Rosalia food pantry: Food programs set for school; town still exploring options

Rosalia Mayor Nanette Konishi reported this week the town is still seeking a food pantry location. The pantry was closed indefinitely last August when it became difficult to find a location for the operation.

The pantry had operated at the Baptist church, but the church was no longer able to house it, Mayor Konishi reported last September. She has looked at other churches in town, but none of them have the electrical capacity for the pantry freezer, she said.

In the meantime, she said the town has been working with the Community Action Center in Pullman to establish a backpack program at the school to serve some students.

“It would send the kids home with a backpack,” said Mayor Konishi. “It would be for the ones that are particularly in danger of not having enough food for the weekend.”

Mayor Konishi said the backpack program was an idea that started with Paige Collins, executive director with Council on Aging in Colfax. The mayor said Collins brought up the idea while she lived in Rosalia, and the town is “still very interested in getting that set up.”

There is no firm timeline for establishing the backpack program, but Mayor Konishi said she is excited to get it off the ground.

“We know we’re going to do it,” she said.

In addition to the backpack program, Mayor Konishi also reported the school is working with the Community Action Center to establish a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) program at the school.

“The Community Action is working on hiring someone to work with the education portion of it,” she said.

Rosalia Principal Darrell Kuhn said the SNAP-Ed program will occur this spring in the elementary classrooms.

“We're working with them to get them into our classrooms,” he said.

To the backpack program, Kuhn said there is no timeline right now for it, but he thinks it will be a great service.

“We thought that would be a really good idea if we got that going,” he said.

As far as getting the food pantry re-established, Mayor Konishi said there is no firm timeline.

“We haven’t been able to find a home for it,” she said. “There are a couple of people who are willing to volunteer. Hoping that a couple years down the road as we get our community kitchen up and going that we can get the needs better met.”

The town is served by another pantry at the Methodist church. Mayor Konishi said she is not sure how the town ended up being serviced by two pantries.

That pantry, Collins said, is set up differently than other pantries, in that it only distributes government commodities.

“It’s federal food,” Collins said. “One pantry is for government commodities, and then there was a regular pantry.”

She said if it also would distribute pantry items, it would be set up in a more similar fashion than other Whitman County pantries.

Mayor Konishi said the town is remaining committed to finding a solution for the now-closed pantry.

“Finding a way to serve our people with food insecurity is a complicated struggle,” she said.

Rosalia patrons have had the option to be served by the Colfax Food Pantry since the closure last year.