Feeding Vulnerable Children and Families During Covid-19 Pandemic

Last updated: May 4, 2020, at 8:31 a.m. PT

Originally published: April 1, 2020, at 11:02 a.m. PT

hunger young boy

Every day of the year, the Y is here for hungry kids, families, and individuals. During this time of great uncertainty, the families who rely on us need us more than ever and more and more individuals are finding it hard to keep themselves fed due to increasing economic insecurity.

In response to these growing needs, we’re stepping up. Across our association, the Y is pivoting our services to serve the greatest need, like turning our branches into child care centers for the families of essential workers, and increasing what we do every day by increasing our meal, snack and food distribution to ensure all people have what they need to stay physically and mentally healthy.

Camp Colman Steps Up

Camp Colman Kitchen
Preparing lunches in Camp Colman's kitchen

When this crisis began, we looked around at what our community needed, and how to utilize our resources to meet that need. For campers, the kitchen at Camp Colman is a memorable place filled with songs and celebration over mealtime, but the dedicated staff at Camp Colman have turned this kitchen designed to cook for hundreds of campers into a production kitchen to feed 200 people Monday-Friday.

The New Drive-Thru

Kids who rely on the Y for breakfast and lunch can pick up their meals like a drive-thru at four Y branches: Auburn, Dale Turner, Matt Griffin, and Kent.

Community Meals in Shoreline

On Wednesday and Thursday, the Y has been hosting two weekly community dinners which were turned into grab-and-go dinners for the residents of Prince of Peace and for community members at Ronald United Church. While our Prince of Peace site is temporarily closed, Ronald United Church community grab-and-go dinners remains open.

Microsoft Meals

Delivering meals
Y Staff delivering meals from Microsoft to the community

Thanks to a partnership with Microsoft, we are serving 2,000 meals twice a week to families in housing across the Eastside of King County.

Meals for Kids in Care

Kids who are attending our child care for first responders, medical providers, and other essential workers receive morning snack, lunch and afternoon snacks along with their enriching and fun care experience!

Help us keep serving kids and families, considering making a gift. Donate Today

To learn more about how you can support any of these programs, contact Nicole at nlowe@seattleymca.org or 206-223-1639. To find a local site for free meals for kids and teens out of school, visit this website.

.
Category: Community Response