Neighbors Feeding Neighbors program expanded | Enumclaw Regional Healthcare Foundation

Published 2:17 pm Sunday, September 7, 2014

Shortly after school was released in June for summer break, the Enumclaw Regional Healthcare Foundation partnered with the White River School District and Enumclaw Youth and Family Services to expand the Neighbors Feeding Neighbors program.

ERHF provided a free lunch to any child younger than 18 every Monday through Friday for 10 weeks. Throughout the course of the summer, a total of 635 meals were served.

Providing lunches for children in the Plateau communities during the summer months had been talked about for more than a year by the Neighbors Feeding Neighbors Task Force.

It has been determined that one in four individuals experience hunger in the South King County area, and most often those are children.

White River School District Food Service employees prepared and cooked the food at their central kitchen in Buckley and transported meals to the Enumclaw Youth and Family Services building on Cole St.

EYFS assisted with staffing the “lunch room” while ERHF staff served the children who came for lunch. Parents were also allowed to purchase a meal, for a small fee, if they wanted to eat with their children.

Fighting hunger in our community is an ongoing task and commitment of Neighbors Feeding Neighbors. Anyone interested in volunteering or learning more about NFN and other task force groups that are a part of Enumclaw Regional Healthcare Foundation can call 360-802-3206 or e-mail Rene Popke, executive

director, at renep@enumclawrhf.org or visit www.enumclawrhf.org.