Fred Meyer gives $16K to Spokane Valley Partners

Spokane Valley Partners announced this week it has received a grant totaling $16,646 from the Fred Meyer Fund for the Food Warehouse Project.

The funds will top off the state-required $90,000 match and provide $10,000 toward the cost of equipping the warehouse.

The Food Warehouse has been a much-needed addition to the Spokane Valley Partners campus at 10814 E. Broadway Ave., development director Don Kaufman said in a press release.

Currently food is immediately taken off pallets and stored in the basement by conveyor. During the peak giving season, food has to be stored off site and that food is handled 11 times before it is distributed. The warehouse will include a much-needed walk-in refrigerator and will allow the food bank to accept and handle perishable foods that it sometimes had to turn down previously.

“The Fred Meyer Fund was particularly impressed by the successful track record of Spokane Valley Partners and their status as the largest distributor of emergency food services in Spokane County,” said Glynda Brockhoff, philanthropy coordinator for Fred Meyer stores and the Fred Meyer Fund. “We are proud to be a part of the Spokane Valley community and are committed to helping where we can.”

The Fred Meyer Fund assists nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping children and reducing hunger in communities served by 128 Fred Meyer stores in Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Idaho. In 2007, the Fred Meyer Fund awarded $1.7 million in grants.

Fred Meyer is a division of The Kroger Co., which is one of the nation’s largest food retailers.