Auburn and Maple Valley food banks join ‘Yes, we can’ community project

The Auburn Food Bank, along with 10 other food bank agencies in South King County, has partnered with Northwest Harvest, the Latter Day Saints Cannery in Kent and Rotary First Harvest to create "Yes, we CAN!", a community canning project.

February 5, 2011 10:21 pm

The Auburn Food Bank, along with 10 other food bank agencies in South King County, has partnered with Northwest Harvest, the Latter Day Saints Cannery in Kent and Rotary First Harvest to create “Yes, we CAN!”, a community canning project.

Thousands of pounds of highly nutritious vegetables that would otherwise perish or sit in freezers for months, are preserved in shelf-stable cans and distributed to our neighbors in need. The produce is cut, frozen, cooked and canned and then delivered to food banks in south King County, including the Maple Valley Food Bank. In just 10 days this fall, volunteers canned 15,000 pounds of vegetables

“So many of our clients have small freezer spaces or no freezer at all. Canning the fresh vegetables makes a lot of sense.” Debbie Christian said, executive director. “This is a great large group project. You can have 20 to 50 people in a group, and in a span of eight hours have canned enough for each client family to have two more cans of food that wouldn’t have been available otherwise. The best part is seeing the project from start to finish in just one day. From sorting the frozen vegetables, thawing them out, then packing them in the cans, steaming, cooking, drying and labeling then palletizing to be distributed to people in need.”

“Yes, we CAN!” is an opportunity for volunteers to make a very real and profound improvement to the food security situation of south King County children and families in need. Please consider organizing a group of people in your community to donate time to this very worthy cause. Your efforts can directly benefit families served by the Auburn Food Bank.

Volunteers are currently being scheduled for Feb. 10, 11, 17 and 18. Shifts are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 12:30-4:30 p.m. The LDS cannery is located in Kent on the West Valley Highway. Contact the project’s volunteer coordinator, Basil Weiner, for more details or to schedule a shift for you or your group at 206-579-6886 or southking@firstharvest.org or The Auburn Food Bank, Debbie Christian at debbiec@theauburnfoodbank.org, 253-833-8925.