Whitman County Food Coalition selects subcommittee chairs

The Whitman County Food Coalition met Jan. 12 to appoint subcommittee chairs and discuss goals for each subcommittee. The coalition next meets on Feb. 9 at 10 a.m.

The newly-establish Whitman County Food Coalition continued its progress at its most recent meeting Jan. 12 and has now appointed chairs to five subcommittees.

The coalition established the subcommittees at its November meeting and appointed members to each of the committees. The chairs appointed last Thursday included Paige Collins in the advocacy committee, Barb Mays of Pullman in the food procurement committee, Zac Brown of Pullman in the education/training committee, Chris Cummings of Pullman in the food rescue committee and Nanette Konishi of Rosalia in the fundraising committee.

“We narrowed the committees down to five and picked chairs for each subcommittee so the committees can now come to the larger group as a whole,” said Collins. “With any luck, these groups will start to meet outside of the coalition time.”

Collins, who is also the executive director at the Council on Aging, 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.

“I'm just thrilled to pieces at how it's coming together,” she said. “It's going to benefit the whole county.”

The executive committee of the coalition, appointed at the November meeting, 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.

Collins said one of the highlights of the Jan. 12 meeting was drafting a vision.

“The most important thing that's new is we set some really tangible goals for all the subcommittees,” she said. “We really set our finger on what we want to do.”

Collin's said the advocacy's focus will be on how to lobby for support, such as emergency food funding, and putting together a local legislative meeting in August, as well as signing onto a letter to the new federal administration about how important emergency food support is to communities. The education committee is focusing on bringing 'advocacy 101' training to the area. Collins said Christina Wong, emergency food lobbyist with Northwest Harvest in Seattle, has agreed to come here when the weather clears to do that training.

“I think that will be very handy,” said Collins.

The education committee also discussed having children from the Pullman YMCA involved in food procurement with local growers and food distribution at pantries during the summer.

“They'll be able to see full circle what it's like,” said Collins. “I've seen it before with kids, and it turns out so awesome.”

The fundraising committee will focus on establishing competitive fundraisers throughout the county to support the pantries and food access, and the food procurement committee discussed the logistics of getting more food and how to move it throughout the county to different pantries in a timely manner.

The food coalition will next meet on Thursday, Feb. 9, at the Colfax Food Pantry on Main Street. The meeting is at 10 a.m. and is open to all.