginning of the Hunger Leaders’ Summit, WFC hoped to motivate attendees to think outside the box and empower participants to speak up about what they feel is important, rather than having leadership prescribe the discussion.

With the stage set for an open dialogue, participants broke up into small groups to discuss what they felt were the most important issues facing the hunger relief network in Washington State and struggles they faced as individual organizations. Groups then shared the key points of these discussions with all attendees. To focus the next phase of the summit, individuals picked out their most important concern from these discussions.

focus areas

These issues were organized into 3 focus areas:

The larger group then split up one more time to discuss these three focus areas in one final breakout session after which the three groups debriefed all attendees. To wrap up the process, individual participants committed to an effort they felt they could to contribute to one or more of these focus areas.

Summit Outcomes

Based on information from the evaluations, the primary outcome for participants of the Hunger Leaders’ Summit seems to be a better understanding of the common issues concerning hunger relief agencies in Washington State. Participants also were able to make optional commitments at the end of the summit related to these areas. A full report as well as a condensed version on the Hunger Leaders Summit is available to build further on the three focus areas. The Hunger Leaders Summit met its intended goal of starting a coordinated conversation around statewide hunger issues.This is an excerpt from the Hunger Leaders Summit report.Contact us to request a copy of the full Hunger Leaders Summit report and to learn about future Summits.

Each year, the Washington Food Coalition hosts its annual conference, the only event that brings together everyone fighting hunger in all of Washington State. Attendees will

have the opportunity to develop new collaborations, share information about tools and resources, hear about new and innovative programs and services, and network with others who share in their commitment to alleviate hunger.

The conference will feature a mix of keynote, breakout and networking sessions. We also offer a variety of exciting tours at local wineries, organic farms, and food banks. The event provides an experience that is both informative and fun!

Thanks to generous sponsors, conference costs are kept low and scholarships are available.

Come join us as we share ideas, learn together, and find practical solutions to common problems.

Location Details:CONFERENCE LOCATION:

Coast Wenatchee Hotel201 North Wenatchee Ave.Wenatchee, WA 98801WenatcheeCenter.com

ACCOMMODATIONS:Discount rooms available for conference attendees until 8/10/14

Meeting the FutureWashington Food Coalition’s Annual Conference 2014pre-conference september 10 I conference september 11-12 I wenatchee, wa I wenatchee convention centerTo learn more details about conference and register online, go to www.WaFoodCoalition.org/conference

Thursday Keynote SpeakerJoel Berg

www.joelberg.net

Friday Keynote SpeakerJanet Poppendieck

www.janetpoppendieck.com

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Food for Thought A publication of the Washington Food Coalition

P.O. Box 95752 Seattle, WA 98145-2752 [email protected]

www.wafoodcoalition.org

2014 CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FORMNew this year! Your all-inclusive conference registration covers all conference meals & activities, including tour fees, Wednesday reception, Thursday breakfast lunch and dinner, Friday breakfast and lunch, as well as all conference materials and sessions.Early Bird Registration: August 29th, 2014Final Registration Deadline: September 5th, 2014 - after September 5th, registrations will be taken on-site at the event

WFC Member Registration ___ Full Conference by 8/29: $99 ___ Full Conference after 8/29: $109 ___ 1 Day Attendee: $59 X ____ days ___ Discount Member by 8/29: $79 (for agencies with extremely

Additional Options ___ Guest Meals: $20 X _____ meals Help Someone Attend the Conference! ___ Conference Scholarship Fund Donation: Amount: $___________

Contact Information: please print clearly thank you

________________________________________________Name/Title

________________________________________________Organization

________________________________________________Mailing Address City/State/Zip

________________________________________________Daytime Phone Email

Board of Directors

WFC Chair Helen McGovern Emergency Food Network

WFC Immediate Past Chair Kris Van Gasken Des Moines Area Food Bank

WFC Vice Chair Joe Gruber University District Food BankWFC Treasurer Yvonne Pitrof Vashon Maury Food BankWFC Secretary Jim Beaudoin FISH Food Banks of Pierce CountyDan Speare Rural Resources Comm. ActionKitty Burton Hunters Food BankMay Segle Entiat Food BankKaran Mitchell Entiat Food BankPeny Archer Comm Services of Moses Lake Scott Kilpatrick Comm Services of Moses Lake Suzy McNeilly Council on Aging & Human ServSusan Peterson Greenhouse Community Center.JoAnn Rushton Hope Source Lisa Hall Northwest HarvestJohn Neill Tri-Cities Food BankKuki Benson Tri-Cities Food BankKathy Covey Blue Mountain Action CouncilGail McGhee Blue Mountain Action CouncilMichael Frazier Helping Hands Food BankElizabeth Grant Snohomish Community Food Bank

Kevin Glackin-Coley St. Leo’s Food Connection Kellie McNelly ROOF Community ServicesJames Fitzgerald Clark County Food Bank Lisa Chavez Lower Columbia CAPVicki Pettit Coastal Community Action Program Anthony Airhart Coastal HarvestJennifer Hardison South Kitsap HelplineBonnie Baker Northwest HarvestDavid Bobanick Rotary First HarvestRobert Coit Thurston County Food BankKim Jones Operation Sack LunchEarl Hall Yakima Food Bank

Scott Milne Hopelink

Those of you fighting hunger have a tough job and scarce resources. You

are very good at making a little go a long way. You buy in bulk to get the best price. You put volunteers to work in ways that are effective and efficient. You find ways to use what grocery stores can’t. In sum, you are awesome.To increase your awesomeness, you can—and should—apply this same approach to how you use language. It’s one of your biggest organizational resources. If you improve the quality of your words, you’ll increase the impact of your work. Simple as that.Following are three commonly held assumptions about language, along with suggestions for how to shift your thinking about these assumptions, so you can make better use of your words—all without spending a dime. ______________________________

Assumption #1: Answers are more important than questions.

You’re making the world a better place. You love what we do. Who wouldn’t?! As such, when someone asks you, “What do you do?”, you hear, “Tell me absolutely everything your organization does.” Alas, the asker doesn’t want to know absolutely everything you do. They want to know, in a nutshell, what you do. But instead of giving the “in a nutshell” response, you likely give the ‘absolutely everything’ response. Because you’re excited about what you do and want everyone to know everything about it. Unfortunately, when you tell someone your everything, they remember nothing.

Instead of telling the asker everything there is to know about your organization, tell them the essence of what you do and then let them ask questions. Questions are good! Questions allow you to tailor what you say to the

asker’s interests. This is the most efficient way to move them along the engagement cycle—from knowing you, to understanding you, to engaging with you.

Shift: Invite questions. ______________________________

Assumption #2: You think you are the center of the universe.

“I” is the single most used word in language, written and spoken. And that’s not just the English language—that’s all languages that the team of researchers who set out to figure out what the most used word was could get their hands on. What does this mean? It means that, really when you get down to it, what we care about is ourselves. Our families, our kids, our pets, our friends. This means that, even though your organization is doing fantastic stuff, it isn’t the center of people’s universe. They are the center of their universe. Organizations use “we” way too much. “We” is about your organization (which we’ve established they

infuse your website content, your newsletter copy, your Facebook posts, etc. with two

‘you’ and ‘your’. “You and your family”, “you and your community”, “your kids”, “your lake”, “your parents”, “your neighbors”, you get the points. This makes it about your donors, volunteers, advocates, and fans. And that’s a good thing. Shift: Make it about them. ______________________________

Assumption #3: Nouns are more important than other parts of speech.

We love nouns (people, places awords in the English language

(words that describe people,

are comprised of pronouns, articles and other parts of speech. Here’s the thing: verbs are action words. In the context of nonprofits, they describe the change you are creating in the world. And yet nonprofits spend most of their time focused on nouns. This is why the second most used verb on .org websites is ‘provide’. Provide is a very flexible verb, that’s true. You can provide almost anything to anyone. But it isn’t interesting. If you want to use language to help you stand out from the crowd

going to do you any favors. Start by first picking your verbs—i.e. describing the change you’re creating the world—and everything else will follow.

Shift: Focus on your verbs. ______________________________In sum: If you invite questions that make it about the people you’re looking to engage and focus on your verbs, you’ll be on track to use language to increase your impact. About the AuthorErica Mills is an internationally recognized expert on how to use words to make the world a better place. She heads up Claxon, a company on a mission to teach those doing good how to get noticed. Mills is the author of the book, Pitchfalls: why bad pitches happen to good people. Her clients have included the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Group Health Research Institute, Idaho Nonprofit Center, Powerful Schools, Team Read and Whatcom Community Foundation. She is on faculty at the University of Washington and Seattle University, and has lectured at the University of Chicago. Mills is a lover of words in general, and verbs and adverbs in particular.

Visit wafoodcoalition.org and read about the latest news on our blog.

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Results Washington Increasing Healthy Food

Governor Inslee has set forth a comprehensive set of goals for his administration to achieve which are outlined in a report entitled Results Washington. (http://results.wa.gov/what-we-do/

is Goal #4 Healthy and Safe Communities ~ Fostering the health of Washingtonians from a healthy start to a safe and supported future. Within Goal #4 there is a leading indicator to increase healthier foods distributed by food banks and meal programs. The goal specifically states: Increase the percentage of healthier food options being offered to low-income children and families through food pantries, farmers markets and meal programs by 5% from 2014-2017.

To achieve this indicator all EFAP Food Pantry and TEFAP Meal Program

subcontractors will be asked to complete a baseline survey and quarterly reports which will ask for the percentage of all Healthier and Less Healthy Food Options programs are distributing to clients. The Healthier Options categories will include: 1. Fruits and Vegetables, 2. Dairy, 3. Proteins, 4.

Less Healthy Options include three categories: 1.Processed food such

as desserts, chips, snack food, boxed meals, etc; 2. Other - defined as

spices and condiments and 3. Unknown – items you’re not sure where to put in the categories listed. Subcontractors will be asked to record the percentage of ALL foods by

will be achieved by estimating the percentage of pounds by category as well as actuals by the targeted month or a single day snapshot. Meal Programs will be asked to report total number of meals served in a month and the number of service days in a month.

Starting with a baseline survey in August, programs will then complete quarterly reports for the next three years. These reports will be either a hard copy form or an electronic Excel form and will

where the data will be compiled. Once WSDA receives the estimated percentages by food category for Food Pantries then they will apply that to the pounds of food distributed which is already being reported by you for EFAP. The percentages by food category being reported by Meal Programs will be applied to the total number of meals served per month multiplied by a standard pound per meal formula.

WCommittee to develop temporary workgroups that focused on the definition of healthier food, an implementation plan,

subcontractor report forms and rollout timeframes. Pilots were conducted in May and June by Thurston County Food Bank and Community Services of Moses Lake Food Bank for EFAP Food Pantry Subcontractors and Emergency Food Network for TEFAP Meal Program Subcontractors. Feedback gathered from the programs taking part in the pilot will be considered in making adjustment to the report or reporting process. This data will not be used to allocate funds or to negatively impact any subcontractor who distributes a low percentage of “healthier food options”.

Washington Food Coalition staff will help by messaging important information about this process, be available to provide technical assistance, gather your input and ideas and answer any questions you may have.

Shifting Your LanguageThree erroneous assumptions you (probably) have about making the world a better placeBy Erica Mills of Claxon Marketing

Non-Member Registration ___ Full Conference by 8/29: $199 ___ Full Conference after 8/29: $209 ___ 1 Day Attendee: $159 X ____ days

Not A WFC Member? Join or Renew Now! ___ Membership 2014: Dues cost sliding scale __ $25: Agency w/ Annual Operating Budget, not including in-kind (AOB) under $50,000 __ $50: Agency with AOB of $51,000-500,000 __ $100: Agency with AOB of $501,000-1 Million __ $250: Agency with AOB of $1 Million +

TOTAL AMOUNT ENCLOSED: $_______________ (Please total all above)

To Register:Complete one form for each attendee, making copies as needed, and make checks payable to Washington Food Coalition.

Mail form and payment to:Washington Food CoalitionPO Box 95752 Seattle, WA 98145-2752

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