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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Prison Kitchen Feeds Storm-Shelter Guests

Janice Podsada Staff writer

As the power outages continued last week, the Airway Heights Correction Center went into emergency mode when Red Cross officials suddenly needed 2,800 meals for Spokane County’s ice storm refugees.

The 63 inmates who work in the correction center’s kitchen put in extra days and extended hours to prepare 12,000 meals over seven days for the American Red Cross’s half-dozen Spokane County shelters.

The food factory trains inmates at its facility inside the Airway Heights Correction Center, which houses 1,056 medium-security and 400 minimum-security prisoners.

“We started working with them (the food factory) a couple of months ago,” said Peggy Bishop, financial officer with the Red Cross.

“The prices are just very good,” Bishop said. The Red Cross pays $1.25 per breakfast, $2 per lunch and about $2 for dinner, Bishop said.

Meals were picked up and delivered to the shelters by The Salvation Army. The Salvation Army volunteers who loaded and unloaded the meals deserve enormous credit, Bishop said.

The food factory not only prepared hot meals, but breakfasts, consisting of muffins and sweet rolls, and sandwiches, brownies and trail mix.

The dinner entrees included chicken parmesan, chili, lasagna and salisbury steak.

“They do hot meals on individual serving trays - an aluminum foil top with a paper tray - kind of like a deep dish TV dinner but a lot better,” Bishop said.

During the shelters’ peak usage, the food factory prepared 2,800 meals shelter meals in one day. But food factory Director Fred Straub said the factory can easily produce 5,000 meals in an eight-hour shift.

The 17,500 square-foot factory has its own bakery, rows of stainless steel ovens and barrel-size cauldrons for making soup.

“It has been a pleasure to have a hot meal at the end of a day for so many,” said Joyce Cameron of Spokane’s Red Cross.

During the summer, the $13.5 million food factory came under state scrutiny after several of its clients complained about the quality of food. But in September the facility passed inspection for Washington State Health Department officials.

Of the inmates who put in long hours and extra days last week, Straub said, “They’re pretty regular people who made some mistakes. Most of them welcome the opportunity to do something positive.”

, DataTimes