The COVID-19 pandemic had a noticeable impact on already limited food resources in Lyle and surrounding communities long before Klickitat County had its first case of the virus.

And the impact has been felt the greatest by the most vulnerable families.

Governor Inslee announced March 13 that all schools in the state would need to close by March 17 to help slow the spread of the virus. For students in low-income homes, two regular meals a day were suddenly taken off the table.

Within a week, the school district retooled its food service model and developed a plan for getting meals to children ages 0-18 despite the closure. Three buses, each manned by a driver and one or two paraeducators, covered the district’s transportation routes to deliver prepared meals to between 80 and 90 students.

Meanwhile, School Counselor Julie Larson heard reports of people laid off or dealing with reduced work hours. Local members of the Yakama Nation were already in crisis. In early March, the Lyle Longhouse -- a traditional building used for ceremony, social gatherings and, occasionally, temporary housing -- had burned to the ground. Several students and families lost their shelter and belongings, and the community lost its stores of salmon, meat, roots, berries and other traditional foods in the communal kitchen.

On the weekend before Spring Break, Larson learned that Lyle’s single market had announced it would be closing.

In that environment, administrators were uneasy about discontinuing student meals during Spring Break. But it was obvious the staff members who had taken on the bulk of the work needed the time off, to rest and make sure they and their families were ok.

Casting a Net

With an eye to the expanding needs in the community, Larson – who is also president of the Lyle Community Council – had already begun contacting a network of community organizations and volunteers to explore possibilities for distributing food in the school district’s service area during the week of Spring Break. She found considerable interest and willingness, along with some logistical obstacles to overcome.

A substantial cash donation was quickly secured from the Lyle Lions to allow the coalition to purchase food in bulk for distribution. However, after a couple of attempts, it quickly became obvious purchasing enough food items through grocery stores would be difficult, given the limits set on high-demand items to prevent hoarding. 

The volunteer group quickly organized a “flash” food drive over a five-day period, urging people to drive up and leave donations in a bin while maintaining physical distancing. With the governor’s stay-at-home order in place, donations were slow.

Things started to turn around when Larson called the local food bank, which is part of the Washington Action Program (WaGap) in Bingen. The organization allowed Larson to place a bulk food order at their discount rates, and then to pick it up at their location.

Larson also turned to Backpacks 4 Kids which, throughout the school year, provides weekend food to kids who may go hungry without it. Thanks to previously-established relationships, Backpacks 4 Kids volunteers, who wish to remain anonymous, were also able to make progress in purchasing food items, using funding from Insitu and United Way. Someone else found a discount style store willing to selling items in bulk and spent $200 out of pocket to make purchases for the food drive.

Meanwhile, in Vancouver, Superintendent Ann Varkados, was also working her connections.  A former employer and long-time friend, the owner of Hi-School Pharmacy, ordered food items to donate to the food drive. Dr. Varkados also personally made daily trips to a local supermarket, making several purchases of items like boxes of Cup of Noodles that were limited to one per day.

ESD 112 in Vancouver, which runs a courier to Gorge schools a couple of times a week, agreed to transport the food Dr. Varkados had gathered to Lyle.

Boots on the Ground

Larson and a group of over a dozen volunteers were meanwhile taking care of the logistics of organizing food drops. Phone calls were made to families who have been receiving student meals from the district to ask about additional needs. Unlike the district, the group could feed everyone in the family, not just youngsters. The entire extended family -- adult children, parents, grandparents and so on – were included in the total count in order to provide enough for all to have several meals.

Finally, on Thursday, April 2, volunteers gathered to pick up boxes and made it's first round of deliveries across the district, from Lyle to Dallesport and High Prairie to Appleton. As masked and gloved volunteers maintained ample physical distancing, Larson reminded them that the first was priority was safety, adding that families had been cooperative about giving school workers plenty of room on during district food drops.  “Place the box on the doorstep, then step back to allow them to pick it up,” she suggested.

At the bus yard in Lyle and the Dallesport airport, two major pick-up locations, parents -- who were expecting bags of sandwiches and snack items similar to what the district had provided -- received boxes with canned, boxed and fresh foods which had some real heft.

Some improvised, taking babies from strollers, then loading the strollers with the food. As volunteers handed out the boxes, passing drivers honked and waived, showing approval. The response of families and other recipients was deep gratitude, pure and simple.

At the end of the day, a total of 80 boxes were delivered to families, which included 98 children ranging from infants to 18-year-olds. Doorstep food deliveries were made to 18 elderly or otherwise vulnerable individuals in the community, as well as families who had significant needs.

Ongoing Needs Inspire Ongoing Effort

For the Lyle Community Council, community volunteers and Lyle Lions, this was the first step in a long-term collaboration to supplement the school district’s child feeding efforts. Community members quickly stepped up to contribute over $800 for additional food purchases.

The efforts of our community volunteers created a greater awareness of better food security in the Lyle School District boundaries, leading to the opening July 1 of the Good Food Pantry, a Washington Gorge Action Programs (WAGAP) food bank site in Lyle. Read more about the Good Food Pantry here.