by Ruth Hoffman

In honor of Martin’s birthday, everyone in the office brought cans of coffee and sweets to the office to donate to the Downtown Foodbank at Pike Place Market. The foodbank serves from 700 to 1,100 clients each week.

Due to the downtown location of the food bank, they serve more individuals than families. Many of their clients live in the nearby low-income housing. Many live on $300 per month.

Foodbank Sources of Food:

1) The Food Life-Line consolidates and transports government surplus food and other donated food.

2) Northwest Harvests – they purchase food for food banks

3) On occasion, grocery stores do food drives for them. Due to the downtown location, this does not happen often and is much appreciated when it does.

4) In the summer, they get fruit and vegetables from the market vendors. Typically, vendors operate on such tight margins that donations are limited.

The foodbank manager states: “the food is the most basic, we serve the poorest. My biggest challenge is getting a variety of food. It’s a real problem. We lack produce – it’s gone quickly.”

The foodbank does not buy coffee or candy, but would like donations of this type. He added: “VARIETY LIFTS THE SPIRIT!”

To celebrate your birthday, Martin, Exbiblio is adding variety to the foodbank today and hoping to lift some spirits along the way.