In Stacey’s last article, It's already working, she described the impact that a quality, prepared meal can have on an individual. It was an encouraging story for anyone contributing to the mission of ending inequities in the current food system and I would highly recommend you check it out if you have not already. These Impacts of health and wellness by giving customers the ability to choose are meaningful contributions to the common good each and every one of our donors contributes to.
And then sometimes food isn’t necessarily for health and wellness but maybe a bit of indulgence. I myself experienced this feeling recently when traveling back to my native Oklahoma after many calculated, choice encounters with BBQ, fried okra, chicken fried steak, fried chimichangas and fried catfish (are you seeing a pattern here?).
My wife and I, being self described “foodies”, love (and miss) the native fares from Oklahoma as much as just about anything. Going back really made me realize how important the comforts and quality of home can be when translated through the lens of food.
It was also really neat to see my now ten year old son, Wade, start to try new things and light up upon discovering that new taste of home. I even heard him tell his brother on the plane that because he is the only child from Oklahoma he likes to dip things in ranch dressing and (apparently) that is something that the other two Washington born children will just never understand. Wade is full of silly colloquialisms and always hilarious in his banter, to say the least.
Whether it be nutritious choices or enabling customers to walk down their native food heritage like my recent trip back “home” we believe the beauty of our model is that we work hard to allow customers the ability to choose. We are seeing our numbers and customer count continuing to scale each and everyday and it takes the incredible support of this community to make that possible.
Recently we wrapped up GiveBig, an annual fundraising event where individuals and organizations come together across Washington to invest in communities. We have participated in this event for a number of years now and this year ended with a total of $22,316 after matched funds were applied. All of the funds raised will be used for food purchases and that equates to roughly 156,212 equivalent, quality meals just like the ones I describe above.
All donations were matched from our sponsors: Lake Tapps Self Storage, Ben Franklin, John L. Scott Lake Tapps/Enumclaw, Creator Lutheran Foundation, OpenLife Church, and Isernios.
Thank you to everyone who gave during the 5/1-5/6 window for GiveBig. You are making a difference and we appreciate your contributions!
If you would like to become a part of the mission there is no better way than joining Team 28. Click the link below to find out more.
We’ll be back soon with more stories from The Table.
- Jenson