Murray secured $4 million for a new South Seattle Community Food Hub through Congressionally Directed Spending
ICYMI: Senator Murray Secures $284 Million in Congressionally-Directed Spending for Washington State – More HERE
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(Seattle, WA) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, toured Food Lifeline, an organization that distributes food to more than 1.37 million people facing hunger across Western Washington, in Seattle and held a roundtable discussion with local leaders about the importance of federal nutrition programs for Washington state. Senator Murray secured $4 million in Congressionally Directed Spending for Food Lifeline last December, the funds will help the organization to stand up a new South Seattle Community Food Hub.
The $4 million Senator Murray secured in Congressionally Directed Spending will support King County and Food Lifeline’s partnership to convert a 40,000-square-foot warehouse into a new South Seattle Community Food Hub. This hub will provide a much-needed shared space for storing, packing, and distributing fresh produce and goods to people and families experiencing hunger. Farmers and hunger relief organizations currently meet in parking lots, lacking cold storage perishable goods and covered location where staff and volunteers can box and prepare food for distribution. The hub will now be a place for food from local farms to be stored and for local community groups to come, package food and prep for distribution.
Food Lifeline distributes through a network of 350 food banks, shelters, and meal programs, enabling them to provide the equivalent of more than 282,000 meals every single day.
“No family in this country should be forced to go hungry—that’s why I’m glad I secure federal funding to directly support Food Lifeline’s important mission to end hunger in Western Washington,” said Senator Murray. “I know what a difference this kind of support makes—when my family fell on hard times because my dad got sick with multiple sclerosis, me and my six siblings ate thanks to food stamps.
“When we support programs like SNAP, we are helping people afford their groceries, supporting the food economy, and lifting our friends and neighbors out of poverty,” continued Senator Murray. “In the other Washington, I’m going to be fighting hard to protect the important federal programs that help Washington state families put food on the table.”
During the tour and roundtable, Murray affirmed her commitment to doing everything in her power to help end hunger in Washington state and America. In particular, as Congress considers reauthorization of the Farm Bill, Murray made clear that she would fight to protect funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and federal food bank programs like The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), which directly fund organizations like Food Lifeline.
During the roundtable, Senator Murray was joined by Aaron Czyzewski, Director of Advocacy and Public Policy at Food Lifeline; Jennifer Antos, Executive Director of Neighborhood Farmers Markets; David Bobanick, Executive Director of Harvest Against Hunger; Adasha Turner, Founder, CEO and Executive Director of Modest Family Solutions, BlackSeed Agroecology Farms; Yamila Sterling, Food System Support Program Manager of Solid Ground; La Tanya Horace-DuBois, Founder and Executive Director of The Silent Task Force Team with The Urban Food Systems Pact in Skyway; and Raymond Williams, Co-founder and Managing Director of Black Farmer Collective.
Senator Murray has been a longtime leader in Congress in the fight to end hunger in America. The funding package Senator Murray helped pass in December notably establishes, for the first time ever, a permanent summer EBT program for child nutrition, a longtime priority of Senator Murray’s, who first spearheaded this effort. The agreement provides families $40 per month per eligible child through a permanent EBT program to buy groceries to supplement traditional summer meals programs. The bill also establishes flexibility for alternative meal delivery for rural areas such as grab-and-go, mobile delivery, backpack programs, or shipping meals. Senator Murray has been a leading advocate for kids and families in the United States Senate, especially during the pandemic, carrying legislation to stop child hunger every Congress since 2014 with the introduction of her Stop Child Summer Hunger Act. Having relied on food stamps for a brief time during her childhood, Senator Murray knows firsthand the difference a helping hand can make in the lives of children.
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