Pullman Farmers to Families will be distributing United States Department of Agriculture food boxes to families in need 12-2 p.m. April 21 at Emmanuel Baptist Church. 

Last summer, the government set up a program to distribute USDA food boxes to food-insecure individuals, said Carrie Lundgren, Emmanuel Baptist Church administrative assistant. 

Lundgren said Cascadia Produce reached out to multiple places to see if they would be willing to be drop-off sites. Emmanuel Baptist Church was the first one to respond. 

Cascadia Produce collects food, including perishable items like fresh produce and dairy, she said. 

The contract is renewed on a monthly basis, so the church is not aware if the program has been renewed by the government until the end of the month, Lundgren said. 

“As long as it’s renewed, we will have [food] dropped [off] every other week,” she said. 

Lundgren said the church does not have the capacity to store a lot of food, so the church gives the rest of the food to the Pullman Schools Pantry Program and the Albion Food Pantry. 

The food is split between the two groups so it does not go to waste, she said. 

The church distributed food for two weeks in February and March, as well as on April 7, Lundgren said. 

She said people can go to the church where volunteers will distribute the boxes to families. 

“We’ve relied on a lot of word of mouth and part of that is because … we don’t know if the program has been renewed, and so we aren’t getting the word out until the very end of the month,” Lundgren said.