Volunteers Help End Hunger in Kent, WA
It’s Friday just before noon, and dozens of people are lined up in the parking lot of a Liberian church in Kent, Washington. They’re here for fresh produce, tuna fish, yogurt, and even a little frozen manicotti. Foods they need to nourish their families.
Behind the tables, Mariama Walloh and Julia Collins are doing their best to keep up. The two women founded Relief Hunger Organization in 2022 to provide food for their Liberian neighbors who were struggling to keep food on the table.
“During Covid, we went online to see if there were any food resources we could bring into our community, and we found Food Lifeline,” says Collins.
Since then, the group has been providing food every other Friday, rain or shine. On a typical week, they serve more than a hundred people.
“The cost of living is very high right now,” says Walloh. “And our community has a lot of seniors and people that aren’t working, this helps feed themselves and their families.”
Last year, the group distributed more than 40,000 pounds of food they received from Food Lifeline.
“It started with just our small community, but now we’re helping everyone.”
And along the way, something remarkable happened. Miriama and her team found themselves “paying it forward” in a way that only those who have walked the same path can do.
“Our country fought fourteen years of civil war, and coming here was not easy. Now we’re here serving refugees from Ukraine, and we encourage them to come and partake.”
And that’s exactly what you’ll find here every other Friday. But you’ll also hear the voices of Russian and Arabic cultures among those who gather here to help provide for their families and make their way in their way in their newly adopted home.
“We have people from all countries here, we don’t pick and choose. Here they can get food for free, and it helps them save money for other things they need.”