As the new year gets underway, I'm delighted to share a few highlights of our collective impact from 2022.
One thing I find incredibly encouraging is the amount of community engagement we saw. Our volunteers collectively contributed over 17,000 hours to IFCB's work in 2022! We simply could not do all of the things we do without our beloved volunteers.
And speaking of engagement, we were blessed to have contributions from many different avenues in 2022. More than 2,700 generous donors contributed financially to our work in 2022, ensuring that we continued to provide a wide selection of healthy and fresh food along with other essentials throughout the year. And many others donated food, hygiene supplies, and clothing. Nearly 100,000 pounds of food were contributed by people in our community!
All these contributions ensured that we could continue to meet client needs despite reduced federal food allocations and increased food costs. For those of you who like numbers, check these out!
Over 4,300 people shopped in our food market throughout the year, and another 655 participated in our home delivery program.
We distributed nearly 12,000 Power Packs (weekend bags of kid-friendly food distributed through the Issaquah School District).
Nearly 1,500 children received holiday gifts ($50 each) through our Holiday Gift Barn program.
We gave 700 warm winter coats to adults and children this fall.
We also served in ways that can be harder to measure.
We listened to numerous difficult stories with compassion, always seeking to help where we can.
We connected newly housed and immigrant families with mattresses and furniture.
We referred people living in cars or at the brink of eviction to affordable housing opportunities, and sometimes paid moving and storage fees to help them get to the finish line.
We provided tangible resources for people without stable housing, including help getting registered for benefits and identification cards, receiving mail at the food bank, and basic necessities like warm, dry clothing.
I'm so excited to see what we can collectively do for — and with — our community in 2023! Just one month into the year, we're already seeing continued strong community demand for our services. I'm grateful to each of you for your continued commitment to serve our neighbors with compassion, dignity, and joy!