Whitman County Food Coalition forms committees

—Photo Paige Collins

The Whitman County Food Coalition was formed earlier this year following a League of Women Voters poverty study. At the most recent meeting on Nov. 10, an executive committee and subcommittees were formed.

The effort to form a food coalition within Whitman County made a step forward last week with the formation of an executive committee and subcommittees.

Paige Collins, executive director at the Council on Aging in Colfax, spearheaded the effort to form a coalition after a League of Women Voters poverty study and subsequent community conversation in Pullman revealed a greater need of food access for all.

Collins said Whitman County has been in need of a coalition.

“Almost every area of the state except for Whitman County has a food coalition,” she said. “It’s a much more thorough way to serve the county.”

Collins said the benefits of a coalition come from collaboration.

“If we come together, it’s strength in numbers,” she said. “The legislature will hear from us as a group, and I think advocacy is huge. It’s also a unique way to solve problems together.”

At the coalition’s most recent meeting – its third – an executive committee was elected by a paper vote count, and subcommittees were decided upon by a survey conducted previously.

The appointed executive committee has Collins as chair, Ryan Avery as co-chair, Sarah Kane as vice chair and Ashley Hope as secretary, with Amy Snively-Martinez and Mary Collins listed as back ups for the secretary position.

“The best thing is that we’re finally getting organized,” said Collins. “We have a coalition now. We have subcommittees, and we have an executive committee.”

Of the subcommittees, Collins said the group discussed ideas previously and what the coalition wanted to accomplish. Out of this, the subcommittees were decided upon.

“As a new coalition, it could have been anything,” she said.

One subcommittee is advocacy, which Collins said will help in organizing efforts to have Whitman County represented at Hunger Action Day in Olympia on Jan. 23.

The advocacy committee includes Collins, Snively-Martinez, Anthony Alvarez, Mary Collins and Hope.

Another committee is fundraising and foodraising and includes Chris Cummings, Colleen Hinman, Karyn Hardy, James Woomack and Sharon Esquivel.

The next committee is food rescue. This committee has eight people, including Chelsea Canard, Hope, Gail McNeilly, Fern Nafzinger, Monica Hardie, Baby Mays, Cummings and Esquivel.

“There’s people interested in multiple committees,” said Collins. “Folks signed up for more than one. It’s great!”

Two more committees were formed, which were the farm/ranch to food bank and producer support committee and the education/training, children’s education committee. The farm/ranch committee consists of Avery, Sarah McKnight, Kris Alvarez and Guy Spencer. The education/training committee has Nancy Hindman, Zac Brown, Bev Spencer, Ruthanna Bryan, Alvarez, Hardy and Snively-Martinez.

“We are now actually set up as a group,” said Collins. “We’re ready to really start solving problems.”

Collins also commented on the people in the committees, stating that the people who have come out to the meetings are coming from all over the county, and more people are coming to each meeting.

“We’re getting people from all over. It’s just great collaboration,” she commented. “We’re growing stronger every meeting.”

The next planned meeting of the coalition is set for Jan. 12 at the Colfax Pantry from 10 to 11 a.m., and Collins said chairs will be appointed for each subcommittee at this meeting. In addition to the chairs being formed, the subcommittees will discuss their focuses and how they want to accomplish those.

“The subcommittees are our current focus,” she said. “We’ll figure out what our focuses will be within those. We’ll make a list of priorities within each subcommittee.”

Collins said it has been great to see the formation of this coalition and see people grab onto it.

“It’s coming together,” she said. “It isn’t just one person pushing it. Everyone’s really pushing it together.”