One of my best memories growing up is the time of year from Halloween to New Year's Day and all the family gatherings and the fabulous food.  Fabulous food, we all came to expect it and it was always there, hot, fragrant, and delicious.  Although it took mom or grandma or both several hours to prepare, we just took it for granted. (I miss it today!)

The NEED is Bigger Than You Think!

But not everybody has those same memories. The homeless, the poor, the alone, often struggle to find just enough food to get by.  The mission of Yakima's Operation Harvest is to end that food uncertainty during this time of year.   Dept of Ag numbers show that in a statewide glance, about one out of 6 residents needed food bank help, but in Yakima County, the numbers are 1 in 3 !  The Rotary-sponsored event this Saturday is closing in on nearly 40 years of collection cash and non-perishables for distribution to area food banks.

Record Setting Service

2020 The Year Of Covid... so Operation Harvest like just about everything else was canceled, right?  Nope. In fact, supporters set a record for generosity when it was needed most!  Operation Harvest last year brought in 72,000 pounds of food for 8 Yakima-area food banks  That's Yakima at her best.

Operation Harvest is spearheaded by three Yakima-area Rotary clubs: Downtown Yakima, Sunrise, and Southwest.  Residents are asked to leave nonperishable food items in plastic or paper bags on their porch for pickup starting at 9:30  Saturday and volunteers will drive through neighborhoods collecting those items