Meet the Seniors of Operation Full Bellies

Poverty, food insecurity, and poor nutrition have harmful impacts on the health and well-being of older adults, which can limit their ability to work (for those still capable of working), carry on daily activities, and live independently.

Maintaining good health, consuming a nutritious diet, and/ or managing an existing chronic disease can be especially challenging for older adults struggling with food insecurity for a variety of reasons. Food-Insecure older adults often resort to cost-related medication underuse as well

. Among older adults, those who are food insecure have more frequent hospitalizations and visits to physician offices and emergency rooms than their food-secure counterparts. Operation Sky Valley is here to help seniors in need with our Operation Full Bellies program!

https://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/hunger-is-a-health-issue-for-older-adults-1.pdf #seniorfoodprogram #seniorfooddelivery #foodinsecurity #foodinsecurityrelief

It's Only a 4% Increase in the Price of Food...so far

Many people may say that a 4% increase in the price of food isn’t really that bad. In fact, some people wouldn’t even notice a price increase like that. Our clients not only notice these price increases; they stress them. To them it isn’t just a number. Its the difference in the quantity and quality of food they can afford to purchase.

Inflation like this creates a real hardship for those who live on fixed incomes like social security. Families and seniors on SNAP feel the pinch. It also makes it harder for single head of household families to stretch their child support payments further. If they are fortunate enough to get child support at all.

Providing a free supplemental food service for our clients doesn’t just meet the obvious need of food. It also provides peace of mind for those who live on the edge of financial hardship. Many of our clients tell us what a relief it is to know that a bag of food will be delivered to them every week…rain, snow or shine. They tell us stories of having to choose between paying for medication or purchasing food. They share with us the strain of not being able to afford gas for their car to get to work. If they can’t get to work then they don’t get paid so many will choose to buy gas over food. Parents will tell us that they will go without food for themselves to feed their children. These are real stories and they are in your neighborhood.

For just $28 a month you too can help provide food for a child in need and provide peace of mind for their family.

Thank you to our monthly Child Sponsors! You help more than you know.

Sponsor a Child

3 Easy Ways to Help

3 Easy Ways to Help Feed a Child in Need

• Sponsor: Just click the link below. Choose a child to sponsor and sign up in less than 3 minutes. Do it once and forget it...you'll automatically be charged each month (until you cancel).

• Donate: Click the link below and make a one time or re-occurring donation of any amount of $5 or greater.

• Pick up: kid friendly food when you are shopping and give us a call when you've got a bag full.

Donate Now

Service Updates for Operation Full Bellies Families and Seniors

In these unprecedented times we are doing our best of adapt; sometimes daily to the ever changing requirements and needs of our community.

Operation Full Bellies (OFB) kids that normally receive a weekend bag of food through their schools are now able to pick up their bag from their bus stops on Fridays. We thank the Sultan School District , bus drivers and para educators who are helping to ensure the kids get what they need. We have also temporarily increased the number of meals and snacks that are in each bag due to reduced accessibility to food for our families.

Children in Skykomish may pick up their OFB bags from Skykomish Food Harvest’s food pantry on Fridays from 430-6 pm.

Fortunately at this time we have not needed to make any adjustments to our Home Delivery Family’s and Senior’s delivery schedule. We are also adding more meals and snacks when available, to their bags.

Sponsor A Child

What does it mean to Sponsor a Child through Operation Sky Valley and Operation Full Bellies? It means that you get to approach every weekend knowing that you are making a big difference in a child in needs’ life! You get to provide them with six meals and 4 snacks to get them through the weekend.

A typical bag includes:

2 Breakfasts: Hot cereal/cold cereal and fruit (fresh when available)

2 Lunches: Soup & Mac n Cheese/Ramen

Afternoon snack: Granola bar

2 Dinners:: Tuna/Chicken & Pasta/Rice and Canned Pasta/Stew/Chili and vegetables

Evening snack: Cookies/crackers/muffins

For only $28 a month you can ensure your sponsored child will receive food for 24 meals and 16 snacks every month.

You get to pick your child, boy or girl, and their age from our page of children who still need a sponsor. Go to https://operationskyvalley.org/sponsor-a-child to choose your child.

Make a child’s life a little brighter!

Introducing Operation Fresh Packs

We are excited to introduce Operation Fresh Packs, our newest feeding program to help alleviate hunger and assist families in getting access to fresh, nutritious food for their children.

We ran this program in beta testing last spring for 75 children in conjunction with Volunteers of America Sky Valley Campus. We polled 75 low income families and asked questions about what concerns them most about feeding their children. Overwhelmingly they responded that the ability to provide their children with fresh produce is frequently a challenge. Out of that concern, Operation Fresh Packs was born.

This school year 60 children are receiving bags of at least 2 fresh fruits and 2 vegetables every week. This goes home with the children on Fridays to be enjoyed over the weekend.

Each produce item is selected for freshness, quality and designed to be foods children generally enjoy but also to stretch the palette a bit. A typical bag includes an apple, banana, cucumber and potatoes.

Each week the bags are different from the last to keep introducing kids to new things and to keep them exciting. Past weeks have included broccoli, radishes, snap peas, red pears and kiwi.

We are looking for supporters to contribute to our Fresh Pack Fund so that we may expand the program to more of the other 175 children of Operation Full Bellies. If you are passionate about feeding kids nutritious food and would like to contribute please follow the secure link below to donate.

https://givebox.com/518118

Will We Take on Feeding Another 135 Kids Every Week?

That was the question posed to me in a meeting with another non profit who had been feeding these kids. “Wait, what, 135 more?” was my first thought. The second was “These kids need to continue to be fed". The third thought was “How can we do this?”

Taking on another 135 children every week would bring our weekly numbers to 295 kids and the need to provide food for 1770 meals each and every week through the school year! Thats a daunting task for a small 100% volunteer run non profit and a Big Ask for our small pool of donors.

However we understand the importance of a regular and reliable food supply for growing children and their developing brains. No doubt you understand that too.

So here is our Big Ask of you…what can you do to make sure these new children have food every weekend, when free meals at school are not available? You can:

• Sponsor a new child and provide them with 24 meals and snacks every month for only $28 by visiting https://givebox.com/518383

• Shop for us by picking up a few extra cans of soup, tuna or canned pasta when you do your shopping.

• Hold a food drive or fundraiser for us. Ask family, friends, coworkers or groups you belong to help feed. Contact us for more information on this at Director@OperationSkyValley.org.

• Ask your employer if they will match cash donations or donate to us for your volunteer time.

• Join our Director’s Circle Club by becoming a VIP (Very Important Provider) by visiting https://givebox.com/518120

No School No Food

Most children eagerly anticipate summer vacation from school. Those few weeks each year to stay up late, do what you want with your day and go on a family vacation. Unfortunately for many of the children of Operation Full Bellies summer vacation means: No School=No Food.

All of the children on Operation Full Bellies receive free breakfast and lunch at school. Some of these children will get through summer vacation by eating a little less, eating with friends or by visiting the food bank more frequently. For others they will be left with no choice but to skip meals.

Help us to continue to feed those in need over summer vacation. Your generous donations are utilized to add a family size bag of cold cereal, shelf stable milk, extra meals, snacks and fresh fruit and vegetables to each child’s bag in the summer. No child should be forced to skip a meal in our abundant country.

Operation Sky Valley Receives GuideStar Silver Non Profit Certification

Operation Sky Valley receives Guidestar's Silver Certification for transparency within a non profit.

GuideStar is the world's largest source of information on non profits. GuideStar envisions a nonprofit sector strong enough to tackle the great challenges of our time. GuideStar’s Nonprofit Profiles provide you with the information you need to make smart decisions when choosing a non profit to support.

Operation Sky Valley is the parent non profit of Operation Full Bellies, founded in 2009, designed to help fill the bellies of children who receive free lunch at school, over weekends and on school breaks. Currently we are providing 158 children a week with food for 6 meals and snacks. This requires us to collect and/or purchase food for over 948 meals every week.