Tag: resources

Spreading the Word About Food Resources

One of the barriers that keep families and individuals from meeting their daily food needs is not knowing about the resources available in the community. To increase awareness throughout the community, FIN held a four-hour workshop in June about how these programs and benefits work, who’s eligible, and how to access them. The 16 workshop participants learned about resources such as SNAP, WIC, food banks and meal programs, School and Summer Meal Programs, Fresh Bucks and Farmers Market Nutrition Program, and community gardens. Now the participants are equipped to help spread the word, and are able to do so in many languages. Here's what FIN Community Food Advocate and Steering Committee Co-Chair Gladis Clemente said about the training:

"I learned that food access is not simply a health issue, but also a community development issue. There are resources out there that can help those who struggle to afford enough food. As an Advocate, I think it's really important to promote these resources and share the facts with everyone, because there are some myths about the requirements to apply for this programs, and nobody should struggle to afford food for their families."

Our Annual Resource Fair is Almost Here!

Join us for FIN's 3rd Annual Resource Fair

And connect with everything food!

The 2nd Annual FIN Resource Fair is Here!

We are excited to host the 2nd Annual FIN Resource Fair May 12th from 5:30-8pm at Foster High School. This year we will be bringing together resources for both entrepreneurs and community members. Folks can get help starting a food business, finding a job in the food industry, or taking food and nutrition classes. More than 20 resource providers will be participating. We will have fun children’s activities and feature food from the FIN entrepreneurs.  Join us in celebrating the diversity of South King County through food! If you are interested in coming or want to invite others, visit us on Facebook.

Soozveen Catering

Startup Q&A: Soozveen Catering

Soozveen is a Mediterranean catering company run by two Kurdish-American sisters. We cook for events – but really anything more than 5 people. Q: What inspired you to start this business?We always wanted to start a small bakery – ever since we finished high school. We watched our grandmother, mother, and aunts cook all the time. From memorized family recipes, they cooked complicated dishes without measuring a thing, and even when they were exhausted. It was when our mother got sick that we started helping out more in the kitchen. We would cook so much food and then take it to Highline College, where we were working at the time - and still work.The staff and teachers would tell us we made so much food that we should just open a restaurant. Dean Alice Madsen was the first to seriously encourage us to think seriously about opening a business and connected us with classes and support.. We thought it was just going to be a side job and that it would not become anything real but before we knew it there were orders coming in and we were going through the process to formalize our business. Q: What makes you different from other types of catering business? We cook with love. Soozveen actually means ‘the promise of love’. We have a true passion for this work and care about everything from flavors to presentation. There are a lot of Mediterranean/Iraqi restaurants but we are one of only two Kurdish in King County. We are unique in our use of spices that we get from Northern Iraq – it’s really the taste of the land. Our specialty is our stuffed grape leaves (dolma) and baklava. Q: What is your business’ biggest challenge?

Finding clients. Right now, our biggest clients are through our personal and professional networks. Word of mouth is really successful for us but it takes a lot of time. We would really like to build a base of businesses and event spaces to serve.Q: What do you like best about your work? Meeting different people. Hearing people’s experience with our food and making them happy and smile. When people see good food it's easy to forget your worries. We don’t like to change the recipes, we want to keep it like we cook it at home for our families. But we make a lot of dishes and it’s just a matter of finding the right dishes for a client’s palette. We do, however, make a big effort to meet people’s dietary and health needs. Some things we may bake rather than use the traditional methods of frying in oil because a lot of people have become so health conscious and we want to meet those needs. Q: What is something people might be surprised to learn about you or your business? There is a story behind every dish – you will have to ask us when you make an order. The other thing is that people have a lot of misperceptions about middle eastern people – one thing you may not know is how open and welcoming our culture is – to eat together brings people together. To go to a middle eastern person’s house is to eat a lot of food – food is how we share our stories and our love for each other. Even a very poor person will find a way to share food with a guest. Q: What types of services or programs have been helpful? StartZone at Highline College has a lot of workshops around marketing, labelling, accounting. Project Feast helped us in nutrition and food safety. FIN has helped us to get our business license and permits and to connect us with more people – to help us build our network. Ventures provided training to help us understand how to plan and run a business. Q: What would you say to other small food business owners thinking of working with FIN? There are so many opportunities out there, you just have to believe in yourself. But at the same time, be prepared. There are a lot of logistics you need to learn – things will not happen right away and you need to take the time to be prepared and don’t react out of a sense of urgency. Believe in yourself and you must believe in any organization you are working with, the trust must be there when you are getting help from someone. 

SeaTac Community Garden

City of SeaTac’s first community garden is scheduled to open the spring of 2017 at North SeaTac Park adjacent to the botanical and Japanese gardens.  The community garden will have small garden plots available to SeaTac residents for rent (April 1-October 31). Plants grown on the rented plots are for personal use, donations or to share with others. Eligibility ~ Plot holder must be at least 18 years of age. ~ City of SeaTac residents have priority in receiving a plot. Non-residents may apply and be assigned a plot if available. Residency will be confirmed by a valid State of Washington driver’s license or utility bill. ~ A maximum of 2 plots can be assigned to a household if all other eligible gardeners have received a plot. Registration Opens Tuesday, January 3rd! ~ You may register at the SeaTac Community Center. Link to application form is below. ~ Registration fee is $40 per year. Registration information provided in links below. SeaTac Community Garden Brochure (Information, Rules & Regulations)

Local food business tours coming soon — with your help!

Resource Fair participants showed interest in local food business tours. The Community Engagement working group will be coordinating the tours. If you know of any local restaurants, processing companies, farmers markets, or bakeries that would be open to giving a tour, please let us know.

What a success!

What a success! We had over 80 people attend the FIN Resource Fair on April 29. We had over a dozen service providers tabling and several inspiring speakers, whose stories you can read in this month and July's spotlights. Check out the photo album that Community Advocate Sheelan Shamdeen put together. We heard a lot of great feedback and are excited to say that there are many new events in the works for the second half of 2016. We will be coordinating workshops among the FIN providers and organizing field trips to local businesses and farmer’s markets. Stay tuned for more!