East Shore’s Annual Auction Fund-A-Need
This year, the Board of Trustees and Auction Team approved a unique Fund-A-Need item, focused on connecting and equipping East Shore with the ability to give, serve, and learn with the local community beyond our church “walls” and contribute to COVID Relief efforts.
Did you know one in three adults in Washington has difficulty getting access to food? Washington State ranks 10th in the country in overall wealth—and ranks 34th in food insecurity. We want to help plug in to the organizing change efforts all around us. At East Shore, we believe food, along with love, shelter, breath, and water, is one of the basic necessities every human needs to survive and thrive. We want you to join East Shore’s 2020 COVID Food Relief Project: a community opportunity to make a difference. Together our offering is stronger, larger, and longer than any one of us can do alone.
We’re partnering with local organizations. They are welcoming East Shore’s involvement, and we’re happy to join in these efforts with a large interfaith network all across the Eastside, especially those right here in Bellevue.
Our Partners
- Mobile Meal Alliance: One food truck voucher, distributed at the Bellevue School District Family Connection Centers, costs $10. To feed a group of 50, which is approximately 12 families, costs $500.
- Backpack Meals for Kids: One weekend food pack for kids preK-12 costs $6, and we would be helping to get 680 food packs out a week: that’s $3,600 a week.
- Jubilee Reach: One family grocery bag costs $35 and we’re joining to help distribute 600 of those per week, that’s $21,000 a week.
- Food Bank Farm: Donate money for seeds and other farm supplies to grow food that is given to food banks. One bunch of beets is about $2. Food Bank Farm donated 360,000 pounds of food last year.
Give
During our online Auction week from November 6-14, we need your support to raise between $11,000-$14,000! These funds will be used throughout the late fall and winter months to directly support families, children, and youth experiencing food insecurity. When we offer our funds to the larger network of community organizations doing this work as well, we can show up to help end hunger.
Learn
During November, December, and January, East Shore will host live webinars featuring live conversations with our partners to learn more about the efforts of our community, the problems of inequity, and how we are making a difference. These conversations are being incorporated into our Religious Exploration lesson plans so we can dive deeper into what it means to live out our values and show up with an open mind, a loving heart, and helping hands.
Serve
We want you to show up to some of our in-person opportunities as well. Whether it’s serving as hosts at East Shore to welcome our neighbors at the food truck, dropping off or helping distribute groceries and food packs, or joining us on a field trip to harvest beets for the food packs, you will have safe, outdoor, social distance activities to join in. We know we’re going into winter, and we want you to remember: there’s no such thing as bad weather, there’s only bad clothes, so dress warmly!
If you are a member of the East Shore community experiencing food insecurity or other difficulties getting access to your basic needs: please reach out so can help. Please connect directly with any of East Shore’s staff members, including Rev. Stephen Furrer who can be reached at [email protected] or (310) 367-5314. There are funds and care to help support you.
If you are a member of the East Shore community who is also connected with another organization that may be interested in joining these efforts, such as Rotary or Microsoft, we want to expand and sustain East Shore’s partnerships through more fundraising, so please get in touch with us today.
Still have questions?
COVID Food Relief Project Team: Amanda Uluhan, Grace Colton, Libby Myers, Karen Ramsahai, and Laurie Wick.
Artwork by Libby Myers, Written by Amanda Uluhan, Director of Religious Education