We are excited to report that the freezer we installed last summer in Bethel is running well, and about half the seafood we sent up there this year has now been distributed within the local community.
Alaska. Most of the seafood that gets donated to SeaShare for hunger relief comes from sustainable fisheries in the great state of Alaska.
SeaShare is excited to announce that we have been selected as a 2019 General Mills Food Recovery Champion. What does that mean? It means we were selected as one of 20 winners in North America who are working to expand food recovery programs to nourish more hungry people across the US and Canada.
SeaShare is honored to be participating in the National Fisheries Institute's Future Leaders program in 2019. This program selects 40 future leaders in the national seafood industry each year to take part in a traveling leadership program, learning about industry issues across the country, making professional connections, and in Washington, D.C., participating in a day-long advocacy day with members of congress.
We've had a busy spring in Alaska, with more annual donations coming up this summer. Here is what we've been up to these past few weeks:
The SeaShare team was in Boston recently for the Seafood Expo North America. Not sure what that is? It's the biggest seafood show in the country, and it happens each March at the convention center in Boston. It's a place where thousands of people from around the world gather to see the latest seafood products, whether you're growing salmon in Scotland or shrimping in the Gulf of Mexico, kelp from Alaska, oysters from Maryland, you get the idea.
This is so awesome, and this is why SeaShare brings seafood to food banks across the country. Omega3s are so important for our hearts, brains, and maybe now lungs! We can't wait to see more research on this.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
SeaShare has teamed up with Open Blue Cobia to bring more seafood to food banks, and you can help, with a like, share, and #SeaSharetheMagic post on Facebook. Check it out:
Since 2011, SeaShare and the National Fisheries Institute's Future Leaders Program have partnered to raise awareness about the seafood industry's fight against hunger, to engage donors new and old to donate seafood for distribution to food banks, and to raise funds for SeaShare.
On September 14th, we made our way to Washington, D.C. to attend the Seafood Nutrition Partnership's State of the Science Symposium. What a treat to be in the room with the real life scientists studying the health benefits of seafood and omega 3 fatty acids!
It's become an annual tradition. SeaShare pools generous seafood donations from seafood industry donors, and the US Coast Guard Air Station in Kodiak loads up the palettes of fish for delivery to Kotzebue and Nome. This year we worked with Ocean Beauty Seafoods and North Pacific Seafoods to send a combined 17,000 pounds of frozen salmon and halibut up north on August 30th. That's 68,000 servings to be distributed to villages where access to seafood is limited, and a changing climate is making some traditional foods scarce.
The salmon season in Bristol Bay, Alaska was record breaking this year, yet fisheries in other parts of the state failed. SeaShare received a call from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to ask for help supplying seafood to communities around Chignik. We contacted our friend Jed Skidmore at Trident Seafoods in Kodiak, and he was able to process, freeze, and share 350 pounds (1,400 servings) of lingcod with us.
The seafood industry provides over a million jobs in the U.S. Our partner, The National Fisheries Institute (NFI) is telling stories about the seafood industry, and the people who work in it, to raise awareness about the need to protect seafood jobs and the communities that rely on them from trade policies that hurt the industry and put those jobs at risk.
Seniors being hungry is a nationwide epidemic.
SeaShare leads the seafood industry in a collective effort to improve nutrition for the families served by our nation's food bank network.
We are in Barcelona this week, attending the SeaWeb Seafood Summit, the world's premier conference on seafood sustainability. Back in March we were invited to attend, as SeaShare was selected as one of 17 finalists in four categories: leadership, innovation, vision, and advocacy. Nearly 100 nominations were submitted for the award, and we were excited to be selected as a finalist.
SeaShare was delighted to be asked to take part in the Bainbridge Island School District's Multicultural Advisory Committee's recent Salon Night on Global Health.
We would love to have your support, to help us bring even more seafood to food banks and feeding centers in Washington and across the U.S. All donations made through this link: https://kitsapgreatgive.org/np...will be "boosted" at least 15% by the Kitsap Community Foundation. Thank you!
We are thankful for the opportunity to attend the first Food Tank Summit in Seattle on March 17th. It was a day of insightful discussion of the local and national food system, what is working (not working), and how leaders across the political and professional spectrum are bringing change, new ideas, old ideas, and energy to our most important resource: food.