Your Food Donations to Bites & Books Helps Turn the Page on Hunger

Posted on March 18, 2025 at 6:00 am

By Aileen Luppert

Our Community & Food Insecurity

Spokane County Library District (SCLD) engages with our community to understand its wants, needs, aspirations, and challenges. Last year, our staff spoke to hundreds of people and learned our community aspires to be a safe, welcoming place where everyone has opportunities. We also learned more about challenges our community has, including lack of resources and food insecurity.

The USDA defines food insecurity as “limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.”

Feeding America estimates that “47 million people—1 in 7—are food insecure in the US.” In Spokane County, 13% of our population and 19% of our children are food insecure. If you need help getting food for you or your family, you can visit Second Harvest’s Food Near Me web page to get help.

Partners INW, the largest food bank in Spokane Valley, shares that food insecurity is increasing. In January 2025, it served 8,510 households with 16,375 individuals. This is a 74% increase from just last year. Of these households, 2,684 (32%) were new food bank clients. Partners INW is only one of many food banks in Spokane County experiencing this trend.

Bites & Books – Turning the Page on Hunger

SCLD’s annual spring food drive has expanded this year to include partnerships with Spokane Public Library, Liberty Lake Municipal Library, Second Harvest, and KHQ.

We’re launching a county-wide food drive for the entire month of April: Bites and Books – Turning the Page on Hunger. Every library in Spokane County will collect nonperishable food.

We know that residents in the greater Spokane area are generous and value community, so we hope that you help us fight food insecurity.

Bring canned or packaged nonperishable food to any library during the month of April.

We look forward to seeing how your generosity together with the Bites & Books Food Drive will help to end food insecurity in the region.

As donations are collected, Second Harvest will distribute food to local food banks throughout the county. You can learn more about Second Harvest as well as how they help those with food insecurity at the Second Harvest website.

Kids Snack Program at the Library

The thought of one hungry child is troubling, but nearly 1 in 5 kids in Spokane County is food insecure, which is upsetting and a major concern for our communities. Hungry children struggle to learn and grow.

SCLD has also taken steps to help ease food insecurity for children in our communities. In 2016, our Deer Park Library launched a federally funded snack program. After school and during school breaks, including summer, youth ages 18 and under can get a free, healthy snack at the library.

The program expanded to Cheney, North Spokane, and Spokane Valley Libraries in fall 2024, and will expand to Airway Heights Library this summer as well.

This snack program served 1,387 snacks to children in January 2025 alone, demonstrating its need and positive impact for youth in Spokane County.

Aileen Luppert has been with Spokane County District Library for 15 years, currently serving as the Community Engagement Manager.  Aileen was recognized nationally for her contributions to librarianship when she was named a Library Journal Mover & Shaker for her advocacy work in 2020. Her board and volunteer experience includes positions with the United Way of Spokane County, Spokane Homeless Connect, and Spokane Valley Connect.

Tags: community, donation, food, food donations, food drive, food insecurity