Food Security Program, Western Community Action

Western Community Action has taken a stand against hunger. In the last five years, Western Community Action has implemented multiple strategies that incorporate the utilization of existing resources while dramatically increasing capacity to serve those in need. Currently, Western Community Action administers four food shelves, a large food rescue program, two weekly meal programs that are going through expansion, provides SNAP outreach and application assistance, provides support to a monthly food distribution, and coordinates five county-specific hunger teams, each with specific plans to address hunger in their area.

Western Community Action has sought to provide a comprehensive set of services and initiatives to address and end hunger in our area. Our array of services or partnerships include: four food shelves, SNAP Outreach, technical assistance to area feeding programs, 2 weekly meal programs, cooking and shopping classes, ICPD Classes ( I CAN Prevent Diabetes), food rescue, and support in the development of a monthly food distribution program; Ruby’s Pantry, now being offered in 3 of Western Community Action Food Security Program Warehouse Food Shelves our service area counties. Offering these services and providing outreach for other partner programs helps ensure that no food goes to waste in our area and people have adequate options for meeting their basic nutritional needs.

With a goal of meeting the nutritional needs of people served and to even put a “dent” in ending hunger, we decided there was no one approach that would solve the problem. We began to work on a multi-faceted strategy that was sustainable, utilized resources that were already in existence, and that could be replicated throughout the five counties we serve. The areas we focused on were: Increasing food distribution at our food shelves, increase capacity of other food shelves and feeding programs, bring new feeding programs to the area, and increasing outreach efforts with regard to SNAP and other nutritional services that are available. Western Community Action’s mission is “connecting communities to remove obstacles and provide opportunities, tools, and hope as a pathway out of poverty.”

To learn more, visit: http://www.wcainc.org/ or Western Community Action on Facebook.